This tool allows you to display current data about tickets on your site or app, including costs, dates, routes, and other necessary information for browsing and purchasing tickets. However, you don’t need to search for information about flights and share the best offers manually, as everything works automatically.
Read this article to learn the definition of an API, who are the providers, and which of them provide a free flight API. In addition, you’ll learn how to use this tool in your project in order to gain the trust of your users by establishing a service that offers cheap airline tickets and up-to-date flight data.
If you are an advanced API user, it may be useful to browse our ideas for travel projects and explore our overview of various flight API providers.
What Is an API
An API is software that mediates between a data source and the users of your website/mobile app. Flight information is usually provided by airlines, travel services, data platforms, and other contributors that manage a massive amount of data.
Here’s how the flight API works simply and briefly:
- The user takes an action on your site or mobile app. For example, the user enters the city of departure (Amsterdam) and arrival (Paris) into the search box to find an airline ticket.
- The API sends the data entered by the user to its server.
- The server receives, processes, and returns the response to the site/application.
- The site/application shows the user the answer in a readable format. In our example, a list of airline tickets from Amsterdam to Paris.
5 Reasons to Use Flight API in Your Project
- Speed and financial gain. All the data you need to sell tickets on your service is probably already located in the APIs of known suppliers. You can use existing features instead of spending valuable time and money developing a solution from scratch.
- Automation. An API is a tool that automates the process of data acquisition and display. You don’t need to search for gain airline tickets, popular destinations, or convenient routes to offer them to your users. You just need to integrate an API into your website/app and choose which data you want to receive from the provider.
- Actuality. API suppliers provide real-time data or most accurate data. For example, from the last 24 or 48 hours. You can be sure that the tickets that your users will see in the search results will be available for purchase or contain the current information about flights.
- Flexible. The API can be integrated with other features to improve your service. For example, you can configure input field autofill or user location. With additional integrations and powerful APIs, you can create a service that best fits the needs of your users. This will make your platform stand out among your competitors.
- Earning opportunity. Some suppliers have affiliate programs, which means that, by using the provider’s API, you become a partner. For each ticket sale initiated on your website, you’ll receive a partner’s reward. For example, Skyscanner has such a referral program.
How to Use Flight API: Best Practices
Flight API is a great tool for travel agencies of different sizes. It’s important for companies to use safe, proven, flexible, and technology-based platforms to quickly provide high-quality travel services to their customers.
The API also actively uses platforms that help travelers organize trips on their own.
Search Cheap Flight Tickets
Buscavoo is a search flight tickets search engine that works with the Skyscanner Flights API.
To organize a trip without spending a fortune, the traveler needs to enter the locations and dates of departure and arrival into the search string. The service will then display all available flights in this direction within a few seconds.
The user can buy the ticket on the seller’s website. Buscavoo will automatically redirect the buyer to the correct service.
Choosing a Route and Searching for Available Tickets
FlightConnections is another example of the successful integration of Skyscanner Flights API into a travel project.
Originally, the service was created to find convenient flight routes. On a simple map, the user can mark the city of departure, see available routes, and select the city of arrival.
After clicking on a route, the traveler can check the available flights and prices. This is the merit of integrating the API from Skyscanner.
Book Flights With Crypto
Travala.com is an online travel agency that gives users another way to use cryptocurrencies. On the website, users can purchase an airline ticket using bitcoin or over 60 cryptocurrencies.
Of course, before paying for their trip, the users must select one. Travala provides access to more than 600 airlines around the world through the Flights API from Kiwi.com, a service that allows users to search for airline tickets, rental cars, and accommodations for comfortable travel.
Chat Bot for Instant Travel Planning
Kiwi.com’s API is also integrated into Eddy Travels, an AI-based chatbot that helps users find the best travel offers in a matter of seconds.
With Eddy Travels, users can organize a trip, book a hotel, rent a car, buy an airline ticket, and reserve other travel services without even leaving their social media page.
The Eddy Travels chatbot is available in Facebook Messenger, Telegram, WhatsApp, and Slack. If you don’t want to sign in, you can chat with Eddy Travels at chat.eddytravels.com.
Application for Creating Personalized Travel Routes
In 2019, in the “Hack the Journey!” hackathon, hosted by IT company Amadeus, the Boolah app was first introduced.
According to the creator, Boolah is a dating app-style travel service that generates personalized routes based on user interests. Its purpose is to help travelers optimize their trip and choose the best attractions that can be visited within a limited timeframe.
The logic of the application is simple. First, the user sees several places and chooses those that they want to visit. Next, the app plans the route based on the traveler’s interests, distance from the attractions, and displays offers.
The app uses the Air API from Amadeus, which displays low cost flights, the cheapest flight dates, and available flights.
The app is currently incomplete. Keep this idea in mind to implement your own service.
5 Flights APIs
You can find the API that best fits your project from different airlines, travel services, distribution systems, and providers.
First, select the API that matches your opportunities and project goals. The next step is to request the tool from the provider and integrate it into your website or app. Once completed, you’ll be able to monitor audience growth, positive feedback about your service, and income.
Skyscanner Flights API
Skyscanner is primarily known as an online ticket search engine. The service aggregates the offers of airlines and travel platforms to help travelers find flights. Thanks to the service partnership, you can also book and rent a car on Skyscanner with top travel platforms, such as Booking.com, Trip.com, EconomyBookings, Rentalcars, and others.
The Skyscanner Flights API is free and allows users to search for and find out the prices for flights from anywhere. The search results are based on the Skyscanner database.
- Supports different geographic data formats.
- Real-time price updates.
- The browse cache API allows you to discover the potential cost of tickets.
- Restrictions on the number of requests to Flights Live Pricing 100 queries per minute; to Flights Browse 500 queries per minute.
- Skyscanner has a referral program,which means that you’ll earn every time your users use the API to find and buy a ticket.
- Detailed documentation will help you to quickly understand the tool and integrate it into your project.
- Price: free.
- Who can use Skyscanner Flights API: businesses, sites with large audiences, and startups with a strong business plan. Before connecting, the service team reviews the requests for two weeks and makes a decision about who can access to the tool.
Access Skyscanner Flights API →
Kiwi.com Flights API
Kiwi.com is a service that helps travelers organize cheap trips. On the website, travelers can buy airline tickets, rent a car, and book accommodations. They can also buy a ticket directly on Kiwi.com without going to the airline’s website or relying on other services.
Kiwi.com has a platform for partners called Tequila that provides access to APIs and other tools that allow partners to earn by selling Kiwi.com’s services. This includes the Flight Search API and Flight Booking API.
- Allows users to search for routes and buy tickets directly.
- Allows users to search for a ticket by ticket number, traveler name, air carrier, etc.
- Real-time information updates.
- You can earn 3% of your partner’s income by selling Kiwi.com’s services. To do this, you need to register on the Tequila platform and use partner tools, including the API.
- Detailed documentation about working with the Kiwi.com Flights API will be available after signing up on the Tequila platform.
- Cost: paid plans.
- Who can use the Kiwi.com Flights API: bloggers, content creators, travel service providers, travel retailers, ground or sea carriers, airports, and airlines.
Amadeus Air APIs
Amadeus is a GDS (Global Distribution System), which is a network that facilitates transactions between service providers in the travel industry. Amadeus builds solutions for airlines, hotels, railways, search engines, travel agencies, tour operators, and other players to run their operations and improve their performance.
The company provides self-service and enterprise APIs. The first category includes flights, hotels, destination content, and trip APIs, while the second category includes over 100 corporate APIs for businesses from Master Pricer Travelboard Search to Virtual Credit Card Service.
- Amadeus APIs allow users to buy airline tickets.
- Huge set of search and shopping APIs, including: airport routes, flight offers search flight prices, flight cheapest dates and availabilities search, flight inspiration search, seat map display, etc. You can integrate those elements that suit your project objectives to provide the maximum amount of useful information to travelers.
- Full real-time data in the production environment plan.
- Restrictions on the number of requests in the test environment plan 600 queries per minute.
- Documentation is open access and detailed guides that will help you to easily integrate the tool into your project.
- Cost: paid plans.
- Everyone can get access to Amadeus’ Self-Service APIs by signing in to the platform for developers. If you want access to our Enterprise APIs, you should request access.
Travelport Air APIs
Travelport is also the GDS, which provides technological solutions for the travel industry, such as supplier merchandising services, tourism retailing organizations, and access to a variety of APIs via its own MyTravelport platform.
The Travelport Air APIs search based on databases of airlines and other GDS.
- Allows users to check the availability of flights, find the cheapest options, and buy an airline ticket.
- Enables request cost and additional information about the flight.
- Detailed documentation on the use of this tool is publicly available.
- Cost: paid plans.
- Submit an application on the website to get access to Travelport APIs.
British Airways Flights APIs
British Airways is the biggest airline in the United Kingdom and organizes flights to more than 170 destinations in nearly 80 countries throughout Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
Developers with any experience can use British Airways APIs for their projects. The International Airlines Group website, the parent company of British Airlines, offers access to Flight Offers and Lowest Price APIs.
- This airline flight API allows users to find the lowest ticket price on a specific route for a month or year as well as information about prices for one adult on the route, salon, and departure date.
- Restrictions on the number of requests to the Lowest Price API 240 queries per minute and 5,000 queries per day.
- Documentation for using this tool is available on the RapidAPI platform.
- Cost: paid plans.
- Everyone can get access to British Airways APIs by registering on the IAG website and leaving a request.
Access British Airways Flights API →
What Is the Best Flights API
The best flights API is the one that matches the goals of your project and the needs of your users, while helping you earn more.
If it’s important that users can buy a ticket on your service without redirection, pay attention to the APIs from Kiwi.com, Amadeus, and Travelport. If not, the Flight Search API will be enough.
The other important thing is airline coverage. If you need to receive data from various airlines, the API from GDS will match your needs. If you create a small, regional portal, look closely at programming interfaces from airlines, such as British Airways.
Don’t forget about the ability to earn with an API provider. If you want to use this tool to get an additional source of income by partnering with a company, make sure that the supplier also has this opportunity. These programs are usually called affiliates or referrals.
How to Earn More on Flights
You don’t need to use the API to make money on your project. It’s a difficult tool that requires programming knowledge to use. You can find a specialist who can integrate the API into your project or use the simpler tools of the affiliate programs. This is possible in WayAway partner program.
About WayAway
WayAway is a flight aggregator that gives travelers the best rates on airline tickets and other travel deals. On WayAway travelers can find airline tickets from major and global US airlines. Here, they will be cheaper than in other aggregators.
The main advantage of WayAway is the membership plan, WayAway Plus. With it, travelers can get up to 10% cashback for booking flights, hotels, cars, and other travel services. All this is returned with money that travelers can withdraw to their PayPal account.
How the WayAway Partnership Program Works
Working with an affiliate program allows you to earn on the promotion of brand services.
It’s easy:
- You join the affiliate program.
- Place affiliate tools on your project. For example, links or widgets.
- If your readers click on the affiliate tool and purchase the brand service, you get a reward.
WayAway also works in Travelpayouts. Moreover, the connection and use of all tools in this partner network is absolutely free. You can earn with WayAway with any project, including search site travel services, content projects, pages in social networks, etc. The WayAway affiliate program offers simple conversion tools: links, widgets, and promo codes. Just copy the tool on the Travelpayouts account brand page and place it on your project.
For each purchase of tickets at WayAway, you’ll receive a partner’s reward. This is up to 50% of the brand’s revenue and $10 for each WayAway Plus membership plan sale.
Join WayAway affiliate program now on Travelpayouts partnership platform.
What is next?
Integrating an API can open the door for many monetization opportunities that you won’t want to miss. For example, you can take advantage of airline affiliate programs and earn by promoting flight tickets to your audience. For each sale made through your affiliate link, you will accrue commissions. To make the most of it, be sure to download our free special guide that teaches the ins and outs of travel content monetization for travel blogs, vlogs, and social media pages.
You’ll learn:
- Who can easily earn with airline affiliate programs
- How to choose the best flight affiliate program
- What sort of content to create for your promotion
- How to integrate flight offers into your content
- And much more
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