As an aviation enthusiast and frequent flyer, the idea of collecting information about the flights I take, the airlines I fly on and the airports I visit had always appealed me.

I never got to the point of noting all these details down with pen and paper, as some friends of mine were doing for years, however, I was really keen to find a web or app-based solution that came also with all the bells and whistles in terms of data visualization, maps and the like.

I knew found out about Flightmemory through Flyertalk, but, as you might understand, I was not exactly thrilled by its looks. A good one I have been using is Flightdiary, particularly when it comes to its map view, however, the most comprehensive tool I have come across in terms of data visualization is JetItUp, that I also use, as it gives you a wide range of options to play with your flight data and it also allows you to customize the periods of time you wish to look at and create infographics.

As I wanted to know more about this project, so I got in touch with Stuart, one of JetItUp's founders to run a short interview with him

Q: What is JetItUp? How would you explain it briefly to someone that is not familiar with your concept?

Jet It Up is an online flight diary that provides users with a selection of stats, facts and infographics about the flights they have taken. Analyse the airlines you have flown with, the airports you have visited and the countries you have flown through.

Q: How your project started? How long have you been going?

I have been keeping track of my own flight history for a number of years, mainly using a spreadsheet with some charts and graphs. I found a couple of websites that had a similar concept to mine but didn’t have the usability and reporting I was after, so three years ago I decided to make my own, giving me the ability to modify and add any number of statistics, graphs and charts I saw fit – it just made perfect sense to open this up to the world.

Initially the take up was slow, but soon after I was receiving highly positive messages, suggestions and articles promoting the site – it has grown since then and now receives new users almost every day, adding thousands of flights mainly covering the last twenty years (with some users going as far back as the 1970’s)!

Q: Who is the behind JetItUp?

Me and my partner. We are both frequent travelers, who love taking flights anywhere, long or short haul.

Q: Where are you based?

London, England – London Heathrow being our local airport

Q: How's been the market and user reception so far and how you started getting the word out and getting traction?

Jet It Up has gained popularity over the last year, primarily through getting the word out via social media. Twitter has been one of the best channels so far. This year the site is gaining 100 new users per month on average, and we hope this will grow larger as more and more people share their infographics on Facebook and Twitter, and through positive word of mouth!

Q: Any anecdotes or curious facts about this project you might wish to share?

We have more flights logged for the 2nd January than any other day of the year, it seems a lot of people love nothing more than spending the start of the year in a plane! Chicago O’Hare (ORD) is the most popular airport, closely followed by London Heathrow (LHR), with American Airlines (AA), United Airlines (UA) and Delta (DL) the top 3 airlines. Interestingly Australia appears to be a popular country, with the top 2 routes on the site being Melbourne (MEL) to Sydney (SYD), alongside the reverse journey.

Q: What is your long term vision for your project?

Long term I would love to see the site become the de facto place to go for flight enthusiasts, frequent travelers, or even those who just like to see where their flights have taken them quickly and easily. We plan to launch apps for all the mobile platforms, as well as providing users with useful information about where they will be going when they add future flights.

Keep track of all your flight history details

How do you keep track of your flight history? Interview with the founder of JetItUp