AirlineFlightSchedule: DAL26 not returning correct schedules

FlightAware AeroAPI
1

It looks like flight DAL26 as of May 25th stopped flying KLAX->KBOX->LFPG and started flying KATL->LEBL. This change is reflected on the FlightAware website but does not seem to be reflected in the AirlineFlightSchedules API.

Calling this API:
flightxml.flightaware.com/json/F … 1465344000

Returns the following results:
{
“AirlineFlightSchedulesResult”: {
“next_offset”: 15,
“data”:
{
“ident”: “AFR3655”,
“actual_ident”: “DAL26”,
“departuretime”: 1465255320,
“arrivaltime”: 1465280700,
“origin”: “KBOS”,
“destination”: “LFPG”,
“aircrafttype”: “B764”,
“meal_service”: “Business: Dinner / Economy: Dinner”,
“seats_cabin_first”: 0,
“seats_cabin_business”: 40,
“seats_cabin_coach”: 206
},
{
“ident”: “DAL26”,
“actual_ident”: “”,
“departuretime”: 1465255320,
“arrivaltime”: 1465280700,
“origin”: “KBOS”,
“destination”: “LFPG”,
“aircrafttype”: “B764”,
“meal_service”: “Business: Dinner / Economy: Dinner”,
“seats_cabin_first”: 0,
“seats_cabin_business”: 40,
“seats_cabin_coach”: 206
},
{
“ident”: “KLM7715”,
“actual_ident”: “DAL26”,
“departuretime”: 1465227300,
“arrivaltime”: 1465248300,
“origin”: “KLAX”,
“destination”: “KBOS”,
“aircrafttype”: “B738”,
“meal_service”: “First: Food for sale / Economy: Food for sale”,
“seats_cabin_first”: 16,
“seats_cabin_business”: 0,
“seats_cabin_coach”: 144
},
{
“ident”: “AZA5895”,
“actual_ident”: “DAL26”,
“departuretime”: 1465227300,
“arrivaltime”: 1465248300,
“origin”: “KLAX”,
“destination”: “KBOS”,
“aircrafttype”: “B738”,
“meal_service”: “”,
“seats_cabin_first”: 16,
“seats_cabin_business”: 0,
“seats_cabin_coach”: 144
},
{
“ident”: “VIR2203”,
“actual_ident”: “DAL26”,
“departuretime”: 1465227300,
“arrivaltime”: 1465248300,
“origin”: “KLAX”,
“destination”: “KBOS”,
“aircrafttype”: “B738”,
“meal_service”: “First: Food for sale / Economy: Food for sale”,
“seats_cabin_first”: 16,
“seats_cabin_business”: 0,
“seats_cabin_coach”: 144
},
{
“ident”: “AFR2153”,
“actual_ident”: “DAL26”,
“departuretime”: 1465227300,
“arrivaltime”: 1465248300,
“origin”: “KLAX”,
“destination”: “KBOS”,
“aircrafttype”: “B738”,
“meal_service”: “First: Breakfast / Economy: Food for sale”,
“seats_cabin_first”: 16,
“seats_cabin_business”: 0,
“seats_cabin_coach”: 144
},
{
“ident”: “VOZ6553”,
“actual_ident”: “DAL26”,
“departuretime”: 1465227300,
“arrivaltime”: 1465248300,
“origin”: “KLAX”,
“destination”: “KBOS”,
“aircrafttype”: “B738”,
“meal_service”: “First: Breakfast / Economy: Food for sale”,
“seats_cabin_first”: 16,
“seats_cabin_business”: 0,
“seats_cabin_coach”: 144
},
{
“ident”: “DAL26”,
“actual_ident”: “”,
“departuretime”: 1465227300,
“arrivaltime”: 1465248300,
“origin”: “KLAX”,
“destination”: “KBOS”,
“aircrafttype”: “B738”,
“meal_service”: “First: Breakfast / Economy: Food for sale”,
“seats_cabin_first”: 16,
“seats_cabin_business”: 0,
“seats_cabin_coach”: 144
},
{
“ident”: “KLM7715”,
“actual_ident”: “DAL26”,
“departuretime”: 1465313700,
“arrivaltime”: 1465334700,
“origin”: “KLAX”,
“destination”: “KBOS”,
“aircrafttype”: “B738”,
“meal_service”: “First: Food for sale / Economy: Food for sale”,
“seats_cabin_first”: 16,
“seats_cabin_business”: 0,
“seats_cabin_coach”: 144
},
{
“ident”: “DAL26”,
“actual_ident”: “”,
“departuretime”: 1465313700,
“arrivaltime”: 1465334700,
“origin”: “KLAX”,
“destination”: “KBOS”,
“aircrafttype”: “B738”,
“meal_service”: “First: Breakfast / Economy: Food for sale”,
“seats_cabin_first”: 16,
“seats_cabin_business”: 0,
“seats_cabin_coach”: 144
},
{
“ident”: “AZA5895”,
“actual_ident”: “DAL26”,
“departuretime”: 1465313700,
“arrivaltime”: 1465334700,
“origin”: “KLAX”,
“destination”: “KBOS”,
“aircrafttype”: “B738”,
“meal_service”: “”,
“seats_cabin_first”: 16,
“seats_cabin_business”: 0,
“seats_cabin_coach”: 144
},
{
“ident”: “VOZ6553”,
“actual_ident”: “DAL26”,
“departuretime”: 1465313700,
“arrivaltime”: 1465334700,
“origin”: “KLAX”,
“destination”: “KBOS”,
“aircrafttype”: “B738”,
“meal_service”: “First: Breakfast / Economy: Food for sale”,
“seats_cabin_first”: 16,
“seats_cabin_business”: 0,
“seats_cabin_coach”: 144
},
{
“ident”: “VIR2203”,
“actual_ident”: “DAL26”,
“departuretime”: 1465313700,
“arrivaltime”: 1465334700,
“origin”: “KLAX”,
“destination”: “KBOS”,
“aircrafttype”: “B738”,
“meal_service”: “First: Food for sale / Economy: Food for sale”,
“seats_cabin_first”: 16,
“seats_cabin_business”: 0,
“seats_cabin_coach”: 144
},
{
“ident”: “AFR2153”,
“actual_ident”: “DAL26”,
“departuretime”: 1465313700,
“arrivaltime”: 1465334700,
“origin”: “KLAX”,
“destination”: “KBOS”,
“aircrafttype”: “B738”,
“meal_service”: “First: Breakfast / Economy: Food for sale”,
“seats_cabin_first”: 16,
“seats_cabin_business”: 0,
“seats_cabin_coach”: 144
},
{
“ident”: “AFR3655”,
“actual_ident”: “DAL26”,
“departuretime”: 1465341720,
“arrivaltime”: 1465367100,
“origin”: “KBOS”,
“destination”: “LFPG”,
“aircrafttype”: “B764”,
“meal_service”: “Business: Dinner / Economy: Dinner”,
“seats_cabin_first”: 0,
“seats_cabin_business”: 40,
“seats_cabin_coach”: 206
}
]
}
}

2

Their published flight schedule for this month still actually shows that BOS-CDG segment as operating, however our website automatically hides those flights because every instance is cancelled administratively since they never departs.

Presumably the decision by Delta to discontinue that flight was made with shorter notice than usual, since they were unable to get it removed from the published schedule database that is sent to all participating data subscribers.

This is operating as designed and simply reflects the nature of the industry’s schedule publishing.

3

then why is it not returning the flights departing from ATL?

4

The ATL flights for DAL26 are not currently in their published schedules. The flight plans for those are received by us each day, just prior to the flight rather than in their published monthly schedules. There will be an update to the published scheduled this weekend, which may or may not include those updates.

Keep in mind that there are several sources where we get flight plan information from:

  1. Published monthly schedules (these are distributed once per month for all major airlines worldwide). Since these are received up to a month ahead of time for all flights planned to be made for the next 6-12 months, much of the information is very speculative and subject to change.

  2. Airline flight activity (these messages originate from the airline and are aggregated to use via a data partner). These are received the day of the flight and as the flight departs and lands.

  3. An air navigation service provider (ANSP) for locations involving our primary coverage areas. We receive details about the flight from the FAA usually 1-4 hours prior to the departure time, and as the flight departs and lands.

  4. Other sources, such as satellite datalink and ADS-B are used to augment positions for flights.

The AirlineFlightSchedule function only looks at item 1, the published monthly schedules. If you need more timely and up-to-date information on a near-term time scale, then FlightInfoEx can be used to query the combined view of all of the latest data.