Any current promos for lifetime subscription? With the annual down to $48 temporarily, pulling the trigger on lifetime at more than 5x is tough. is the rate of $48/year locked in if we buy now?

We don’t do promos. Price is same for everyone. We compete on features and quality, not price.

I use to subscribe monthly and even on an annual basis. The lifetime option wasn't available at the time.

My biggest worry is that another tier will be created in the future and the existing owners won't be able to get the new features.

I asked because the app is asking for my email address to be notified for when you guys run promos.

We're very aware of how *most* apps screw users. If there arose a reason we *needed* a higher tier, you'd only have to pay the difference, and the only reason I can even think of at the moment is if some users needed insane quantities of certain features – like email forwarding, or friends, or other future stuff – to the point where they clearly need/love the app but their usage is insanely high so they'd need to pay for that. Sitting here now, I don't foresee that.

Hopefully the fact we have no ads, no tracking, unlimited free plan, don't require your email, have a no credit card free trial, etc illustrates that I don't want to run the company that way.

...well, that's not entirely fair framing.

The truth is we have an optional, one-time, not-linked-to-your-data banner that you can input your email if you want to hear about updates, promos, or give feedback first.

And there are "promos" other than discounts. For example, in past years we unlocked Flighty Pro on all Thanksgiving flights, to help folks weather thanksgiving travel.

I'm not trying to be rude, but didn't you frame things a little differently where you completely rule out "screwing" over existing users in your reasoning on you how arrived at the lifetime pricing a couple of years ago? I've lost track how many times I have already been screwed where my "lifetime" license wasn't "lifetime". I have a camera app that introduced new features and requires me to either pay an annual fee to use it or pay another "one-time" fee.

I'm happy to see how your app evolved over the years. There are definitely more features now and seems more polished. I've been busy and I can't remember if you had ever looked into the issue that ultimately led me to conclude that I can't singularly rely on your app for flight departures. I think there have been some reports from other FTers over the years that also mention something like that? That's why I didn't re-subscribe to your app last year when I flew more than any other time in my life. I don't have the exact stats with me at the moment, but it was north of 300,000 miles and close to 100 segments across several airlines.

No worries, me neither! But, I’m a little lost tbh.

I’m saying that I don’t foresee it, and we priced lifetime to avoid it, and we have a good reputation, and my word is important to me.

But for example if we create a higher tier that allows travel agents to have clients or crazy high users to forward 200 emails a month, are you going to expect to get that for free cuz you bought Lifetime? I don’t know.

(This would have been much easier if I just promised we would never do that no matter what, and then ask for forgiveness later, like every other company does. Ha!)

When people buy a "lifetime" license, they're assuming they're going to get updates and new features for free. Of course, nothing in life is ever truly free, but it comes across as dishonest. If you create a new tier with more features and stop adding new features to older tiers, then it does kind of render the "lifetime" license meaningless. The only way that might work is if you still update the app so that it'll continue to work on the latest Apple OS. Personally, I've been burned enough that it's hard to believe there is ever truly a "lifetime" license.

Ya, that’s fishy. Hopefully it’s clear we would not do that. (Hopefully any company that does that is doing it for a literal crisis and explains it. Such as “we will shutdown next month if we don’t”.)

I do agree with you – Lifetime is a risk as a user, no matter what. I know people hate subscriptions, but they have upsides too.

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I think Pixelmator did something like that recently and it pissed me off. I did buy a license way back. Ultimately I just went back to Adobe even if they're not the best company in the world. If I'm going to subscribe, I rather go with a company that has the resources to put out the best possible product.

It might not make business sense, but I think it would be ethical to perhaps put a disclaimer that you reserve the right to create a new tier with even more features and that "lifetime" may not be what "lifetime" means to an average Joe. I appreciate honesty more than anything.

I hate subscriptions, but at least I know I wasn't scammed into thinking I was truly getting a lifetime license. Who knows if your app will still exist a decade from now?

There will always be companies that push the boundaries on monetizing. I think about your suggestions. The best I can do is operate mine with a balance of what it needs and how I’d want it as a user.

Appreciate the candid convo and support over the years.

Hey,

concerning to the discussion, I also have a question about future features.

Will there ever be a kind of comparison of the booking number if there are changes within a booking (e.g. flight times, rebooking)?
On the other hand - what does entering the booking reference do?

Will anytime show when boarding is open, ongoing or closing? (If there are meaningful interfaces here) - I like the live activities and looking more to the smartphone instead of the display in the airport.

Will it ever be possible to book the monthly membership again?

I was hoping this tool would show the actual flight path, but it seems like it’s just using the great circle path. Is the actual path not available?

With the big caveat that Future features is a trap to discuss – it can change at any time, and externally you just get frustrated with us, but there's (usually) a good reason for that change. With that caveat...

1. Booking numbers: I wish! This would be so much simpler, and we woudl LOVE to have access to that. Alas, as far as I know they are highly protected after 9/11. Entering it into Flighty (or using one of our auto import methods) lets it be shown in relevant push alerts (check in), at relevant times (in the Live Activity during check in times), in the calendar, etc.

2. Boarding opening/closing: This data is not reporting centrally anywhere, and quite variable based on the gate agents whims, but we are working on solutions. Can you clarify "If there are meaningful interfaces here"?

3. Monthly: It's being phased out, so you may see it here and there but not long term

It's included and free. And we have quite good coverage. You get a push alert (Pro) when it's posted, and it "just appears" in the app. Pro users also see the inbound plane's actual flight path on the map too, with live location.

I tried Flighty (mostly with European flights) a while back and had some reliability issue. Since I have a bunch of US flights coming up this week I figured I'll get a monthly subscription to check what it's like now esp in the US.
I can see the 'Month-to-Month Flight Pro $5.99' option on the App Store website, but the Euro based store for Germany doesn't have any monthly plans in-app that I could purchase. Is there a way for Europeans to purchase one month subscription? The app only offers an annual package.