Question about flight data sources

[q3qeq]

There might be an obvious answer, as I've only been using Radarbox for about a week the large number of inaccuracies regard flight data became quickly visible so I have been wondering what the reason is.

According to the official documentation on the flight data page getting the information in bulk shouldn't be an issue. However there seems to be a constant need for users to provide manual database updates.

As a provider that sells access to its API meant for businesses, the need for the information to be accurate should be a given. For a casual aviation geek like me with an interest in flights as a hobby it's not as important.

[Runway 31]

The reason for the large number of inaccuracies is because the airlines changed to the winter schedules last Sunday meaning everything we had previously is now redundant for alpha numeric ID's.  For normal flight ID's that is not an issue as the radio call sign and the commercial flight ID are both the same so no change.  The issue is with the alpha numeric flight ID's which bear no resemblance to the commercial flight ID.  While the system can usually determine the origin and destination it has problems tying up the 2 ID's

Errors are further compounded by the airlines using the same flight ID as used during previous seasons and in the route database but now paired with a different commercial flight ID therefore different route.  The commerical flight ID usually remains constant but the radio call sign changes every 6 months or even more for example at least 3 times a season for Wizz Air and Vueling

OAG provides a database of all the commercial flights ID's but here isn't a database of the callsigns.

Before the start of the season we receive the schedules from some airlines, this year was very lean and we only received them from Ryanair and Eurowings so their flights were able to be tied up for the start of the season

While there is not a need for users to provide the information it helps to quicken the process and is appreciated.

The good news is that the next change isn't until the end of March 2023 ;-))

Alan