How to Book a Flight

The Flight Center is your central hub for finding, dispatching, and managing flights. Whether you want to search for a specific route, generate a random trip, or browse staff-curated schedules, everything starts here.

Finding a Flight

There are several ways to discover flights in the Flight Center. Each entry point leads to the same dispatch process, so pick whichever suits how you like to fly.

Book Flight Map

Go to Flight Center → Book a Flight. The interactive map shows airports in your VA's network. Click an airport on the map to see available routes from that location. Your current position is highlighted so you can quickly find flights departing from where you are.

The map and dispatch table both offer filters to narrow your options:

• Departure / Arrival — Search for specific airports

• Flight Type — Filter by route type (passenger, cargo, VFR, etc.)

• Fleet / Aircraft Type — Restrict to specific fleets or aircraft type codes

• Operator — Filter by the callsign operator (useful if your VA operates multiple brands)

• Tags — Filter by route tags if your VA uses them

• Flight Length — Set minimum and maximum flight times

• Days of Operation — Filter routes by which days they operate

If only one route matches your departure and arrival pair, you go straight to the dispatch page. If multiple routes exist between the same airports, you see a dispatch table where you can pick the specific route.

Available Destinations

Go to Flight Center → Available Destinations. This map-based view answers the question "Where can I fly from here?" It shows every airport in the network that has outbound routes, and when you select one, it reveals all the destinations reachable from that airport. The same filters (flight type, fleet, operator, tags) are available to narrow the results.

Flight Generator

Go to Flight Center → Flight Generator. Instead of picking routes manually, the Flight Generator builds a multi-leg itinerary for you. It is ideal when you want to fly but have no particular destination in mind.

Configure the generator with these options:

• Generator Type — Random picks legs without constraints, Trip - One Airport Out flies out to a destination and returns, and Trip - Two Airports Out goes further before looping back

• Legs to Generate — Choose between 2 and 10 legs

• Starting / Final Airport — Optionally pin the start or end of your itinerary to a specific airport

• Min / Max Leg Length — Set time boundaries for each individual leg

• Fleet, Operator, Tags — Restrict the routes the generator can use

• Exclude / Include Airports — Block certain airports or request the generator tries to include specific ones

• Only Unique Airports — Prevents the generator from visiting the same airport twice (only available in Random mode)

Click Generate and the system builds an itinerary showing each leg with departure, arrival, callsign, and flight time. You can then dispatch individual legs from the results.

Curated Rosters

Go to Flight Center → Curated Rosters. Your VA staff can publish pre-built flight schedules, themed events, or tour itineraries. Browse them here and filter by fleet, aircraft, starting airport, or tags. Some curated rosters may be rank-restricted, so you only see what is available to you.

Route Changes

Go to Flight Center → Route Changes. This page displays four tables that help you stay on top of network updates:

• Ending Routes — Routes that will stop operating within the next 14 days. Fly them before they are gone.

• Ended Routes — Routes that have recently been retired.

• Starting Routes — New routes launching in the next 14 days. Plan ahead for new destinations.

• Started Routes — Routes that recently became active and are now bookable.

Jumpseats

If your VA has jumpseats enabled, you can reposition to a different airport without flying. The Jumpseat button appears at the top of the dispatch table when you are viewing routes from your current location.

• By default, you can jumpseat to any airport reachable via routes from your current position.

• If your VA has Jumpseat to Bases enabled, you can also jumpseat to airports marked as hubs or bases.

• If Jumpseat Anywhere is enabled, every airport in the network is available.

• If you are stuck at an airport with no outbound routes, the jumpseat option becomes available regardless of your VA's settings.

Dispatching a Flight

Once you select a route, you land on the dispatch page. This is where you configure the details of your flight before creating a booking.

Aircraft Selection

Depending on your VA's settings, you may see an aircraft type picker before the rest of the dispatch form appears. This happens when the route has multiple fleets assigned to it and the VA requires explicit aircraft selection. If only one fleet is available, or your VA does not enforce this, the system picks an aircraft automatically.

You can change aircraft at any time using the dropdown or the aircraft picker on the dispatch page. If you have favorite aircraft set in your profile, the system prioritizes them when selecting the default. Aircraft currently booked by other pilots may be highlighted (depending on VA settings), but you can still select them.

Dispatch Details

The dispatch form includes the following fields:

• Aircraft — The selected aircraft, changeable via dropdown or picker

• Callsign — Taken from the route. Depending on VA settings, it may be editable or auto-generated

• Cost Index — A non-editable field pulled from the fleet, aircraft, or route configuration

• Departure Time — Your estimated pushback time in UTC. The default is set to roughly 35 minutes from now. A time-setter hint helps you convert between your local timezone and UTC

• Flight Level — Cruising altitude, pre-filled from the route if configured

• Route — The flight plan route, selected from the routings configured by your VA

• Payload — Passengers and hold luggage for passenger aircraft, freight for cargo aircraft, or container selection for container-type fleets. Load factors are calculated automatically and can be regenerated

Flight Options

• Network — Select which online network you plan to fly on (VATSIM, IVAO, etc.). Only networks where you have provided your ID in your profile settings are available. Select Offline if flying without a network.

• Shared Cockpit — If available, select a shared cockpit partner

• SimBrief Dispatch — If you have linked your Navigraph account, toggle this on to generate a full operational flight plan (OFP) through SimBrief. When enabled, additional SimBrief settings appear for maps, NOTAMS, step climbs, alternates, and fuel options

When you are satisfied with your selections, click Book Flight to create the booking.

Your Booking

After dispatching, you are taken to the booking page. This is your pre-flight briefing and the place you return to before starting your tracker.

Booking Overview

The booking page displays:

• Flight map — Shows the planned route between departure and arrival

• Booking details — Aircraft, callsign, flight number, departure time, and booking ID

• Airport information — Departure and arrival airports with current METARs. Click the Airport Information button to view detailed briefings

• Flight comparison — How other flights between these airports have performed in terms of landing rate, fuel use, flight time, and points earned

• OFP details — If dispatched via SimBrief, the full operational flight plan with key data and the complete OFP document

Booking Validity

Bookings are live for a set period (typically 24 hours, but your VA can customize this). If you do not start tracking before the booking expires, it is automatically cancelled.

If you have multiple active bookings, use the booking tabs at the top of the page to switch between them.

Booking Actions

Depending on your VA's configuration and how you dispatched, the booking page offers these actions:

• Network Prefile — Send your flight plan to VATSIM, IVAO, or another supported network. Only available if you selected a network during dispatch

• Open OFP — View your SimBrief operational flight plan as a PDF

• Edit SimBrief OFP — Opens SimBrief to modify the OFP. Changes are automatically imported back into vAMSYS

• Open Navigraph Charts — Opens Navigraph Charts with the charts for your route pre-loaded

• SimBrief Downloads — Download SimBrief files for your flight planning software

• Make Additional Booking — Go back to the flight map to book another flight while keeping this one active

• Cancel Booking — Cancels the booking and returns you to the flight map

• Cancel & Rebook — Cancels the booking and takes you directly back to the dispatch page for the same route

• Flight Tracker Links — Flightradar24, RadarBox, and FlightAware links (if enabled by your VA)

Favorite Airports and Aircraft

You can mark airports and aircraft as favorites directly from the booking and dispatch pages.

• Favorite airports get a special marker on the flight map, making them easy to spot when browsing routes

• Favorite aircraft are prioritized when the system selects a default aircraft for dispatch. If you have linked your Navigraph account, you can also assign a SimBrief aircraft profile to your favorite

Typical Booking Workflow

1. Discover — Use the flight map, available destinations, flight generator, curated rosters, or route changes to find a flight

2. Select — Pick a route from the dispatch table (or go directly if only one route matches)

3. Dispatch — Configure your aircraft, callsign, departure time, payload, network, and SimBrief options

4. Review — Check your booking page for METARs, OFP, and flight comparison data

5. Fly — Start your tracker and complete the flight before the booking expires