How edi.flights calculates when you should arrive
The recommendation is designed to be understandable and conservative. Every input has a timestamp, every assumption has one home, and a broken provider is never allowed to turn missing data into a reassuring answer.
Live data journey
STALEArrival recommendation
- Start with the airline rule.Checked-baggage and hand-luggage lead times are configured by airline, alongside bag-drop and gate timing guidance. Where no verified gate rule is available, we use a 30-minute planning allowance and say that it is an assumption.
- Adjust for the airport.The model considers current and forecast security, operating conditions, weather, boarding and the walk to the gate.
- Preserve a safety buffer.The result is a recommended planning time. It is never described as the latest safe arrival time.
Freshness
Failure policy
Security, flights and weather fail independently. Valid readings are held in durable storage as the last known good value. A timeout, invalid payload or empty response cannot overwrite that value. The interface always states the real age of cached information.
Planning modes
Regular keeps a balanced buffer. In a rush offers the leanest credible window for passengers who value less airport waiting; it still respects bag-drop constraints and includes a small contingency, but the missed-flight risk is higher. Holiday adds 45 relaxed minutes to the regular recommendation. Holiday Mode can also estimate time for up to two standard servings and is not health or sobriety advice.
The FastTRACK prompt appears only when a sufficiently fresh security reading is above the typical wait for that hour.
Primary references
Future dates and timetable coverage
A flight on a future UK date uses a 30-minute security planning allowance, not today’s live queue as a prediction. The main flight search looks up your selected day. Timetable responses are cached and bounded to protect the shared data budget; incomplete or unavailable results are labelled. A missing result does not prove a flight is cancelled. Your airline’s original check-in and bag-drop deadlines still apply when a flight is delayed.