inFlightInfo returning previous flight, not current

FlightAware AeroAPI
1

Querying the FlightInfoEx with tail number we get a list of flights, amongst which there is the current flight that is on air.

When we query details about the current flight from inFlightInfo using the ident field, we occasionally get details about the previous flight.

Details below:
Data structure we get from FlightInfoEx with tailnumber OH-LWF. Notice that actualDepartureTs exists and the flight is on air.

ident: ‘FIN58’,
faFlightID: ‘FIN58-1500686400-schedule-0000:0’,
actualDepartureTs: 1500860501,
estimatedArrivalTs: 1500892680,
estimatedArrivalTime: ‘13:38’,
actualArrivalTs: 0,
actualArrivalTime: null,
destinationCity: ‘Helsinki’,
originCode: ‘ZSPD’,
destinationCode: ‘EFHK’,
nextFlight: null

Then we query the inFlightInfo end point with ident FIN58 and get this:

faFlightID: ‘FIN58-1500600000-schedule-0000:0’,
ident: ‘FIN58’,
prefix: ‘’,
type: ‘A359’,
suffix: ‘’,
origin: ‘ZSPD’,
destination: ‘EFHK’,
timeout: ‘timed_out’,
timestamp: 1500806654,
departureTime: 1500775060,
firstPositionTime: 1500775060,
arrivalTime: 1500806719,
longitude: 0,
latitude: 0,
lowLongitude: 24.96001,
lowLatitude: 30.96497,
highLongitude: 121.82866,
highLatitude: 65.77706,
groundspeed: 0,
altitude: 0,
heading: 0,
altitudeStatus: ‘’,
updateType: ‘’,
altitudeChange: ‘’,
waypoints: ‘’

That is Yesterdays flight. Then when we queried this again it started returning the current flight. So the inFlightInfo endpoint seems unreliable? Is there something we are doing wrong here? Or is there some other more reliable method of getting the information about current flight?

2

This is a known bug with inFlightInfo. We just figured out the source of the problem and we’re working on getting a solution rolled out soon that we believe will solve the problem. As an interim solution you can use SearchBirdseyeInFlight with more constraining query to ensure that you get the flight you want (for example set {> actualDepartureTime 1502182800} {ident FIN58} to get FIN58 flights that departed after 4am this morning CDT).

3

Any update on the solution roll out for this? We’d appreciate if there’s any estimate on expected date for the fix. The original problem if reoccurring very often now in the inFlightInfo API.

4

We have a solution ready to deploy, and it will go out Monday morning. So by lunch time Monday this should be resolved.