Import from another booking system
Switching platforms does not mean starting from zero, and it does not mean trusting a black box either. Flying School's importer reads exports from your current system, shows you exactly what it found, and only writes to your workspace once you approve the preview.
Open Settings → Data Import.
Step 1 - Choose your provider
Pick where you are coming from. Flying School knows the export shapes for another booking system, GetTimely, Momence, Acuity, Fresha, Square, Vagaro, and Zenoti. Choose Other to use the generic CSV path.
The wizard shows a hint for the provider you pick - which reports to export and what they are called in that system. For example, GetTimely users export Student overview, Schedule, Customer packages, and Gift vouchers from Reports.
Step 2 - Export from your current system
Pull the data types you actually want to move:
| Data | Typical export |
|---|---|
| Customers | Student or customer list |
| Staff | Staff list, or derived from your appointment export |
| Services | Service catalog and pricing, or derived from appointments |
| Packages | Package or pricing-option catalog |
| Active student packages | Purchased packages with remaining balances |
| Gift vouchers | Outstanding gift cards and their balances |
| Appointments | Schedule export |
Upload a CSV. Save an Excel export as CSV first. On the generic CSV path you can download a column template for each data type, fill it in, and upload that.
Step 3 - Preview before anything changes
Upload the files and Flying School builds a preview job. This is the important step - read it properly.
The preview shows, per data type, how many rows will be created, updated, and skipped. Existing customers are matched on email and phone so profiles merge instead of doubling up.
It also flags gaps:
- Catalog gaps - services, classes, or packages referenced by your rows that do not exist in Flying School yet. You can create them from the preview and re-run it.
- Staff gaps - instructors named in appointments who are not on your roster yet.
Fix the gaps, preview again, and repeat until the numbers look like your business.
Step 4 - Apply
Apply the job. Flying School writes the rows and reports what was inserted, updated, skipped, or failed for each data type.
Then spot-check by hand: open five or six customer profiles, one package with a balance, and a gift voucher. If those look right, the bulk almost certainly is too.
What to expect
- Balances carry across. Active student packages and gift vouchers keep their remaining value, so members are not asked to pay twice.
- Historical appointments import when your export includes them. Class shells from GetTimely are split out automatically.
- Payment history and card details do not move. Those live with your old provider and your payment processor. Connect Stripe in Flying School before go-live.
- Nothing publishes automatically. Imported services still respect their own online-booking settings.
Other ways in
- AI website import during onboarding reads your public site and drafts lessons, instructors, and branding - useful if you have no export at all. See quick start.