Hi everyone — Contrail developer here! Thanks travelingdrsuz for the kind shoutout 🙏
To answer the original question: yes, FR24 has been steadily moving more features behind paid tiers, and the ad density on the free version has gotten pretty aggressive. That’s actually exactly why I built Contrail — I wanted a clean, ad-free flight tracker without subscriptions or accounts.
Quick overview:
• Free, no ads, no account required
• Real-time flight tracking with route, airline, aircraft type, gate info, and delays
• Airport arrivals/departures boards with scheduled vs. actual times
• Available on iOS (App Store), Android in closed beta
Coverage comes from open community ADS-B feeds plus paid APIs for enriched flight details. It won’t match FR24’s coverage everywhere yet (they have their own feeder network), but it’s growing.
Happy to answer any questions, and feedback from frequent flyers is always welcome!