Wondering where a flight is right now? Watch aircraft move across the sky in real time, track any flight by its number, and see what is passing overhead — free, from the travel experts at Pavlus.
Works with the number on your ticket (WN56, BA117, DL1234) or a tail number (N877US) · opens on our flight-tracking site
Positions refresh while you watch · page loaded Sep 18, 2026 at 08:52 UTC
Almost every aircraft in the sky broadcasts its own position, altitude, speed and heading several times a second over ADS‑B — a signal anyone with a receiver can hear. A worldwide network of volunteers listens for it and publishes what it hears openly, and this map plots that feed live. Nothing here is estimated or simulated: every aircraft you can see is one that reported where it was, seconds ago.
Tap any aircraft to open its details — the airline and flight number, what type it is, how high and how fast it is flying, and where it took off from and is heading, with how far along the journey it has come. Drag the map to look anywhere, or use Planes above me to point it at wherever you happen to be standing.
No account, no app, no fee — the whole tracker works right on this page.
Exactly as it appears on the boarding pass — “UA2402,” “WN56,” “BA117.” We translate it to the callsign the aircraft actually transmits, which is rarely the same thing, and find it in the live feed.
The detail panel leads with where the flight came from and where it is going, and how far along it is. Every route is checked against the aircraft’s real position first — if the two disagree we show you nothing rather than a confident guess.
The map refreshes about every thirty seconds and pauses when you switch tabs, so you can leave it open while you wait. Gold aircraft are airborne and point the way they are flying; muted ones are on the ground.
Tracking a ship rather than a plane? Our live cruise ship tracker does the same for 450+ ocean and river cruise ships.
Every airport has its own live board on our flight-tracking site: what is in the air around it right now, what is on the ground, and which airlines are working it this hour.
The airports our travelers connect through on the way to a Mediterranean cruise, a Danube sailing or a European tour.
Follow one carrier instead of the whole sky — every aircraft of theirs currently reporting, with the route each one is flying.
Type the flight number off your boarding pass — "UA2402", "WN56", "BA117" — into the search box on this page. We translate it to the callsign the aircraft actually broadcasts, find it on the live map, and show you where it is, how high it is flying and how fast. You can also just drag the map and tap any aircraft you see.
Completely free. No account, no sign-up, no app to install. Pavlus Travel publishes it for the same reason we publish our live cruise ship tracker: the people who watch aircraft are usually the people about to travel, and when you are ready to book a trip we would like the chance to quote you.
From ADS-B — the signal aircraft broadcast continuously with their position, altitude, speed and heading. It is picked up by a worldwide network of volunteer ground receivers and published openly by adsb.lol and adsb.fi, which is where we read it. Nothing on this map is estimated; every aircraft you see is one that reported its own position.
ADS-B is line-of-sight to a ground receiver, so coverage follows where people live. Over mid-ocean, polar routes and empty terrain there is often no receiver in range and the aircraft simply is not heard until it comes back within reach of land. A gap on the map over the Atlantic is a gap in coverage, not a missing aeroplane.
Because aircraft broadcast where they are, not where they are going — origin and destination come from a separate flight database. We check every route we are given against where the aircraft actually is, and if the two do not agree we show you no route rather than the wrong one. Airlines reuse flight numbers across different city pairs, and a confidently wrong answer is worse than none.
The map refreshes about every thirty seconds while you are watching it, and each position is typically a few seconds to a minute old at the moment it reaches us. It pauses when you switch tabs and picks up again the moment you come back, so you are never looking at a frame from ten minutes ago without knowing it.
Yes — this page is built for it. One finger drags the map, tapping an aircraft slides its details up from the bottom of the screen with the route as the headline, and "Planes above me" points the map at wherever you are standing. Nothing to download.
The trip, yes — we are a full-service travel agency, and we book the hotels, cruises, river cruises and escorted tours that flights get people to. We do not sell airline tickets on their own. Pavlus Travel has negotiated travel pricing for over 30 years, guarantees the lowest price on every cruise line we sell, and charges no booking fees. Call 1-800-528-9300 and we will put a quote together.
Aircraft positions from adsb.lol and adsb.fi under ODbL · airport data from OurAirports · airline data from OpenFlights · map © MapTiler © OpenStreetMap contributors.
ADS‑B coverage depends on volunteer receivers and is sparse over oceans and remote terrain. Provided for general interest — not for flight planning or navigation. Pavlus Travel is not affiliated with any airline and does not sell airline tickets.