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This is a future goal of mine, not a problem I currently face. Hope that doesn't invalidate the question.

I really want to fly aboard the aircraft registered N123AA (this is only a dummy registration standing in for a variety of real registrations that I want to fly on). The airline that operates N123AA operates many aircraft of N123AA's type. These aircraft are cycled through a few routes, so each route is not necessarily flown by the same aircraft each day. That is, a flight from AAA to BBB might be flown by N123AA on Monday and N456BB on Tuesday (as is common). So if I were to simply book AAA-BBB with this airline, I couldn't be sure I'd fly on N123AA.

What I want to do instead is book a flight on N123AA on X date and go wherever it's flying that day! N123AA flies from my local airport in the US to a few major European cities (depending on the route), and I'd be glad to visit any of them (I don't need visas for any of the countries either).

I know I could get tail swapped on the day of the flight, especially since the airline operates lots of other aircraft of the same type. But odds are there would be no swap.

I use Flightradar24 and FlightAware, but they don't work for this purpose. When I search by registration, I can see at most 24 hours into the future, depending on if flight plans have been filed. There is no info on what flight N123AA will be assigned to days/weeks/months in the future.

I also tried to find patterns using these websites, e.g. if N123AA flies AAA-BBB on Mondays and Thursdays, but there doesn't seem to be a pattern.

Not a duplicate of this or this (both on aviation.SE). Those questions ask how to determine the registration of the aircraft that flew a particular route or flight number after the flight has been completed. I need to determine the registration before I book the flight.

There are also multiple questions on travel.SE asking how to figure out which aircraft type will fly a given route in the future. My question is about aircraft registration, so not a duplicate.

"But why?!" This aircraft is a piece of aviation history, a living legend, and I want to fly on it before it retires (it's still young, so I have time)!

TangoFoxtrot
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2 Answers2

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Unless you know someone who works at that airline, there is no way to find this out and even then, they would only be able to see the expected schedule for a few days. There is no pattern (well, there might be, but it's still not enough) and aircraft are constantly swapped out so even that's nothing you can book on.

The only way to guarantee flying on a specific aircraft is to buy a ticket at the airport it's currently flying to, then fly wherever it's going next. For retiring aircraft, this can be easier than it sounds. If you're trying to get a ride on on an AA MD-80, go to DFW, a 757, MIA is your best bet.

If it's a specific 737, be prepared to chase it through the system.

DTRT
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Check the routes the night before each possible travel day. If your target plane is assigned to one of the routes, go online and buy a ticket on that flight, and fly the next day.

It will be expensive, because you will be booking less than 24 hours before the flight, but it will get what you want.

The airline probably does not know whether your target plane is going to fly or not on a given day until at best a few days in advance, so they could not sell you a ticket weeks or months ahead even if their computer systems were set up to book by tail number.

Patricia Shanahan
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