Flying Messenger

  • Print this page

Flying Messenger

Welcome to Flying Messenger, BAA's range of services for mobile devices. Designed to make your journey to, through and from our airports as smooth as possible, BAA's services give you access to the most up-to-date flight information, wherever you are in the UK*.

We now offer the service on all mobile networks. There are two easy-to-use services: Flying Messenger, an instant status report for the flight you are interested in, and Flying Messenger Plus, an enhanced service which updates you on the progress of your flight over a period of up to 12 hours or more.

We recommend you read the terms & conditions before using either of our services.

Flying Messenger

This service gives you an instant status message for any scheduled arriving or departing flight at any BAA airport. You tell us the flight you're interested in and we'll automatically send you a text (SMS) alert with its current status. The airport shortcodes that you need to use when you contact us can be seen in the table below.

Airport name

Airport short code

Heathrow

LHR

Gatwick

LGW

Stansted

STN

Glasgow

GLA

Edinburgh

EDI

Aberdeen

ABZ

Southampton

SOU

Flying Messenger is now free at Heathrow for departing flights - register your flight in advance at heathrowairport.com/flyingmessenger.

How to use the Flying Messenger service

You send an SMS (text message) to 82222 with the following information:

  • Airport shortcode (see above)
  • Flight number

Example 1 – For an arriving flight

lhr ba123

Example arriving SMS

Example 2 – For a departing flight

lhr ba456

Example departing SMS

We then send you an SMS with the flight's current status – For example 1, information would be as below:

Example current status SMS

  • Flight: BA123
  • From: PARIS
  • Scheduled:15/01/06 11:45
  • Arriving: LHR Terminal 1
  • EXPECTED 11:56
  • ON APPROACH
  • Last updated 15/01/06 11:48

The Flying Messenger service costs 25p** plus standard network message rate (including VAT) for each request, and holds information on flights four hours after landing and up to 12 hours ahead of the current time. If you would like information more than 12 hours ahead, or require regular updates on the status of your flight, please use the Flying Messenger Plus service.

PLEASE NOTE: This is an automated service. Only flight information requests will be recognised.

If you have any queries about this service please send an email to sms_feedback@baa.com. Please note that emails will be responded to between 08:30 and 16:30, Monday to Friday.

[Back to top]

* Subject to network availability.

** If you are using a pre-paid SIM card the service can only be used if you have enough credit to cover the cost of the service.

Back to top

Your transport

HelpKnow the rules

See what you can carry as hand baggage for departing flights.

Find your duty free allowance for flights departing to:

Back to top