I assume that you try to limit the number of queries to FlightAware in order to save yourselves money. So I wonder how many you make for a given flight. Obviously you make one when the user enters the flight number, but what about after that?
What if the plane has to circle? Would you be able to tell the user that the flight hadn't landed or is the landing time based solely on the initial FlightAware query?
We know about updates to the flight if it gets delayed and has to circle, and yes we do additional queries to FlightAware on the user's behalf even if the app is closed. We spent a lot of time getting this right, as well as building a good caching system to improve performance and save money. Incoming flight alerts (delays, cancellations etc.) invalidate the cache for the affected flights.
What if the plane has to circle? Would you be able to tell the user that the flight hadn't landed or is the landing time based solely on the initial FlightAware query?