No-fly zone

No-fly zones are zones in which flying is not allowed or is restricted in some manner. First introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, Dalaran and Wintergrasp were such zones. However, those zones later became restricted to a point rather than completely flight-free. For example Wintergrasp, a combat zone, flying was allowed until it got near battle time, then after a short time after flying into the zone players would be kicked off their mounts with a parachute.

With the release of Cataclysm, the flight restrictions were lifted on Dalaran and is fully accessible by flying mounts.

Types

Can't fly during certain times

In Wintergrasp you can fly through the whole zone, land, and takeoff from the ground so long as a battle is not taking place. During combat, you will be forcefully dismounted after a few seconds (though you will also get a prompt asking if you would like to join in the battle, as well, making the debuff a moot point unless a player chooses no in the prompt).

Can't fly in at all

There are several zones in the game where flight is not allowed. These zones include:

• Most instanced content (scenarios, dungeons, raids, battlegrounds, and arenas)
• Silvermoon City, Eversong Woods, and Ghostlands
• Exodar, Azuremyst Isle, and Bloodmyst Isle
• The Darkmoon Faire and Darkmoon Island
• Tol Barad and Tol Barad Peninsula
• The Molten Front
• Isle of Thunder and Timeless Isle
• Assault on the Dark Portal
• Several Class Halls such as Dreadscar Rift, Hall of the Guardian, Heart of Azeroth, Mardum, the Shattered Abyss (Class Hall version) and the Fel Hammer, Skyhold, the Wandering Isle (Class Hall version) and the Temple of Five Dawns
• Argus
• The Maw and Korthia
• Oribos

The unknown

In instanced starting areas, players don't have access to flying mounts during their time there and are not able to revisit these areas when they can fly. Thus, it is unknown if flight is possible in those zones. Some of these areas can be revisited later in certain circumstances, but those exist in a different instance. These zones include:

• Plaguelands: The Scarlet Enclave (Ruins of the Scarlet Enclave is flyable)
• Gilneas (Ruins of Gilneas is flyable)
• Kezan and the Lost Isles
• The Wandering Isle (Class Hall version is a no-fly zone)
• Mardum, the Shattered Abyss (Class Hall version is a no-fly zone)
• Exile's Reach
• The Forbidden Reach

Notes

• It is still possible to ride a flying mount in a no-fly zone, or in a flight-enabled zone before fulfilling the flight requirements (acquiring  [Battle for Azeroth Pathfinder, Part Two] for Kul Tiras and Zandalar and  [Memories of Sunless Skies] for the Shadowlands). However, it will only function as a ground mount, unable to take off.
• It is currently possible to use the  ["Skyterror" Personal Delivery System] to fly to a limited degree in the previously mentioned 'no flying at all' zones.
• While no-fly zones were officially introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, they technically already existed since The Burning Crusade as the zones located on Azeroth which were introduced in that expansion actually exist on the Outland map instance.
• The dracthyr Racial trait [Soar] can't be used in no-fly zones.

Patch changes

• Patch 4.0.3a (2010-11-23): Dalaran is no longer a no-fly zone.
  
• Patch 3.2.0 (2009-08-04): The no flying zone rules are slightly changed.

  Pre-patch one could not fly in the no-fly zones or mount up on a flying mount in one.