Google predicts flight delays before their airlines announce them

Flight delay alerts are helpful, but they usually depend on airlines notifying you in a timely fashion... and they're not always quick on the draw. Google, however, is happy to fill that gap. It's updating its Flights feature with not only explanations for delays, but predictions. Its machine learning system will use historic flight status info to forecast delays, and flags them when there's at least an 80 percent confidence the prediction will come true. The company stresses that you should still show up on time (you don't want to miss a flight due to pessimism), but this could give you a hint of trouble before you set foot in the airport.