How to play Departure Board
Play Departure Board, a free daily aviation puzzle inspired by Connections. Match five destinations to flight clues using airport knowledge and elimination.
A new departure city, five destinations and a board of overlapping clues. Recognize an airline’s home hub, compare flight distances or work out local times, then use each match to narrow the other gates. Play the Daily or a separate North America, Europe or Asia puzzle.
- Read the board. The puzzle starts automatically. Each gate has a small set of clues. Use the other gates to narrow down the possibilities.
- Connect five destinations. Tap a destination, then tap its gate, or drag it onto any part of that gate’s row. The whole row lights up when it is ready to accept your drop. Use every destination once.
- Rearrange before checking. Tap or drag a placed destination to another gate. If that gate is occupied, the destinations swap. A drop away from the gate rows changes nothing.
- Check the whole board. Fill all five gates. Check Board appears in the destination tray; select it when you are ready. Gates flip one at a time: green connections lock, and incorrect destinations return to the choices below. You have two checks to connect all five.
- Take your time. There is no timer. Everyone gets the same daily departure city, changing at midnight Eastern. The Daily features a departure city from North America, Europe, or Asia, with a different region on consecutive days. Regional tabs offer practice puzzles.
Full rules and strategy guide →
What is Departure Board?
Five flights have lost their destinations. Read the clues across the whole board and use every destination once. A distinctive clue can solve one gate, removing a possible answer from the others. The selected clues are checked for one complete solution within the recorded data.
Frequently asked questions
What does Destination hub mean?
American Airlines hub means the destination airport is a connecting base for American Airlines. A hub clue describes the destination, not necessarily the airline operating the flight. Several choices can be hubs for the same airline, so combine this with the other clues and gates. Home hub means the airline’s primary home airport. An Airline clue identifies the recorded flight’s carrier; it does not imply that every destination it serves is a hub.
What does a destination location clue mean?
South of Atlanta means the destination airport lies farther south than Atlanta. North means farther north. This describes the airport’s location on a map, not the flight path or takeoff direction. Several destinations may fit, so use the other gates to narrow them down.
How is Departure Board like Connections?
Like Connections, Departure Board asks you to reason across the whole puzzle and use one discovery to make the next. You match five destinations to five flights using airport hubs, geography and other aviation clues. Each destination is used once, so every solved gate narrows the remaining choices.
Are these real flights?
New boards use passenger routes observed in FlightQ’s published schedule windows. Flight time is estimated from distance, not taken from a live flight. Earlier archived boards retain their original flight records. Gate labels are fictional and schedules can change.
Why do some flights have fewer clues?
Each row has one or two selected clues. Every board includes at least two single-clue rows. Clues mix verified destination-hub facts, geography, estimated time and distance. Several destinations may fit one row, but using each destination once lets you narrow down the whole board.
What do air time and distance mean?
Estimated flight time is a rough gate-to-gate estimate based on distance, rounded to 15 minutes and marked with ~. Winds, routing and taxi time can change it. Earlier recorded-flight puzzles label measured airborne duration as Air time. Distance is the direct distance between airports in miles, with approximate kilometers underneath. Aircraft clues show the recorded model, such as Airbus A319. Times and aircraft can vary between flights on the same route; you never need to rule out a route just because you have not seen that airline or aircraft fly it.
What do elevation and local time mean?
Airport elevation is height above sea level in feet. A local-time clue compares the destination with the departure airport on the source reference date, including daylight saving time. Its label shows that date; use that date rather than today, because daylight saving dates vary. Same local time means their clocks agreed at that moment, even if they use different time-zone names.
Does my progress save?
Your placements, checks used, and completed result save automatically on this device and browser. You can refresh or return later. Daily and practice results are saved separately. Saving requires browser storage and does not sync between devices.
When does the daily puzzle change?
Daily, North America, Europe and Asia each change at midnight Eastern. The Daily departure city rotates among those three regions. Its city is different from the corresponding regional board, so all four boards offer a separate puzzle.
Is Departure Board free to play?
Today’s daily puzzle, the three regional puzzles and yesterday’s daily puzzle are free. Older available daily puzzles require FlightQ Premium. You can play in a desktop or mobile browser.
How many tries do I get?
You have two board checks. Place all five destinations before checking. Correct matches turn green and stay locked; incorrect destinations return to the tray for your next attempt. There is no timer, and you can rearrange your choices before checking.