New Feature: Exclude Routes Already Flown on VATSIM

January 18, 2026 • Feature Release

The Challenge

As virtual pilots, we often find ourselves flying the same routes repeatedly. Whether it's your favorite transatlantic crossing or a familiar regional hop, it's easy to fall into patterns. But what if you want to discover something new? What if you want to ensure you're always exploring fresh routes?

The Solution

We've added a new option to the flight discovery form: "Exclude routes already flown on VATSIM". When enabled, FlightFinder automatically fetches your last 50 flight plans from VATSIM and excludes any routes you've already completed.

How It Works

1. Link Your VATSIM Account: Sign in to FlightFinder using your VATSIM credentials (we use OAuth for secure authentication)
2. Enable the Option: Check the "Exclude routes already flown on VATSIM" box in the flight discovery form
3. Discover New Routes: FlightFinder will automatically filter out any origin-destination pairs you've already flown, showing you only fresh routes

Technical Details

For the technically curious, here's what happens behind the scenes:

• We fetch your flight history from the VATSIM API endpoint:https://api.vatsim.net/v2/members/{member_id}/flightplans
• The last 50 flight plans are analyzed to extract unique route pairs (origin-destination combinations)
• These routes are added to a blacklist filter in our core discovery engine
• The filtering happens at the domain level, ensuring consistent behavior across all data sources

Privacy & Performance

We take your privacy seriously:

• Your VATSIM flight history is fetched in real-time and never stored on our servers
• We only access the data you explicitly authorize through VATSIM OAuth
• The feature is completely optional - it only activates when you check the box
• If you're not logged in, the feature gracefully degrades and has no effect

Use Cases

This feature is perfect for:

• Route Explorers: Virtual pilots who want to systematically explore new routes without repeating themselves
• Challenge Seekers: Pilots looking to expand their experience by avoiding familiar territory
• Event Preparation: Finding unique routes for VATSIM events that you haven't flown before
• Training Variety: Flight instructors and students who want diverse training scenarios

Future Enhancements

We're already thinking about ways to expand this feature:

• Option to exclude routes flown within a specific time period (e.g., last 30 days)
• Ability to manually add routes to your exclusion list
• Statistics showing how many unique routes you've discovered
• Integration with other flight tracking platforms

Try It Now

Ready to discover new routes? Head over to the flight discovery page, sign in with your VATSIM account, and enable the new option. Happy flying!