Feature

Inbound aircraft alerts: see a delay coming before it's announced

By Joel Hanson, who builds Wheels Up · October 30, 2026

View from an airport terminal window of a plane docked at the gate under a clear blue sky — Photo: Blackcurrant Great on Pexels

In one line: Wheels Up finds the plane that's flying in to operate your flight, alerts you if it's running late, and tells you when it has landed and is turning around for you.

Your flight can't leave until its plane arrives. If that plane is stuck on an earlier flight, your departure board can still say "on time" while the delay is already baked in. Inbound aircraft alerts watch that earlier flight for you.

10.2% of US flights in August 2026 were late because the plane arrived late from its previous flight, the most of any delay cause that month (US Bureau of Transportation Statistics).

What you get

For every flight you've saved, Wheels Up can send three alerts about the plane that's coming in to fly it:

Alert	When it arrives
Inbound aircraft known	As soon as the flight before yours on the same plane is identified.
Inbound aircraft is delayed	If that earlier flight is running 15 minutes or more late. The alert says by how much: "The aircraft flying in to operate this flight is running 40m late."
Aircraft has arrived	When the inbound plane lands: "The inbound aircraft has landed and is ready to turn around for this flight."

The delay figure in the example changes with your flight.

You can also see the plane on the map before your flight leaves. On the Home screen, Wheels Up shows your assigned aircraft while it's still flying in on its previous flight, or parked at your departure airport once it has landed. You get a one-off notification the first time it appears, for example "It's flying in to operate QF144. Tap to follow it live."

How it works

Most planes fly several flights a day, back to back. US airlines report this kind of delay under its own cause, late-arriving aircraft, defined in federal rules as "a late incoming aircraft from the previous flight". For more on why this happens and why it gets worse through the day, see what "delayed due to late inbound aircraft" means.

Wheels Up uses flight data from FlightAware, which links each flight to the earlier flight flown by the same aircraft. When that link appears, Wheels Up starts checking the earlier flight alongside yours. If its delay reaches 15 minutes, the same mark the US government uses to count a flight as late, you get the delay alert. Each alert is sent once per flight, so you won't get pinged every time the minutes tick up.

When it helps most

Check the inbound plane when…

You have a tight connection after this flight and need a head start on other options.
You're picking someone up, and want to know before you leave home whether their flight will go on time.
It's an evening departure, when the plane has usually flown several flights already that day.
The departure board says "on time" but there's no plane at the gate close to boarding.

The head start is the point. Travel writer Ben Schlappig notes that a flight can show as on time even when no aircraft is at the gate. Knowing first gives you time to look at other flights or call the airline before the rest of the gate does. If it turns into a cancellation, here's what to do at the airport, in order.

Honest limits

A late inbound plane isn't a guaranteed delay. Airlines can swap aircraft, especially at their hubs, so your flight may leave on a different plane. The alert is an early warning, not a final answer.
It isn't available for every flight, or every time. The previous flight is often only known fairly close to departure, and FlightAware staff have said some flights can be missing the inbound link "for various reasons". When there's no link, there's no inbound alert.
Your airline is still the final word. Boarding times, gates and the actual departure time come from the airline. Always follow its announcements.
You can do this by hand. FlightAware's "Track inbound plane" button, Flightradar24 and some airline status pages show the inbound flight too. Wheels Up's difference is that it watches it for you and tells you when something changes.

Delay figures are for US airlines reporting to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics in August 2026. Patterns differ by airline, airport and season.

Questions people ask

If the inbound plane is late, will my flight definitely be delayed?

Not always. At a hub the airline may swap in a different aircraft, and a short delay can sometimes be made up on the ground. Treat the alert as an early warning and keep an eye on your own flight's status.

How early can I see where my plane is?

It depends on when the airline assigns an aircraft to your flight. Wheels Up starts looking for your plane on the map from up to 48 hours before departure, but for many flights the aircraft isn't known until much closer to the day.

Do I need to turn inbound alerts on?

No. They're part of Wheels Up's flight alerts for any flight you've saved. You get them as long as notifications are allowed for the app.