In its latest bid to become the go-to flight management mobile tool, Google has added a new feature to Google Flights which can predict flight delays.
As Google writes in its announcement of the new feature:
“One of the most stressful parts of traveling happens between heading to the airport and waiting to board your flight, as you start checking to see if your flight is on time. Flights already shows delays, and now we’re sharing reasons for those delays and delay predictions too. Using historic flight status data, our machine learning algorithms can predict some delays even when this information isn’t available from airlines yet—and delays are only flagged when we’re at least 80% confident in the prediction.
“We still recommend getting to the airport with enough time to spare, but hope this information can manage expectations and prevent surprises. Simply search for your flight (‘American 4442’) or the airline and flight route (‘Air New Zealand Auckland to Singapore’), and these details will appear right in your search results.”
The search giant also introduced a new feature to help customers find shop the lowest fare with full transparency by helping customers compare the features of airline economy fares and ultra-discount bare fares on American, Delta and United.
Clicking on a fare offer will reveal details on “Bare Fare” restrictions, like access to overhead bins, as well as baggage rules and ticket change rules. Users can also trigger alerts to be notified of the lowest price for an itinerary.
This new Google Flights feature addresses a reversal suffered by US consumer groups last year. As a result of the Trump administration’s roll-back on regulations, the USDOT had announced that it would not pursue a regulatory proposal on fares and fees transparency first introduced in 2011.
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