Airport Hack From a Former Airline Employee Will Make Your Experience Stress-free

• Electronic boarding passes don’t always update with the latest flight information.
• This airline employee-approved travel hack eliminates these worries, using an app everyone has on their phone.
• It’s one of many creative tips social media users are uncovering to make flying easier.

A time-saving travel hack is going viral on social media. 

Frequent travelers may have experienced the frustration of having an outdated gate or departure time displayed on a travel document or boarding pass, whether paper or stored on their phone. Now, a viral TikTok post is providing an easy way to correct this, and ensure the updated and correct information is always just a swipe away. 

As shared in a TikTok with over 2 million views, airline passengers text themselves their flight number on the morning of a flight’s departure which generates a quick link. When the link is tapped, the flight route, inbound aircraft, gate, baggage claim carousel number, and other helpful information is displayed on the screen. Best of all, the flight information is updated in real-time, giving up-to-date information.

“This is my number one flight hack, besides getting precheck,” social media influencer known as Darby shared in the December 2024 video. (The social media post was made by a content creator named durbinmalonster, or Darby for short. The former airline employee publishes social media videos with travel tips from when she worked at an airline.)

The flight number needs to be in a specific format for the flight link to properly generate. For example, American flights use the code AA, United flights use the code UA, and Delta flights use the code DL. Other airlines use less obvious codes, for example, Southwest Airlines uses the code WN.

Next, if the flight number was 35, the text would be AA35, or DL35 depending on the airline. This helps keep the information relevant without updating or refreshing an airline’s app. 

In the example and screenshots the creator shares, she uses Apple’s iMessage which generates a card from the flight number. Darby says she also uses the flight hyperlink for family and friends, so that they can get current information when picking her up. 

“I have NEVER known this,” one TikTok user shared in a comment. “Best hack ever indeed,” another TikTok user commented. 

Travelers have found an endless number of ways to save time and make the flying experience more enjoyable. For example, another viral social media travel hack utilizes the airplane sickness bag to make a holder for a phone to make entertainment viewing easier.