Google is rolling out a few new features to its Google Flights search engine to help travelers tackle some of the more frustrating aspects of air travel – delays and the complexities of the cheaper, Basic Economy fares. With the regard to delays, Google Flights won’t just be pulling in information from the airlines directly, however – it will take advantage of its understanding of historical data and its machine learning algorithms to predict delays that haven’t yet been flagged by airlines themselves.
You can track the status of your flight by searching for your flight number or the airline and flight route, notes Google. The delay information will then appear in the search results. It will also provide reasons for the delays, like weather or an aircraft arriving late. The other new feature added today help travelers make sense of what Basic Economy fares include and exclude with their ticket price.
These low-cost fares are often the only option for travelers on a budget, but they have a number of restrictions that can vary by airline. Google Flights will now display the restrictions associated with these fares – like restrictions on using overhead space or the ability to select a seat, as well as the fare’s additional baggage fees. It’s initially doing so for American, Delta and United flights worldwide.
These changes come only a month after Google Flights added price tracking and deals to Google Flights as well as hotel search features for web searchers.
The features are also a real-world demo of Google’s machine learning and big data capabilities, especially in the case of predicting flight delays. Since you can’t take action on the alerts until the airline makes an official announcement, they will largely just cause more anxiety on top of your already stressful travel experience.
So if you are a travel bug I bet you would want this. Yeah?