How does flight tracking actually work?
Live flight data flows from a mix of FAA SWIM feeds, aircraft ADS-B transponders, and commercial aggregators (FlightAware, FlightRadar24). Every commercial aircraft above a certain weight class broadcasts a position signal every few seconds that includes altitude, heading, groundspeed, and a tail-number identifier. A chauffeur dispatch subscribed to the data feed can track your specific tail from push-back at origin through gate-arrival at destination, with status updates ('taxiing', 'climbing', 'cruise', 'descent', 'landed', 'at gate') updating in near-real-time.
What happens to my pickup if the flight is delayed?
Nothing changes on the guest side. The chauffeur stays off-airport until the aircraft hits a defined dispatch threshold (typically 20-30 minutes from gate-arrival, triggered by ADS-B descent + runway-assignment data). If the flight is delayed in the air, the chauffeur isn't paid for the delay because they haven't started the trip. If the flight is delayed on the ground pre-departure, the booking rolls forward automatically. The 60-minute complimentary wait window starts at wheels-down — a 3-hour tarmac delay on arrival doesn't cost you anything beyond the normal fare.
What if my flight diverts to a different airport?
Diversions are an operational edge case — a weather divert from SFO to OAK or SJC, for example. Flight tracking surfaces the diversion within 1-2 minutes of the new routing decision. Chauffyr's dispatch sees it, calls the client (or the executive assistant), and either re-routes a car to the diversion airport or holds the original car depending on the aircraft's planned re-release. Rideshare apps and self-booked car services have no mechanism for this — the booking lives on your phone, the vehicle is tied to the original pickup location, and the burden is on you to cancel and re-book from a terminal with no cell signal.
What's the difference between flight tracking and 'we'll check your flight before pickup'?
Flight tracking is continuous. 'Checking the flight' is a one-time poll at a set time before pickup, usually 2-4 hours in advance. The difference matters when a flight is delayed intermittently — pushes back from the gate, holds short, taxis back to the gate for a maintenance issue, pushes back again — a scenario that no single-poll check will catch. Continuous flight tracking surfaces every state change and keeps the dispatch system aware of actual position, not scheduled position. For a 23:00 red-eye arrival that lands at 02:30 after a mechanical, the difference is a car in the livery lot at 02:30 versus a chauffeur who left for the night at 23:30 because the scheduled time said 23:00.
Does flight tracking work for private jets?
Yes, with a different data source. Private aircraft broadcast ADS-B just like commercial aircraft, and FBO (fixed-base operator) ramps publish tail-number tracking to their partner ground-transportation vendors. Chauffyr tracks private-aviation tails through the same dispatch pipeline — the car is planeside on taxi-in, not at the terminal curb. For NAPA / APC, SFO's Signature and Jet Aviation FBOs, Hayward Executive (HWD), and Livermore (LVK), tail-number-to-FBO-ramp tracking is standard.
