Scheduled, estimated, departed, landed, arrived: flight status terms explained

Flight status pages mix a lot of terms. The short version: scheduled is the time on your ticket, estimated is the current prediction, and actual is what happened. And your plane lands at the runway before it arrives at the gate, which can be several minutes later at a big airport.

Scheduled, estimated, actual

Departed isn't wheels off, landed isn't arrived

The FAA and airlines record four moments for every flight, sometimes called "out, off, on, in":

1. Gate out: the plane leaves the gate. Officially, when the pilot releases the parking brake after the doors are closed.
2. Wheels off: takeoff. The time between gate out and wheels off is taxi-out, which at a busy airport can be long.
3. Wheels on: touchdown on the runway. The time between wheels off and wheels on is air time.
4. Gate in: the plane parks at the gate, when the pilot sets the parking brake. The time between wheels on and gate in is taxi-in.

So when a status says "landed", you're usually still taxiing. "Arrived" or "at gate" is when you can start getting off, which matters on a tight connection.

What "on time" means in the US

For US statistics, a flight is on time if it arrives at the gate less than 15 minutes after its scheduled arrival, and late if it's 15 minutes or more behind. It's measured at the gate, not the runway.

Why a flight is delayed: the official categories

When a US flight arrives 15 minutes or more late, the airline reports why:

• Air carrier: something within the airline's control, such as crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage loading or fueling.
• Extreme weather: significant weather that prevents or delays the flight, such as thunderstorms, snowstorms, hurricanes or de-icing.
• National aviation system: non-extreme weather, airport operations, heavy traffic and air traffic control.
• Late-arriving aircraft: the same plane arrived late from its previous flight. See where is my plane coming from?
• Security: evacuations, security breaches, screening equipment problems or very long screening lines.

From October 19, 2026, a new reporting category takes ten specific types of events out of the airline category, so delay-cause statistics before and after that date won't compare directly.

Estimated times in the air, without Wi-Fi

Status pages update from live data, so without Wi-Fi they stop updating in flight. FlyingOver saves your flight before takeoff and, in airplane mode, keeps estimating your progress and arrival from the route and schedule. When you're back online, it updates with live data. Read how to track your flight without Wi-Fi.