Checking flight routing before booking

Checking flight routing before booking - Top view of crop anonymous person holding toy airplane on colorful world map drawn on chalkboard

With the recent incident with a flight being shot down over Ukraine it seems like a good idea to check where flights are flying before booking.

Is there a way to tell what route a flight will take before booking the ticket? Or something that lets you know if a flight is going to fly over a warzone or anywhere else dangerous?



Best Answer

Since pilots can and do change routes all the time (based among other things on the weather and instructions from traffic control), it's impossible to know long in advance. Airlines also evaluate risks themselves and make changes accordingly.

What you could do is use some tracking system like FlightAware to see what route a given flight has been using in the last few days but it provides no guarantee. In fact, I heard that several airlines announced they would not fly over (part of) the Ukraine anymore (which also means that if you would have booked a ticket a few weeks ago, you might very well find yourself flying a completely different route than could be expected when booking).




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Can you see flight number before booking?

Every flight that departs from an airport has a unique flight number. This will be sent to you on your booking confirmation and can be found on your boarding-pass.

What is checking in before a flight?

Airport check-in is the process whereby an airline approves airplane passengers to board an airplane for a flight. Airlines typically use service counters found at airports for this process, and the check-in is normally handled by an airline itself or a handling agent working on behalf of an airline.

How do I track a flight route?

The 9 Best Airline Flight Path Tracking Sites and Apps
  • FlightStats.
  • FlightAware Flight Tracker.
  • FlightRadar24.
  • FlightView.
  • Plane Finder.
  • Flight Arrivals.
  • Google.


  • What is routing in flight?

    A routing is a sequence of flight covered by a single airplane. A rotation is a routing that starts and ends at the same location. Each airplane has to visit a maintenance station at regular intervals. Maintenance are performed in several airports called base at night.



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    Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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