What am I flying over in Europe?
A European short-haul flight crosses more countries per hour than anywhere else. London to Athens passes over eight or nine. Ryanair and easyJet fly without wifi or seatback screens, so none of it is shown to you. SkyDot names each country as you cross it, offline.
Borders arrive fast here
Out of London, a three-hour flight can put the Channel, France, the Alps, northern Italy and the Adriatic under the window in a single sitting. On a US domestic flight of the same length you might cross three state lines and nothing else.
That density is what makes the travel log fill quickly in Europe. Fly a handful of city breaks out of Gatwick, Stansted or Luton and the visited-countries map moves faster than a year of long-haul would move it.
- London to Athens
- 8 countries
- Countries to collect
- 195
And the aircraft will not tell you
Europe’s largest carriers by passenger numbers fly A320s and 737s with no seatback screens, and the two biggest have no wifi at all. There is no moving map anywhere in the cabin. The window is the only display, and without something naming what is under it you are guessing.
The Alps are the obvious one people want named. So is the moment the coast of Croatia appears, or working out which lake is below on the descent into Geneva.
Questions
How many countries does a European flight cross?
Frequently five to nine on a two to three hour sector. London to Athens crosses roughly eight; Amsterdam to Barcelona around four. Short flights and small countries mean borders arrive every twenty minutes or so.
Does this work on Ryanair and easyJet?
Yes, and those are the flights it matters most on, because neither has onboard wifi or seatback screens. Download the Europe map pack before you board and everything runs from the phone.
Will it work over the Alps and the Mediterranean?
Yes. GPS coverage is global and the map is stored on the device, so terrain and open water make no difference to whether your position updates.