Skip to main content

Editorial standards

How FlyIndex researches, reviews, and maintains airport content

This policy explains how we source facts, prioritize updates, correct errors, and keep airport pages useful for real travel planning.

Last updated:

Coverage focus: U.S. airport planning content

Report a factual correction

Core editorial principles

Traveler-first usefulness

Every page should help someone make a better airport planning decision, not just answer a keyword.

Primary-source research

We prioritize airport authorities, TSA guidance, terminal maps, and airport-operated concession listings whenever possible.

Clarity over volume

We prefer direct, practical guidance and clearly labeled limitations over filler, speculation, or padded copy.

Mission

FlyIndex publishes practical airport planning content that helps travelers make better decisions about when to arrive, how to navigate terminals, and what services they can realistically expect once they are there.

Our editorial goal is usefulness. We aim to turn scattered airport information into clear, scannable guidance that reduces friction before and during a trip.

Source hierarchy

When researching or updating a page, we prefer sources in the following order:

  1. 1Official airport authority websites and terminal maps.
  2. 2Primary transportation and security sources, including TSA guidance.
  3. 3Airport-operated tenant, dining, and shopping concession directories.
  4. 4Published airport maps and navigation resources.
  5. 5Publicly available corroborating references when primary data is incomplete.

Review and update process

Rolling reviews

Core airport pages are reviewed on a recurring basis, with priority given to high-traffic and high-impact pages.

Timing-sensitive checks

Guidance that can affect traveler timing or navigation is checked first when source information changes.

Template validation

Structural or template-level changes are validated across multiple airport routes before publication.

Corrections policy

If we identify a factual error, we correct the page as quickly as possible. We prioritize issues that could materially affect traveler decisions, including terminal locations, operating areas, and security-related guidance.

Readers can report possible errors by emailing missing@flyindex.org. When a correction request is credible and relevant, we review the source material and update the page if needed.

Content quality standards

  • No spun, scraped, or low-effort filler text. Every page must add original context or analysis.
  • No deceptive or misleading claims.
  • Pages must provide practical value beyond simple keyword targeting.
  • Internal links should help users complete a clear planning task.

Authorship and AI-assisted content

The FlyIndex blog is published under a single byline, FlyIndex Editorial, rather than under the names of individual writers. Posts are drafted with AI assistance and are built on FlyIndex's own datasets — historical TSA checkpoint wait times, CBP immigration wait estimates, and terminal, dining and retail directories. Every figure in a post is traceable to the airport page it cites, and posts do not claim first-hand travel experience. See theauthors pagefor details.

Blog drafts are produced with AI assistance, working from the wait-time and terminal data published on this site, against the same editorial guidelines this policy describes. Every post cites at least one primary source outside FlyIndex, and every statistic is required to come from FlyIndex's own dataset rather than an invented figure.

Every blog post carries the datasets it is built from and the outside sources it relies on, in a “Sources” block at the foot of the page. If a number in a post does not match what you see on the matching airport page, that is a bug and we want to hear about it — seecorrections.

Ad placement and monetization

FlyIndex displays advertising on some pages to support the costs of maintaining and improving the site. We are committed to maintaining a clear separation between advertising and editorial content.

  • •Advertisements are clearly distinguished from organic content.
  • •Ad placements do not influence which airports or pages we cover.
  • •We do not accept payment to publish favorable content about airports or services.
  • •Editorial decisions about content quality and coverage remain independent of ad revenue.

We believe in transparency about how FlyIndex operates. If you have concerns about ad placement or notice something that doesn't meet these standards, please reach out.