The more we are able to aggregate Members’ trip requests into the fewest possible number of flights the more profitable we will be. Social Air has developed three distinct methodologies for aggregating trips:
Score Matching
The first level of routing is through a sophisticated score matching algorithm based primarily on the requested departure airport, arrival airport and departure time. The system compares every Members trip requests with every other Members, generating a match score based on their proximity on those three measures. The other Member trip requests with the highest matching scores to the Members request are shown at the top of the Trip Board along with visual cues to show the similarities and differences. This algorithm basically sets up the data for the next level of routing refinement–Social Booking.
Social Booking
Social Air’s Patent Pending Social Book technology allows Members to self-organize into flights that are as efficient and convenient as possible. Through the Trip Board, Members have visibility into the details of their and other potential trips being planned. They can see all the potential passengers on their trips, including their probability of actually making the flight. When a Member sees a flight that is close to their ideal situation, say it’s six hours later and flying into a different airport than they want. The Member can choose to attach themselves to that flight. People who are serious about making a flight will be immediately drawn to the closest matches for their flight, and feel compelled to add their number to the flight.
Because a fundamental rule in Social Air is that flights must be 75% full to fly, an ongoing challenge will be getting flights in formation up to the requisite 75% occupancy. This can become something like a game layer, as Members attempt to communally put together as many flights as they can. Adding to the complexity of this game layer, and thus increasing engagement, are flexibility settings customers can use to create matches. Members can adjust their flexibility in terms of the number of hours before their departure and after their arrival as well as the distance from their desired airports that they are willing to flex. The Score Matching algorithm that drives the Social Book system then factors in those time and distance ranges, searching for overlapping segments. Those are then factored into the match score between any two given trip requests. More Members increasing their flexibility settings ultimately results in more flights reaching critical mass. And increasing flexibility settings is encouraged through the Rewards Program