Flight Buddy

Flight Buddy connects travellers who need a little extra help – like finding their gate, carrying bags or translating – with fellow passengers who are happy to help.

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Inspiration

Flight Buddy was inspired by a personal experience from one of our developers, whose mother - an older woman living overseas - struggled with international travel when visiting her son in the UK. As a non-native English speaker unfamiliar with busy airports, she found the process overwhelming. Without qualifying for official assistance (PRM), she used Facebook groups to connect with fellow passengers who could help her navigate the airport and reach her gate.

This experience exposed a broader, underserved need: many passengers require support - not necessarily medical or mobility-related but simply a helping hand with language barriers, anxiety, wayfinding, or luggage. This inspired us to design a solution that enables compassionate support through social connection.

What it does

Flight Buddy is a platform that connects travellers who need assistance with others on the same flight who are happy to help. Whether it’s finding a gate, carrying bags, or offering language support, Flight Buddy makes it easy to match helpers and those needing help - before they even arrive at the airport.

It’s a people-powered alternative that fills the service gap between independent travellers and those who qualify for PRM (Passengers with Reduced Mobility) services.

How we built it

We used Bolt’s low-code visual builder to structure the app’s entire logic and user flow. The database schema was designed around flights, users, and requests, with relational links allowing us to match passengers to flights and assistance posts dynamically. The visual logic editor was essential in shaping conditional flows - for example, showing different views depending on whether a user is offering help or requesting it.

One of our favourite Bolt features was the ability to trigger logic chains from form submissions. This allowed us to create a seamless process: once a user submits a request, the system instantly logs it, associates it with a flight, and updates the visible list for helpers. We also built a messaging experience using Bolt's repeating groups and database entries, simulating chat interactions with message time-stamping, user-specific visibility, and real-time-style updates. The platform’s ability to bind interface elements directly to data made it fast to test, iterate, and polish.

Challenges we ran into

One of the key challenges was handling flight codes - the same physical flight can appear under multiple airline references due to code sharing (e.g., BA113 and AA6221). To ensure accurate matching between passengers, we had to implement a system that recognizes and groups equivalent flights, even if they’re listed under different numbers. This required careful planning around how flight data is stored, queried, and compared.

Another challenge was building a seamless, structured chat system between passengers. We needed a way for users to message one another while keeping each conversation tied to a specific flight and assistance request. Designing this interaction flow to be intuitive, organized, and respectful of user privacy took thoughtful planning around data relationships and message visibility rules.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Turning a personal story into a thoughtful, user-focused concept
  • Creating a working demo and video to bring the idea to life
  • Using our real-world industry experience at Ethos Farm to design a solution that meets a clear operational and customer need

What we learned

There’s a massive underserved segment of travellers who don’t qualify for PRM but still need support

The best travel tech solutions often come from personal experience and empathy

Collaboration across design, dev, and operations is key when solving real-world airport challenges

What's next for Flight Buddy

We plan to:

  • Build a fully functioning MVP with secure login, flight data integration, and real-time chat
  • Work with our airport partners at Heathrow, Orlando, and LaGuardia to pilot the platform in real settings
  • Explore integrating verified helper roles for trained Ethos Farm team members, adding an extra layer of trust for nervous travellers
  • Expand to support multiple languages and accessibility modes

Flight Buddy aims to become a trusted companion for travellers worldwide - making air travel friendlier, safer, and more human.

Built With

  • bolt
  • netlify
  • openai
  • supabase
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