About the Project
We accepted Vueling’s challenge at HackUPC 2025:
Vueling – Watch out, Blackout!
Develop a super minimal application for travellers about to take a flight that allows for the sharing of critical flight information in case of a blackout.
– Ad hoc communication network between users
– Prioritise critical and flight information
– Super minimal app, low battery consumption
– Objective: keep information flowing and spirits up
– Bonus points for gamification and creating a memorable experience from the disaster
What Inspired Us
We were inspired by the reality that airports are not prepared to communicate flight data when power or internet systems go down. Screens go dark, loudspeakers go silent, and passengers are left without essential information. This is a situation where a low-tech, offline solution can truly make a difference.
How We Built It
We explored multiple approaches before landing on two complementary solutions:
Real Data via Web Scraping:
We scraped critical information directly from AENA's Infovuelos site for Barcelona-El Prat (LEBL), including gate numbers, terminals, baggage belts, and real-time flight statuses. This guaranteed high-quality, detailed data when APIs fell short.Offline Demo via Raspberry Pi:
Using a Raspberry Pi configured as a Wi-Fi access point and web server, we created a fully offline demo system that travelers could connect to without internet. It served a minimalist HTML interface with flight data retrieved from the AviationStack API, simulating a blackout-friendly information source.
Challenges We Faced
- Hardware Limitations: Although we had Raspberry Pis, we lacked the necessary hardware (switches, cables) to network them effectively. UPC’s Wi-Fi had device isolation, and mobile hotspots disconnected idle users—making mesh testing infeasible.
- API Restrictions: Free public APIs had limitations in data quality and call quotas. Critical details like boarding gates and baggage belts were not available, which is why we turned to scraping AENA’s public site.
- Time Constraints: Mesh networking, ad-hoc communication protocols, and fallback syncing logic proved too time-consuming to implement within the 36-hour hackathon window.
What We Learned
We learned the importance of:
- Planning for fallbacks when ideal infrastructure isn’t available
- Combining multiple data sources (APIs + scraping) to deliver real value
- Focusing on simplicity and resilience in design when building tools for emergencies
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