frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

Computational Complexity of Air Travel Planning [pdf] (2003)

http://www.demarcken.org/carl/papers/ITA-software-travel-complexity/ITA-software-travel-complexity.pdf
76•rochoa•1y ago

Comments

buildsjets•1y ago
This is well over 20 years old and is based on pre 9/11 flight data. I would suspect that a lot has changed since then. So proceed with no caution at all.
gwern•1y ago
Since these sorts of things usually only get more and more complex over time, I would guess that it's all still true, but much more so.
throw0101b•1y ago
(2003)
throw0101b•1y ago
The PDF was produced by ITA, which famously used Common Lisp:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITA_Software

From 2001, a message from the same author as the linked paper:

> (Here's an email Carl de Marcken of ITA Software sent to a friend, describing their experiences using Lisp in one of the software industry's most demanding applications.)

* https://www.paulgraham.com/carl.html

Qem•1y ago
Are there any public, open, comprehensive datasets on flights?
dieselerator•1y ago
> Are there any public, open, comprehensive datasets on flights?

Airlines and commercial aviation operators schedule their own flights. That is a dynamic schedulle. So, perhaps there is no "comprehensive data set".

However, FlightAware makes publicly available scheduled and completed flight data over many routes in the USA. You can search by route and get a list of flights.

Flight information includes filed departure time, route of flight, and speed. For completed flights actual time, altitude, and route is shown. For example, a search on the route Dallas/Fort Worth to Austin lists 45 flights.

I hope that helps.

foundart•1y ago
A very interesting dive into, as the title says, the computational complexity of air travel planning. Graph algorithms with lots of complexity added due to the wide variety of fare conditions that airlines have dreamt up over the years.

The article may be from 2003 but I would call it an evergreen. While I imagine some of the details have changed since then, I suspect that the complexity has only grown since then.

foundart•1y ago
It makes me wonder: Would an airline that drastically simplified its fares be more likely to appear in flight search results?

Simplifying the fares would make it less computationally expensive and, in theory, could take fewer steps to answer a flight planning query.

Imagine a flight search planner that, say, fanned out N airline-specific workers when handling a planning query and then displayed to the user whatever results it got back within some time limit. If FooAir had simple fares, the FooAir searcher would likely run faster than searchers for other airlines. Thus it would be more likely to return results for more queries, assuming the deadline is fairly tight because of usability metrics. (People don't tend to stick around waiting for slow results.)

sjburt•1y ago
At least a few years ago (~2014), the fare search was actually nearly instant, but all major airfare search sites added a delay because customers had the impression they were getting a better deal when they had to wait. It seems like the delay has been dialed back lately.
teleforce•1y ago
This is a very popular article that get submitted every now and then (nearly every year) [1].

I think this kind of problem would be a very nice for logic, optimization and constraint programming that probably can be solved with modern tools like Google OR-Tool or Monash University MiniZinc [1],[2],[3].

[1] Past:

https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Computational%20Complexity%20o...

[2] Logic, Optimization, and Constraint Programming: A Fruitful Collaboration - John Hooker - CMU (2023) [video]:

https://www.youtube.com/live/TknN8fCQvRk

[3] Google OR-Tools:

https://developers.google.com/optimization

[4] MiniZinc:

https://www.minizinc.org/

Astra can read and write weights to improve Qwen

https://rikiyat.github.io/blog/weight-space-programming/
1990•dbreunig•8h ago•637 comments

Show HN: Hacker Times, a New York Times-Inspired Version Hacker News

https://hackertimes.ca/
17•polpenn•30m ago•3 comments

DiscImageStudio: burn visible artwork onto CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs

https://github.com/JiaFeiMiao-K-Cat/DiscImageStudio
31•bpierre•49m ago•3 comments

Show HN: Subvocal – Talk to your computer without making noise

567•aarushyadav•9h ago•307 comments

US boy names that became girl names and vice versa

https://namedaisy.com/blog/boy-names-that-became-girl-names
298•xoobdev•9h ago•317 comments

If you love a website, back it up

https://blog.mistys-internet.website/post/2026/10/29/if-you-love-a-website-back-it-up/
417•ingve•12h ago•95 comments

Launch HN: Momentic (YC W24) – Agents that catch bugs by using your app

https://momentic.ai/
128•wuweiweiwu•9h ago•83 comments

Show HN: Warsaw in voxels – An interactive 3D map of the city centre

https://p.migdal.pl/warsaw-vibe-voxel/
219•stared•9h ago•36 comments

Intel stock collapse worsens as $3.5T chip rout spreads

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/article/the-intel-stock-collapse-is-getting-worse--and-the-37-t...
85•entryleveljobsc•2h ago•53 comments

The SEC Should Block Anthropic's IPO to Protect the Public

https://www.techpolicy.press/the-sec-should-block-anthropics-ipo-to-protect-the-public/
208•cdrnsf•3h ago•135 comments

Self-Employed? Solopreneur? NIST Has a Cybersecurity Guide Just for You

https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2026/11/self-employed-solopreneur-nist-has-cybersecurity-gu...
106•tomrod•8h ago•32 comments

Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2026)

178•whoishiring•10h ago•144 comments

SLAC researchers find proof of altermagnetism, a new magnetic phase

https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/news/2026-10-29-slac-researchers-find-proof-altermagnetism-new-mag...
27•gmays•4h ago•3 comments

Egoless Mathematics in the AI Era

https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/11/02/egoless-mathematics-in-the-ai-era/
120•smilelamp•7h ago•82 comments

Trademarks and Symbols, Volume 2: Symbolical Designs (1973)

https://www.symbools.com/kuwayama-trademarks-symbols-vol-2/
7•NaOH•2d ago•2 comments

Ubuntu still has not released patch for Linux 0day RCE in almost 3 weeks

https://freenode.net/article/ubuntu-lts-kernels-still-unfixed-for-critical-cve-2026-98432
343•majorchord•7h ago•86 comments

Polyend releases the Tracker firmware source code

https://polyend.com/whats-up/tracker-the-biggest-update-yet/
88•austinallegro•9h ago•19 comments

WTF Ubuntu?

https://chalmovsky.com/posts/wtf-ubuntu
1334•chalmovsky•11h ago•584 comments

Ask HN: Does anyone have a contact with Cleveland-area Ham club?

48•stockresearcher•2h ago•5 comments

Sneaking into the auditorium for the Windows 2000 launch rehearsal

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20261102-00/?p=112818/
109•ibobev•8h ago•38 comments

WorkOS reports security breach

43•werrett•2h ago•6 comments

Skill to Create Product Videos

https://github.com/aaitor/skill-video-studio
69•aaitor•8h ago•22 comments

Bitmovin (YC S15) Is Hiring Technical Graduates in Denver (Engineering/CS Focus)

https://bitmovin.com/careers/8660599002/
1•slederer•9h ago

C64 Basic Dungeon Crawler: Stairs, Levels and Levelling Up (Part 11)

https://retrogamecoders.com/c64-basic-dungeon-part11/
68•ibobev•11h ago•11 comments

Oracle files to sell $20B in new stock, bonds to finance AI buildout

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/02/oracle-files-to-sell-20-billion-in-new-stock-bonds-to-finance-ai-...
161•smartmic•6h ago•122 comments

V100 SXM2 pinout and NVLink reference

https://github.com/pigeon-labs-stack/v100-sxm2-reference
8•airhangerf15•3h ago•0 comments

We halved DNS build delay and cut memory use by 85%

https://blog.cloudflare.com/dns-targeted-zone-builds/
145•wondersky•11h ago•48 comments

GUI64 – GUI for the Commodore 64 running on top of the built-in ROM

https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/GUI64
6•ethanpil•2h ago•0 comments

A Conversation with Paul Masurel, Creator of Tantivy

https://www.paradedb.com/blog/tantivy-interview
20•philippemnoel•2d ago•0 comments

Moving our warehouse off DuckDB

https://posthog.com/blog/moving-off-duckdb
163•emschwartz•10h ago•109 comments