TikTok travel hack lets friends and family track your flight in real-time

A hack that has been making the rounds on TikTok shows how people can track their loved ones’ flights with a simple iPhone message.

Many websites, such as FlightRadar24, can track flights, but the social media hack could make the process more streamlined and easy for people on the go.

All a passenger has to do before boarding a plane is send the airline’s name and their flight number via iMessage to allow the recipient to follow the progress of their journey.

Travel content creator Jade – who uses the TikTok handle @live_thedash – demonstrated the trick, that she called “the best iPhone travel hack you never knew about”.

She added: “All you need is your airline and your flight number and send it in an iMessage ... Wherever you’re going try it next time!”

In her video, that has racked up more than seven million views, she used a Ryanair flight from Manchester to Dublin as an example. She sent “Ryanair FR553” in a iMessage text.

The received message shows the airline name and flight number underlined. If your friend or family member clicks the underlined message, they are given the options to “copy code” or “preview flight”.

Clicking “preview flight” brings up a map that allows the course of the plane’s journey to be followed in real-time.

The information offered includes the departure time, estimated arrival time, and the duration of the flight.

Some TikTokers pointed out that it was not necessary to include the airline’s name in the message and that the hack works just by sending the flight number.

The Independent tried out the hack and found that it consistently works when including the airline’s name.

But sending just the flight number doesn’t work for a number of journeys on airlines including – but not limited to – Air India, Cathay Pacific, Ryanair, and Virgin Atlantic.