Animate Your Flight History and Watch Your Travel Map Unfold
A map of everywhere you have flown tells you where you have been. Watching it draw itself tells the story of how you got there. My Flight Routes replays your flights in the order you took them, one departure at a time, with the years counting up and your totals climbing as the map fills in. It is free, it works with the flights you have already logged, and the finished replay can be shared with a link.
A decade of flights replaying in seconds, with the map widening as the journey spreads across continents.
Why Animate a Flight Map?
A static map shows the shape of your travels. An animated one shows the story, and a few things a still image simply cannot:
- Chronology: Routes appear in the order you flew them, so a gap year, a move abroad or a run of work trips reads at a glance
- Pace: Quiet months pass quickly and busy weeks slow down, because the replay follows the calendar rather than a fixed speed
- Growth: Flight, distance, airport and country totals climb as the journey plays, so you watch the numbers earn themselves
- Milestones: Badges appear the moment you cross them, at your tenth country or your first lap of the planet's circumference
- Something to share: A replay holds attention in a way a finished map does not, which makes it far better to send to someone
What the Replay Includes
The timeline is built around the flights you have already logged, so there is nothing extra to fill in:
- Calendar pacing: The replay moves through real dates, compressing long empty stretches so a twenty year history stays watchable
- Same day ordering: Several flights on one date play in departure time order rather than all at once
- A camera that follows: The view starts on your first flight and widens as the journey spreads, so short haul histories are not lost on a world map
- Scrubber and transport: Play, pause, jump back to the start, scrub to any moment, and replay at half, single, double or quadruple speed
- Choose a period: Drag the handles on the scrubber to replay a single year, a single trip, or any stretch you like
- Undated flights: Flights without a date sit out the chronology by default, or play together at the end if you prefer
- Shareable: Anyone opening your shared map can press play and watch the same replay, no account needed
How to Animate Your Flight History
- Add your flights: Type them in, click them straight off the map, or import a spreadsheet. Dates are what the replay needs, so fill those in where you can.
- Open your flight map: The replay lives on the map page, alongside everything else you have logged.
- Press the play button: It appears once you have at least two flights, because a single route has no chronology to unfold.
- Watch it draw itself: Routes appear in order, your totals climb, and milestone badges pop as you cross them.
- Scrub or trim: Drag the playhead to any moment, or pull the handles in to replay one year or one trip.
- Share it: Send your map with a link and whoever opens it can press play too.
Who Animates Their Flight History?
The replay tends to earn its keep whenever the order of your travels is part of the point:
- Frequent flyers who want to see a year of work travel play back in half a minute
- Anyone who has moved country, where the map visibly shifts its centre of gravity
- Round the world travellers watching the route close the loop
- Aviation enthusiasts logging a lifetime of flights and wanting the full sweep in one go
- Anyone putting together a year in review, a leaving talk, or a post worth watching rather than scrolling past
Share the Replay, Not Just the Map
Every shared map carries the replay with it. Send the link and whoever opens it gets the same play button, the same journey drawing itself, and the same running totals, without signing up or installing anything. Embedded maps keep it too, so a replay can sit inside a blog post or a personal site.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is animating my flight history free?
Yes. The replay is part of My Flight Routes and free to use, including on shared maps. You do not need an account to watch a replay someone has shared with you.
Do my flights need dates?
The replay follows the calendar, so dated flights are what it plays. Flights without a date are left out by default, and you can choose to play them together at the end instead. The play button appears once you have at least two dated flights.
How long does a replay take?
Far less time than the travelling did. Empty stretches between flights are compressed, so a decade of flying usually plays in well under a minute, and you can run it at up to four times speed or trim it to a single year.
Can I replay just one trip or one year?
Yes. Drag the handles at either end of the scrubber to select a stretch of the timeline, and the transport plays only that. Reset it in one click to get the whole journey back.
Can people I share my map with watch the replay?
Yes. Shared maps show a play button whenever the shared flights carry dates, and anyone opening the link can watch the same journey unfold, on desktop or on a phone.
Can I download the animation as a video?
Not yet. The replay runs live in the browser rather than exporting a file, so the way to send it to someone today is to share your map link, which lets them play it themselves.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. The transport and the scrubber both work on a phone, with a compact layout that leaves as much of the map visible as possible.
Your map already knows where you have been. Press play and watch how you got there.