Track and Trace: How AWB Status Updates Work
Cargo tracking runs on standardized IATA status messages exchanged between carriers and forwarders — not GPS pings, and not always in true real time.
Get a RateAWB number
The universal tracking key
FSU
Freight Status Update, the core IATA message type
RCS / DLV
Example milestone codes (received from shipper / delivered)
Message-based
Not continuous GPS-style tracking
Milestone messages, not continuous tracking
Air cargo tracking runs on IATA's standardized Cargo-IMP (and increasingly Cargo-XML) messaging system, with the 11-digit AWB number as the universal key. The core message type is the Freight Status Update (FSU), sent at defined milestones — cargo received from shipper (RCS), manifested for a flight, departed, arrived, and delivered (DLV), among others — rather than as continuous, GPS-style live tracking.
This means a shipment's tracked status only updates when a milestone event is reached and reported by the relevant party in the chain — a gap between two status updates typically reflects the actual transit time between those milestones, not a system failure, though a genuinely overdue update can also indicate a real delay worth investigating.
Multi-leg or interline routings — where a shipment transfers between carriers — depend on each carrier in the chain reporting its own milestone messages accurately and promptly; a status gap is more likely at an interline handoff point than mid-flight on a single carrier's own network.
Tracking Note
A status gap between milestones usually reflects normal transit time, not a lost or stalled shipment
Before assuming a shipment is stuck, check whether the elapsed time since the last update is within the expected transit window for that specific leg — particularly across an interline handoff, where reporting timing can vary between the two carriers involved.
General industry reference to IATA Cargo-IMP/Cargo-XML FSU messaging standards.
Worked example
A worked example: tracking a multi-leg shipment
Take a shipment on an interline routing — one carrier operating the origin-to-hub leg, a different carrier operating the hub-to-Canada leg.
UAL tracks the AWB number against both carriers' FSU messages, since a single tracking view needs to account for the handoff between them — the receiving carrier's own RCS message at the hub confirms the interline transfer actually happened, distinct from the first carrier's departure/arrival messages for its own leg.
If a status update is overdue specifically around that interline handoff point, UAL follows up directly with both carriers rather than waiting indefinitely for an automated message that may be delayed on the reporting side rather than reflecting an actual problem with the cargo.
What UAL monitors for you
We track AWB status across every leg of a routing, including interline handoffs, and follow up directly with carriers when an expected milestone update is overdue rather than waiting passively for the system to update.
Frequently asked questions
Not reliably — the AWB number is the standardized key the entire IATA tracking system is built around. Confirm you have the correct AWB number (and whether it's a MAWB or a HAWB number, given a consolidated shipment can have both) before attempting to track.
Related
General industry reference to IATA Cargo-IMP/Cargo-XML Freight Status Update (FSU) messaging standards. Last verified July 2026.
Air Freight Fundamentals
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