Flight alert benchmark: TripWaffle vs Flighty

Scoreboard

Per alert type: how many flights each app alerted on, who was first when both did, and each app's median timing against the aircraft. A gate change is measured before scheduled departure, a delay before pushback, landed and baggage after touchdown.

"Flights" counts flights where at least one app sent that alert. "First" is scored only on flights where both apps alerted. "Skipped" is a delay TripWaffle saw and held because it was under 15 minutes, its alert threshold. Medians are over each app's own alerts.

Every flight

Newest first. Each cell is how far the alert landed from what the aircraft did. Green is the earlier app. A dash means that app sent no such alert. The flight row carries the outcome so you can judge whether an alert was owed at all.

How we measure

• One device, both apps. TripWaffle and Flighty run side by side on one device. Every delivered notification is read from the operating system's own notification log, with the delivery time the operating system recorded. Neither app is told it is being measured.
• The same flights. Real, scheduled flights across airlines and regions are added to both apps well ahead of departure, a few each day, so the set is not picked for a result.
• Judged against the aircraft, not against each other. Each alert is measured from the event it describes: a gate change from the scheduled departure, a delay from the recorded pushback, landed and baggage from the recorded touchdown. Both apps' alerts sit on that one clock. Who was first is a by-product.
• Delivery time, not send time. TripWaffle's own send log is paired with what the device saw, and the device time is what counts. A push we sent that never arrived counts as no alert.
• First alert per type per flight. Flighty's first gate notification is its gate reveal about five hours out, whatever it is titled, so its second gate notification counts as the change. TripWaffle only sends a change, so its first counts. A baggage alert that names the belt also counts as the landed alert on both apps.
• A flight appears once it has settled: on blocks for 90 minutes, or touched down for two hours, or cancelled with the departure 90 minutes past, or six hours past its scheduled arrival with no actual time at all.

What we do not compare

Only alerts both apps send by design are scored. These are left out, and the reason is stated so the omission is not mistaken for a loss:

• Boarding soon: TripWaffle sends one, Flighty does not, so there is nothing to race.
• Took off, arrives at gate in one hour, arrived at gate, flight plan filed: Flighty sends these, TripWaffle does not by design.
• First gate assignment: TripWaffle does not push a first gate on its own; only a change is scored.
• Storm-risk forecasts: TripWaffle warns the evening before when thunderstorms are forecast at the departure airport, and withdraws the warning if they clear. Flighty has nothing comparable, so it is not scored and does not count as a delay alert.
• Delays under 15 minutes: TripWaffle does not alert them. Such a flight shows "skipped" in TripWaffle's delay cell and Flighty's alert, if any, stands.
• Notification wording: this page publishes alert types and timings only, never the text of either app's notifications.

Known limits

• The reference times (pushback, touchdown) come from the same flight-data sources TripWaffle uses. When a source records touchdown late, both apps can appear to alert "before" it; the record is late, not the alerts early.
• Alerts are attributed to flights by flight number and route. A rare mismatch would put an alert on the wrong flight; the attribution rules are reviewed in every audit round and corrected when found.
• Some airports publish no baggage belt; neither app can alert one there.
• This is TripWaffle's own benchmark. The method, the exclusions and every row are published so the reading can be checked, but the rig is ours.

Looking for a Flighty alternative on Android?

Flighty is an iPhone app with a paid tier. TripWaffle is free, runs on Android and iOS, and sends the alerts scored above: gate changes, delays, landed, baggage belt, plus a boarding-soon push and a pre-flight brief. The table is the honest answer to how the two compare on timing; read it before deciding.

Reuse

This page is free to read, link to and quote with attribution. Cite it as "TripWaffle flight alert benchmark, as of 2026-09-11" with a link to this URL; the figures change as flights settle.