Innovate the Skies & Beyond — Lufthansa + Google Hackathon 2026

A single gate agent.
200 passengers.
Minutes, not hours.

When flights break, passengers crowd the desk and agents drown in manual rebooking. Soft Landing gives the gate agent an operational command center that surfaces every affected passenger, their preferences, and the cascading impact of each decision — in real time.

The Problem

Flight disruptions are an operational nightmare

Airlines handle millions of disrupted passengers each year. The current process is sequential, manual, and blind to cascading impact.

1-at-a-time
Gate agents process passengers individually while 200 others wait in line. No way to see the full picture or batch decisions.
Zero visibility
Approve a seat — but it was the last option for three other passengers. No cascading impact awareness until it's too late.
Denied → back of line
Passengers denied once go to the back and start over. No priority escalation, no learning from previous attempts.

The Solution

Two apps, one system

Passengers self-serve through a companion app. Their preferences stream directly into the gate agent's command center. The agent stays in control — human-in-the-loop for every decision.

Primary Product

Gate Agent Dashboard

Real-time operational command center. See all affected passengers, their wishes streaming in live, approve or deny with one click — and instantly see the cascading impact on everyone else.

  • At-a-glance disruption overview with live stats
  • Real-time wish stream sorted by priority
  • One-click approve/deny with cascading impact preview
  • Priority escalation — denied passengers bubble up, never fall behind
Open Dashboard Demo →
Data Collection

Passenger App

Passengers receive a plain-language explanation of what happened and why. Then they choose from AI-generated options — rebook, hotel, train, alternative airport. Their choice is a wish, not a booking. The gate agent has final say.

  • Plain-language disruption explanation (Gemini-powered)
  • 3-4 concrete options with real data (flights, hotels, trains)
  • Ranked preference submission
  • Real-time status updates on approval/denial
Open Passenger App Demo →

Built & Running

This is not a mockup

Gate Agent Dashboard — Flight Overview
Soft Landing Gate Agent Dashboard showing flight overview with affected passengers, connection risks, and status indicators
Gate Agent Dashboard — Live Wish Stream
Soft Landing Wish Stream showing real-time passenger preferences with approve and deny actions

How It Works

From disruption to resolution in minutes

1

Disruption Detected

Flight cancellation, delay, or diversion triggers the system

2

Options Generated

AI builds personalized alternatives per passenger using live data

3

Passengers Choose

Ranked preferences submitted as wishes — not bookings

4

Agent Approves

One-click approval with cascading impact visibility

5

Resolved

Passenger gets confirmation and clear next steps instantly

or

Denied? Priority Up

Denied passengers get escalated priority — never sent to the back of the line

Technology

Built for operations, powered by Gemini

B

Backend

Python 3.14 + FastAPI — the brain that connects everything.

Disruption Engine — detect & classify
Option Generator — 4 resolution strategies
State Manager — wishes, priority, conflicts
WebSocket — real-time to both clients
D

Dashboard

React + TypeScript — the primary product for gate agents.

WebSocket real-time updates
Ops-center dark theme
Cascading impact preview
Priority queue visualization
P

Passenger App

Kotlin Multiplatform — Android, iOS, and Web from one codebase.

Native binaries (not Flutter runtime)
Compose Multiplatform UI
Swift interop on iOS
WebSocket + REST

Lufthansa Flight Ops API

Flight status + disruption events (MQTT push)
Schedules — alternative flight search
Seat Maps — real availability on alternatives
Reference Data — airport coordinates + distances

Gemini 3.0 + Grounding

Google Search — weather, NOTAM, disruption context
Google Maps — hotels, transit, ground routes
Plain-language explanations with citations
Personalized option generation per passenger
ReRoute API — OpenAPI 3.1 (Swagger UI)
ReRoute API documentation showing all REST endpoints

Live Demo

Try it yourself

Everything is deployed and running. Open the gate agent dashboard to see the operational view, or open the passenger app to experience the passenger side.