Any idea why the aircraft type in this call is sometimes B738 and sometimes A320? Info shows wrong on the website but other providers are showing this tail as consistently an A320:
http://flightxml.flightaware.com/json/FlightXML2/FlightInfoEx?ident=OE-LMB&howMany=30
“faFlightID”: “RYR7349-1598095620-schedule-0036”,
“ident”: “RYR7349”,
“aircrafttype”: “B738”,
“faFlightID”: “RYR728A-1598164355-ed-0006”,
“ident”: “RYR728A”,
“aircrafttype”: “A320”,
I’m not FlightAware staff, but have worked with the API extensively for several years; FlightAware passes along the ICAO type that’s provided from with the flight information without applying any corrections to it; as such, the aircrafttype cannot be trusted 100% of the time. If your application requires reliable type information, I recommend you apply some filters/logic of your own, either with a database that correlates tail/registration to type, or using logic such as “Ryanair is going to be a 737 family no matter what.”
… that said, generally the aircraft type is fairly reliable, but it seems to vary based on the practices of the operator providing the data. Here in the States we have trouble with Southwest and their 737 subtypes, as well as UPS and the 747 variants.
That’s helpful. Thank you.