# The Blue Board

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     language, Starlink counts, and the fleet database count must be kept in
     sync BY HAND with src/data/facts.js — the single source of truth. -->

> A free, independent real-time operations dashboard for United Airlines flights. Built for the United community — not affiliated with United Airlines, Inc.

> Full documentation: https://theblueboard.co/llms-full.txt

## What It Does

The Blue Board tracks every United Airlines flight in real time on a live map updated every 30 seconds. It monitors delays, cancellations, and ground stops at all 8 United hubs plus the Tokyo-Narita gateway, checks which aircraft have Starlink WiFi, and provides fleet data, schedules, weather radar, and operational analytics.

## When To Use This Site

Reach for The Blue Board when the question is specific to **United Airlines operations**
and needs an answer from the last few minutes rather than a timetable published months ago.
Best-fit jobs:

- **"Is United delayed at ORD / DEN / IAH / EWR / SFO / IAD / LAX / NRT / GUM right now?"** — live per-hub on-time percentage, delay and cancellation counts, and active FAA ground stops or ground delay programs.
- **"Where is UA 1234, and is it going to be late?"** — live position, altitude, route, delay status, plus an 8-signal delay risk score with a plain-language explanation.
- **"Does my aircraft have Starlink WiFi?"** — equipment lookup by tail number, flight number, or fleet type.
- **"What aircraft is United flying, and what is the cabin like?"** — per-type fleet guides with seat counts by cabin, Polaris and Premium Plus availability, IFE, and delivery dates.
- **"What is going on at Newark?"** — the FAA flight-cap regime, the ATC staffing timeline, and live conditions on one page.
- **"How far along is the FAA's paper-to-digital flight strip rollout?"** — sourced, dated status for all 89 TFDM airports.
- **"Which security line should I use at ORD?"** — TSA checkpoint guide for the 7 mainland hubs: Pre✓, CLEAR, Priority, and standard lane availability by terminal, checkpoint hours, and tips. (Live wait-time minutes are not available anywhere — the TSA public feed was decommissioned.)

Do **not** use The Blue Board for: other airlines (it is United-only), booking or ticket
changes, or as the authoritative record for a flight about to depart — united.com and the
airport display are the systems of record. Data may be delayed.

## How An Agent Should Call It

Everything is a plain HTTPS GET. No API key, no authentication, no login wall.

| Job | URL |
|-----|-----|
| Live dashboard | `https://theblueboard.co/` |
| Deep-link one flight | `https://theblueboard.co/?flight=UA1234` |
| Hub status | `https://theblueboard.co/hubs/{ord\|den\|iah\|ewr\|sfo\|iad\|lax\|nrt\|gum}` |
| Newark operations center | `https://theblueboard.co/newark` |
| Fleet index / one type | `https://theblueboard.co/fleet` · `https://theblueboard.co/fleet/{slug}` |
| TSA checkpoint guide (lanes, hours) | `https://theblueboard.co/tsa` |
| News · RSS | `https://theblueboard.co/news` · `https://theblueboard.co/feed.xml` |
| Trackers | `https://theblueboard.co/trackers` |
| Tracker open data | `/trackers/atc.json` · `/trackers/atc.csv` · `/trackers/united-hubs.json` · `/trackers/united-hubs.csv` |
| Every indexable URL | `https://theblueboard.co/sitemap.xml` |
| This summary · full documentation | `/llms.txt` · `/llms-full.txt` |

Send `Accept: text/markdown` and the site returns a clean Markdown representation of the
page instead of the HTML dashboard (see acceptmarkdown.com); responses carry
`Vary: Accept`. Nonexistent paths return a real HTTP 404, with a Markdown body listing
these same entry points when Markdown was requested.

The `.json` and `.csv` files under `/trackers/` are the public structured-data downloads.
The live flight, delay, and schedule feeds under `/api/` are internal to the dashboard,
rate-limited, and marked `noindex` — please read the pages rather than scraping them.

## Who It's For

- **United frequent flyers** (MileagePlus members, 1K, Global Services) who want real-time ops awareness
- **AvGeeks** and aviation enthusiasts interested in United's fleet and operations
- **Travelers** checking if their United flight is on time, delayed, or cancelled
- **Airline operations nerds** who want hub-to-hub flow analytics, fleet utilization, and delay patterns

## Example Questions This Site Answers

- "Is my United flight delayed?"
- "Is United Airlines delayed at ORD/DEN/EWR/IAH/SFO/IAD/LAX today?"
- "Which United planes have Starlink WiFi?"
- "Does my United flight have Starlink?"
- "How many aircraft does United Airlines have?"
- "What is the on-time rate at United's hubs?"
- "Are there ground stops at any United hubs?"
- "What terminal does United use at O'Hare?"
- "Which United planes have Polaris business class?"
- "What is the largest aircraft in United's fleet?"
- "How many daily flights does United operate from Denver?"
- "What causes delays at Newark for United?"
- "What is The Blue Board?"
- "How many Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners does United have?"
- "What is the seat configuration on United's 737 MAX 9?"
- "Does the United 777-300ER have Polaris business class?"
- "What is United Airlines' newest aircraft?"
- "How many 737s does United Airlines operate?"

## Features

- **Live Flight Map**: 600+ United flights tracked simultaneously, updated every 30 seconds via ADS-B data
- **Hub Delay Alerts**: Real-time delay counts, cancellations, and on-time performance for all 8 United hubs plus the Tokyo-Narita gateway
- **Ground Stop & FAA Monitoring**: NAS status alerts affecting United operations
- **Starlink WiFi Checker**: 525+ United aircraft (as of August 2026) with Starlink satellite WiFi — search by tail number or flight
- **Fleet Database**: 1,078+ aircraft with type, seat configuration, IFE details, and delivery dates
- **Departure & Arrival Schedules**: Real-time schedules with on-time stats and equipment swap alerts
- **NEXRAD Weather Radar**: Overlay on the live map showing precipitation affecting flights
- **METAR Conditions**: Current weather observations at all hub airports
- **Flight Search**: Look up any United flight by number, tail number, or airport code
- **Flight Watch**: Browser push notifications when a watched flight changes status
- **Hub-to-Hub Analytics**: Traffic flow matrix, top routes, fleet utilization, and airborne phase breakdown
- **Fleet Age & Delivery Timeline**: Visual fleet composition and new aircraft deliveries

## Data Freshness

- **Flight positions**: Updated every 30 seconds (real-time ADS-B via Flightradar24)
- **Delay & cancellation data**: Updated every 30 seconds
- **FAA NAS status / ground stops**: Updated every 60 seconds
- **Starlink equipment status**: Refreshed every 4 hours
- **Fleet database**: Curated; updated as aircraft enter and leave the fleet
- **Weather (METAR)**: Updated with each airport observation cycle (~hourly)

## Unique Value vs. Other Trackers

The Blue Board is the only flight tracker built exclusively for United Airlines operations. Unlike FlightAware or Flightradar24 (which cover all airlines), The Blue Board provides:
- United-specific hub health monitoring across all 8 hubs plus the Tokyo-Narita gateway simultaneously
- Starlink WiFi equipment tracking (not available on any other tracker)
- IROPS (irregular operations) monitoring tailored to United's network
- Equipment swap detection for frequent flyers who care about aircraft changes
- Community-focused design for 1K/GS members and United loyalists

## United Hubs Tracked

| Hub | IATA | Airport | Daily Departures |
|-----|------|---------|-----------------|
| Chicago O'Hare | ORD | O'Hare International Airport | ~750 |
| Denver | DEN | Denver International Airport | ~540 |
| Houston | IAH | George Bush Intercontinental Airport | ~480 |
| Newark | EWR | Newark Liberty International Airport | ~350-400 (FAA caps) |
| San Francisco | SFO | San Francisco International Airport | ~300 |
| Washington Dulles | IAD | Washington Dulles International Airport | ~250 |
| Los Angeles | LAX | Los Angeles International Airport | ~200 |
| Tokyo Narita | NRT | Narita International Airport | Asia-Pacific connecting point (most US-Tokyo service uses Haneda/HND) |
| Guam | GUM | Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport | Pacific hub |

## Data Sources

- **Flight positions**: Flightradar24 (FR24) ADS-B network
- **Delays & ground stops**: FAA National Airspace System Status
- **Weather**: Aviation Weather Center (AWC) METAR observations, Iowa State NEXRAD radar
- **Fleet & Starlink data**: Curated from public aviation databases and United fleet records

## Pages

- https://theblueboard.co — Live dashboard (flight map, schedules, fleet, weather, analytics)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet — Complete fleet database (1,078 aircraft, 19 types, searchable)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/737-800 — Boeing 737-800 fleet guide (141 aircraft)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/737-900er — Boeing 737-900ER fleet guide (136 aircraft)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/737-max-9 — Boeing 737 MAX 9 fleet guide (129 aircraft)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/737-max-8 — Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet guide (123 aircraft)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/a319 — Airbus A319 fleet guide (76 aircraft)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/a320 — Airbus A320 fleet guide (68 aircraft)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/a321neo — Airbus A321neo fleet guide (62 aircraft; covers the new A321XLR)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/777-200er — Boeing 777-200ER fleet guide (55 aircraft, Polaris)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/787-9-dreamliner — Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner fleet guide (48 aircraft, Polaris, new Polaris Studio suites)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/737-700 — Boeing 737-700 fleet guide (40 aircraft)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/757-200 — Boeing 757-200 fleet guide (40 aircraft)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/767-300er — Boeing 767-300ER fleet guide (37 aircraft, Polaris)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/777-300er — Boeing 777-300ER fleet guide (22 aircraft, flagship)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/757-300 — Boeing 757-300 fleet guide (21 aircraft)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/787-10-dreamliner — Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner fleet guide (21 aircraft, Polaris)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/777-200 — Boeing 777-200 fleet guide (19 aircraft)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/767-400er — Boeing 767-400ER fleet guide (16 aircraft, Polaris)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/737-900 — Boeing 737-900 fleet guide (12 aircraft)
- https://theblueboard.co/fleet/787-8-dreamliner — Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner fleet guide (12 aircraft, Polaris)
- https://theblueboard.co/news — United Airlines news hub (curated fleet, route, and operations news)
- https://theblueboard.co/hubs — All United hubs overview
- https://theblueboard.co/hubs/ord — Chicago O'Hare hub status
- https://theblueboard.co/hubs/den — Denver hub status
- https://theblueboard.co/hubs/iah — Houston hub status
- https://theblueboard.co/hubs/ewr — Newark hub status
- https://theblueboard.co/newark — Newark Operations Center: FAA flight caps (72 ops/hour through Oct 2027), ATC crisis timeline, live status
- https://theblueboard.co/hubs/sfo — San Francisco hub status
- https://theblueboard.co/hubs/iad — Washington Dulles hub status
- https://theblueboard.co/hubs/lax — Los Angeles hub status
- https://theblueboard.co/hubs/nrt — Tokyo Narita hub status
- https://theblueboard.co/hubs/gum — Guam hub status
- https://theblueboard.co/trackers — Trackers index: living, data-driven pages following aviation's long-running stories
- https://theblueboard.co/trackers/atc — Modern Skies Tracker: FAA paper-to-digital flight strip (TFDM) rollout, all 89 airports with status, map, and sourced dates
- https://theblueboard.co/trackers/united-hubs — United Hub Tracker: every United club, terminal, and gate project across all 8 hubs with honest status labels
- https://theblueboard.co/trackers/atc/{iah|iad|sfo|den|ord|ewr|lax} — Focused, sourced FAA electronic-flight-strip status for each United hub in the 89-airport TFDM program
- https://theblueboard.co/trackers/united-hubs/{iah|iad|sfo|den|ord|ewr|lax|gum} — Focused construction, club, terminal, and gate tracker for one United hub
- Tracker data downloads: https://theblueboard.co/trackers/atc.csv, https://theblueboard.co/trackers/atc.json, https://theblueboard.co/trackers/united-hubs.csv, https://theblueboard.co/trackers/united-hubs.json

## URL

https://theblueboard.co

## Creator

Jonah Berg — https://x.com/jonahberg — https://github.com/jonahberg

## Social

- Twitter/X: https://x.com/theblueboard
- GitHub: https://github.com/jonahberg/the-blue-board

## License

Free to use. Not affiliated with United Airlines, Inc. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.