There can be few things as frustrating as flying delayed or canceled due to bad weather either on your way or at your destination.

United Airlines is trying to increase transparency about weather-related flight disruptions with customers by starting to text customers links to live weather radar maps so passengers can track weather patterns as their flights are rescheduled .

On Wednesday, the airline said it would release real-time weather maps as the first of its kind in the industry using AI generation tools in order to send the maps to the right customers.

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“With more people traveling this summer than ever before, we wanted to give our customers an easier way to stay connected with real-time information about their flight, and texting was the easiest solution,” explained Jason Birnbaum, United's CIO in a. company statement. “We know customers value transparency, and by combining innovative technology-enabled tools with the power of people, we can give more people, even more, in-the-moment details about their flight.”

United explained that the technology will work by having specialized customer service teams that will use AI generation technology to create messages for customers that explain why a flight has been canceled with as much information as possible.

When this becomes weather-related, messages will now include live radar maps of the local weather and walk travelers through a detailed explanation of how real-time weather in one part of the country could affect the flight. theirs.

Customers on all flights will be able to access these weather maps through the United app, regardless of whether their flight is disrupted.

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“The release of these new innovations comes as United hosts its busiest Fourth of July weekend on record with more than five million passengers flying between June 28 and July 8, up more than 7% from last year, ” United said.

The airline had a strong one Q1 2024, with total operating income reaching approximately $12.5 billion with an increase of 9.7% from the same time last year.

united was down just under 12% year-over-year as of Wednesday afternoon.