Decide which question you need answered
“Is the airport delayed?” and “When will this passenger arrive?” are not interchangeable questions. The FAA airport-status FAQ explains the limits of its airport information. An airport advisory describes an operating constraint affecting traffic; a carrier's flight page describes a particular service. Start with the question rather than choosing whichever website has the newest-looking map. For a pickup, your useful record needs the actual airport, service date and operating flight, not only a city name.
Keep estimates and observations in separate columns
A scheduled arrival is a plan, an estimated arrival is a prediction, and an observed position is a report from somewhere along a journey. Write those labels beside the times you compare. If a carrier revises its estimate, preserve the newer update without rewriting the earlier observation. If PocketWorld displays a stale position, refreshing your browser does not turn it into a fresh measurement. Where no matching position is available, leave that column empty rather than assigning the aircraft to its scheduled location.
Landing is not the same event as gate arrival
US airline performance records distinguish wheels-on and gate-arrival fields, as shown in the BTS reporting directive. That distinction is useful when two services appear to disagree about “arrival.” Check the displayed event label before comparing clock times. A map position near a runway is not a gate assignment, and it says nothing about when a passenger will reach a meeting point. Do not build a collection plan around an unlabeled arrival time.
Match the service before judging a discrepancy
Compare the departure date, origin, destination and operating airline. A marketing flight number can refer to another airline's operation; the US Department of Transportation's code-sharing overview explains that relationship. Two flight numbers are not automatically two aircraft. An overnight journey can also appear under different local dates at its endpoints. These checks often resolve apparent contradictions before any conclusion about a faulty tracker is justified.
A practical pickup workflow
Use the airline's current passenger-facing status as the starting point, then use official airport information for the relevant terminal and local arrangements. Read FAA advisories for broader disruption context. Open PocketWorld if you want to explore available aircraft reports or understand the geography between airports. Keep a note of when each source was checked and what remains unknown. This guide does not provide a live status feed, guarantee an arrival estimate or replace direct airline advice; its purpose is to prevent different records from being mistaken for competing versions of the same event.
Data sources
Official references are linked beside the explanations above. This educational guide does not provide current flight status, navigation, dispatch or safety advice.