Privacy Policy

Flight Trace LLC, a Delaware limited liability company doing business as FlightTrace ("FlightTrace," "we," "us," or "our"), operates flighttrace.co and the FlightTrace research platform. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and retain personal information in connection with the Site and Service.

This policy applies to personal information collected through our website, account and subscription flows, support and other direct communications, and the consumer-facing FlightTrace Service. It does not turn aviation, company, or other research data displayed in the product into information collected from you simply because the data appears in the Service.

1. Personal Information We Collect

1.1 Information you provide

• Contact and waitlist information, such as your name and email address.
• Account information, such as your name, email address, authentication information, account status, and preferences. Authentication is provided through Clerk.
• Subscription and billing information, such as your selected plan, billing contact information, subscription status, purchase and renewal history, cancellation status, and records of subscription consent. Payment-card details are handled by Stripe and are not stored in full by FlightTrace.
• Communications, including messages you send to support, feedback you provide, and related contact information.
• Information you choose to save or submit within the Service, such as settings, watchlists, notes, or similar account content if those features are available.

1.2 Information collected automatically

• Device and technical information, such as IP address, browser type, operating system, timestamps, request and error information, page URL, user-agent information, and security signals generated by our own application and infrastructure providers.
• Usage and operational-log information, such as pages or screens viewed, account activity, features used, actions taken, queries or requests submitted, approximate interaction times, error events, and application usage records needed to operate, secure, diagnose, and improve the Service.
• Essential cookie and similar-technology information used for authentication, security, session management, fraud prevention, and core functionality.

At launch, we do not use third-party advertising pixels, session-replay tools, behavioral analytics platforms, tag managers, or cross-site advertising technologies in the consumer Service. We use first-party and infrastructure logs for security, diagnostics, reliability, and product operation. If that architecture changes materially, we will update this policy before using personal information in a materially different way and provide any choices required by law.

1.3 Information from service providers and other sources

We may receive account, subscription, security, delivery, or transaction status information from providers that help us operate the Service. For example, an authentication provider may tell us whether an account has been verified, and a payment processor may tell us whether a charge succeeded, failed, or was refunded. We do not receive a full payment-card number from Stripe.

If you voluntarily connect Discord for community access, Discord provides the limited account information authorized by the connection. FlightTrace currently requests Discord identity and server-join permissions and stores the Discord account ID, username, and link timestamp with the FlightTrace account so community eligibility can be provisioned and reconciled. FlightTrace does not persist the Discord OAuth access token after the connection workflow completes.

2. How We Use Personal Information

• Provide, operate, personalize, maintain, and support the Service and your account.
• Authenticate users, prevent credential abuse, detect security threats, and protect the integrity of the Service.
• Process subscriptions and payments, administer renewals and cancellations, send required subscription notices, and maintain transaction and consent records.
• Send transactional and service communications, including account notices, password or authentication messages, subscription notices, policy updates, and support responses.
• Operate the waitlist and send marketing communications where permitted. You can unsubscribe from marketing email through the unsubscribe mechanism in the message.
• Analyze product performance and usage, troubleshoot errors, improve features, plan capacity, and understand how the Service is used.
• Enforce our Terms of Service and other policies, investigate misuse, respond to legal requests, and protect FlightTrace, users, and third parties.
• Comply with applicable law, accounting, tax, recordkeeping, and other legal obligations.

We may create aggregated or de-identified information that is not reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable individual and use that information for lawful business purposes. We will not attempt to re-identify information that we maintain as de-identified except as permitted by law to test or validate de-identification.

3. Aviation and Research Data

FlightTrace analyzes aviation and company information from public, commercially available, licensed, historical, archived, third-party, and other research sources to provide the Service. That product data is distinct from the personal information we collect about you as a Site visitor or account holder.

The Service is designed around aircraft, company, route, location, and activity-level research rather than the identification or tracking of individual people. The Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy prohibit use of the Service to stalk, surveil, locate, harass, threaten, dox, or target an identified individual person.

4. How We Disclose Personal Information

We do not sell personal information for money, and we do not disclose personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. We disclose personal information in the following circumstances:

4.1 Technology and service providers

We use providers to perform functions for FlightTrace. Depending on the function, a provider may act as our processor or service provider for certain data and may also act as an independent controller for limited account, security, fraud, legal, or payment-related purposes under its own terms. Current providers include:

4.2 Legal, safety, and enforcement

We may disclose personal information if we reasonably believe disclosure is required by law, subpoena, court order, or other valid legal process; is necessary to protect rights, safety, security, or property; is necessary to detect or address fraud or abuse; or is appropriate to enforce our agreements and policies.

4.3 Business transactions

We may disclose personal information in connection with a financing, merger, acquisition, reorganization, sale of assets, bankruptcy, or similar transaction, subject to applicable law and appropriate confidentiality or use restrictions where required.

4.4 At your direction

We may disclose information when you direct or authorize us to do so, such as when you choose to use a third-party community or service that is not operated by FlightTrace.

5. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies that are reasonably necessary to operate authentication, security, session management, fraud prevention, and core site functionality. We do not currently use advertising cookies, advertising pixels, or third-party behavioral advertising technologies on the Site or Service.

5.1 Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control

Because we do not currently engage in cross-site behavioral tracking or sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, there is no such activity for a browser Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal to opt out of on the current Service. We do not use a Global Privacy Control signal to disable essential account, authentication, security, or payment functionality. If our practices change in a way that makes an opt-out signal legally applicable, we will update our handling and this policy as required.

5.2 Collection by other parties

The providers identified in Section 4 may receive technical or transactional information when their services are used. We do not authorize them to collect your activity across unrelated websites for FlightTrace advertising. Their own collection and use may also be governed by their privacy notices and the agreements under which they provide their services.

6. Marketing Communications

If you join our waitlist or otherwise opt to receive marketing communications, we may send launch, product, feature, or promotional messages. The launch plan currently uses MailerLite for waitlist or marketing email. You may unsubscribe using the unsubscribe link in the message or by contacting admin@flighttrace.co. Service, security, account, billing, legal, and transactional messages are not marketing messages and may continue where needed to administer the Service.

7. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, to provide the Service, to maintain the integrity and security of our systems, to administer subscriptions and account history, to resolve disputes, and to comply with legal, tax, accounting, fraud-prevention, and recordkeeping obligations. Retention periods vary by category and system.

When information is no longer reasonably needed, we delete, aggregate, or de-identify it, subject to backup cycles, legal holds, security needs, and other lawful retention requirements. Closing an account does not necessarily result in immediate deletion of every record, including transaction, consent, security, and legal records that we have a legitimate or legal reason to retain.

8. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal information, including access controls, authentication, encryption in transit where appropriate, provider security controls, and monitoring for misuse. No security measure or transmission method is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

If you believe your FlightTrace account or information has been compromised, contact admin@flighttrace.co promptly.

9. Your Choices and Requests

You may update certain account information through the Service where those controls are available. You may also contact admin@flighttrace.co to request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information associated with your account. We may need to verify your identity and may retain information where deletion is not required or would conflict with legal, security, fraud-prevention, transaction-record, or other legitimate obligations.

If a privacy law that applies to FlightTrace gives you additional rights, we will honor those rights to the extent required by that law. We will not discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right that applicable law grants you.

9.1 Authorized agents

Where applicable law permits an authorized agent to make a request for you, we may require proof that the agent is authorized and may separately verify your identity or confirm the request with you, to the extent permitted by law.

10. California Privacy Information

California law requires commercial websites and online services that collect certain personally identifiable information from California consumers to make specified privacy disclosures. The categories of information FlightTrace collects, the categories of third parties with whom information may be disclosed, how to request review or changes, how we notify users of material policy changes, and our current approach to browser privacy signals are described in this policy.

FlightTrace does not currently sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. California's broader consumer privacy statute applies only to businesses that meet statutory applicability criteria. To the extent that statute or another California privacy law applies to FlightTrace or a particular processing activity, FlightTrace will provide and honor the rights and disclosures required by the applicable law. This policy does not represent that FlightTrace has voluntarily elected to be regulated as a business under a statute that otherwise does not apply.

11. Children

The Service is intended for adults and is not directed to children. You must be at least 18 years old to create or use a FlightTrace account. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child through an account intended for the Service. If you believe a child has provided personal information to us in violation of this policy, contact admin@flighttrace.co.

12. Community and Third-Party Links

FlightTrace may provide links to third-party sites and optional access to a members-only community hosted by Discord. If you choose to connect Discord, FlightTrace currently uses Discord identity and server-join permissions to associate your Discord account with your FlightTrace account for community eligibility. FlightTrace stores the Discord account ID, username, and link timestamp in private account metadata and does not persist the OAuth access token after the connection completes. A server-side bot may add or remove a community role and may periodically reconcile that role against subscription entitlement. Discord hosts community messages and other Discord-side activity under its own terms and privacy policy. You may disconnect the account link through the Service when that control is available, but disconnection does not delete messages or records maintained by Discord.

13. U.S.-Directed Service and International Access

FlightTrace is a U.S.-based service marketed and directed to users in the United States. FlightTrace does not currently solicit consumer subscriptions outside the United States. Access to the Site or Service from another jurisdiction does not mean that FlightTrace has directed the Service to that jurisdiction. If laws that cannot validly be disclaimed apply to a particular user or processing activity, FlightTrace will comply with those laws to the extent required.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the updated policy with a new last-updated date. If a change materially alters how we use personal information previously collected from you, we will provide any additional notice or choice required by applicable law before applying the change to that information.

15. Contact Us

Flight Trace LLC, doing business as FlightTrace

Privacy email: admin@flighttrace.co

Mail: 2108 N St #17431, Sacramento, CA 95816