Google, AI and machine learning to know the delays in flights before airlines
Flights from the airline will soon use flight history data to alert users of the risks of delay on certain routes.
Google has just updated Flights with some new features that could help travelers organize their travels at the airport. Among the novelties, we find the use of a machine learning algorithm to predict flight delays, and analysis of the cheapest flights for the various airlines, explaining which services are included.
The forecast of flight delays is the most interesting feature, especially as regards the technological aspect. According to the same company reported on official blog, the machine learning algorithm adopted uses the historical data of the delays of the routes in order to find a common pattern to be exploited to provide an estimate on the next flights.
Evaluated factors include locations, weather details and delays in previous flights. When the algorithm has a certainty of 80% of the delay, then the information in the search results will appear if the user enters a request that includes that flight number, route or overhead line.
It is clear, as Google emphasizes, that those made by the algorithm are only estimates, so they are not intended as certain facts. The arrival with punctuality at the airport is still necessary, making sense of the feature a little useless.
Thanks to machine learning, the accuracy of the new function should increase over time as any probabilistic calculation can never offer mathematical certainty about the potential delay of a flight. During the booking phase, the forecast can be more useful, avoiding flights that have the tendency to delay, especially if there is a particular urgency to reach the destination.
The second function is useful to understand what the various airlines offer with their base economy rate. In recent years, there has been a real war on the price of flights, and the various companies have aimed to offer the most convenient solutions by removing tinsel that for some users may be useless.
All this, at times, without explaining too deeply what is removed and what services are waived by accessing the offers of the last class. Google wants to help by offering some additional information on the base flights of some of the American airlines, and promising the arrival of more information in the near future.
