By Michelle Johnson, Globe Correspondent

Techno Flights of Fancy
Sure, you can go to any airline web site to get schedules and fares, or order tickets online. But what if you want some real-time info, like whether your uncle's plane will land at Logan on time? Or let's say you want to play where in the world is your cousin Carmen's flight to San Diego?

No problem. There are quite a few web sites that serve up real-time flight information. Services at airline and general travel sites will let you track flights in your web browser, send you status updates via e-mail, and even page you if a flight's canceled or delayed.

About.com's Air Travel Guide maintains an extensive list of links to airline flight trackers at www.airtravel.about.com/msubstatus.htm.

If you're easily amused or looking to entertain the kids for a hot minute, don't miss Trip.com's graphical flight tracker (www.thetrip.com/usertools/flighttracking), where you can watch a tiny virtual plane move across a map, letting you see exactly where a plane is in real time. You can choose to watch a specific flight, or request one at random. An ''instrument panel'' shows the plane's speed, altitude and heading. The site also offers an e-mail flight notification service that a traveler can set up before takeoff to alert up to three people when their plane lands, as well as a plain-vanilla text version of the flight tracker.

The Latest on Logan
Have some whine with that airline meal. Massport's up-to-the-minute Logan Airport traffic reports and construction updates (www.massport.com) can give you something to whine about before you even get behind the wheel of your car. Oh, and you can also get the usual flight arrival and departure times, as well as a flight tracker that will appear in a little pop-up window that's refreshed every five minutes - or request periodic e-mail updates.