MetaFilter posts tagged with airlines and flights

The Computational Complexity of Air Travel Planning

patrickje — Mon, 09 Dec 2002 13:39:26 -0800

Do you have problems finding the cheapest flight? Well so do computers.
Carl de Marcken, the man who created the engine behind Orbitz and other travel search engines posits that finding the cheapest fare from one point to another is a NP-Hard problem. Even if you fix the specific route between destinations there can be as many as 10³⁶ combinations.

ice_cream_motor — Wed, 07 Aug 2002 09:23:49 -0800

Airline gives free flights on Sept. 11 Spirit Airlines will give away seats on every one of its flights for the one-year anniversary. Is this a good idea? Will anyone, anywhere want to fly that day, even for free?

conquistador — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 12:26:18 -0800

China bans Muslims from flights. Don't like America's solution for airline safety? Try this. I wonder if this policy is temporary, and timed for President Bush's imminent visit to the region, or is this China's long-term solution? How will America respond - condemnation or tacit acceptance? Does it actually make Bush's trip safer?

jeffvc — Thu, 04 Oct 2001 05:28:21 -0800

Sibir Airlines flight downed en route from Tel Aviv. It is not yet clear whether or not this was a terrorist act. It does seem, however, that there was an explosion on board.