Travelstart Flights Scraper | Africa & Global OTA

Scrape Travelstart flight search results and airport / city suggestions across Africa and global Travelstart sites — then download structured itineraries as Excel, CSV, or JSON.

Use this Actor as a practical Travelstart flights data API for South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and the global .com market. Pick a country site, enter origin / destination IATA codes (or city text), set dates and cabin, and get Dataset rows with prices, airlines, segments, stops, and trip metadata.

• Scrape Travelstart flight search (return, one-way, multi-city style trips)
• Resolve airports / cities via suggestions (lc.json autocomplete)
• Cover hosts such as travelstart.com, travelstart.co.za, travelstart.com.ng, travelstart.co.ke
• Extract fares, airlines, segments, baggage flags, and outbound / inbound itineraries
• Export to Excel / CSV / JSON, or connect Make, n8n, Zapier, Python, or the Apify API
• Pay per event — Actor start + each Dataset result; platform usage is included (you do not pay separate Apify compute on top)

Unofficial tool. This Actor is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Travelstart. It collects publicly reachable shopping surfaces and does not complete bookings or access private accounts.

---

What does the Travelstart Flights Scraper do?

Travelstart Flights Scraper lets you extract structured flight inventory from Travelstart OTAs without running your own anti-bot browser fleet. Give it a route (for example JNB → CPT), dates, and a mode, then start a run.

Under the hood, the Actor:

1. Validates your input (mode, country site, route, dates, cabin, travellers)
2. Enforces free-tier caps when you are on a free Apify plan
3. Calls a managed Cloud Run worker (travelstart-com) that completes the Angular flight search with residential egress
4. Reads guest-visible flightResults / suggestion payloads into normalized records
5. Pushes Dataset rows ready for Excel / CSV / JSON export
6. Writes RUN_SUMMARY (and ERROR_SUMMARY on failure) to the key-value store

You run it like any other Apify Actor — schedule it, call it from the API, or plug it into automations.

---

What Travelstart data can I extract?

Data	Flights search	Airport suggestions
Itinerary id / amount / currency	✅	—
Airline code / name	✅	—
Segments (times, airports, flight no.)	✅	—
Stops / duration	✅	—
Outbound + inbound (unbundled domestic)	✅	—
Fare breakdown signals	✅	—
IATA / city / locationId	—	✅
Country / countryIata	—	✅
Country site	✅	✅

Not shipped as successful scrapes (schema waivers): hotelsSearch (Travelstart hotel subdomain was infrastructure-unavailable during recon), carsSearch (Meili + Turnstile), buses, packages — selecting these returns a clear failure instead of fake empty success.

---

Why scrape Travelstart?

Travelstart is a major African / global flight OTA with strong coverage in markets such as South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya. Teams scrape Travelstart to:

• Monitor flight prices and availability on popular African routes
• Compare airline / fare signals for JNB, CPT, DUR, LOS, ABV, NBO, and more
• Enrich catalogs with airport / city suggestions (IATA + locationId)
• Feed BI dashboards, pricing tools, or AI agents with structured OTA rows

Compared with generic Google Flights or Skyscanner scrapers, this Actor targets Travelstart-specific shopping results across multiple Travelstart country sites in one input surface.

---

How to scrape Travelstart flights (no code required)

1. Create a free Apify account
2. Open Travelstart Flights Scraper
3. Choose a mode: flightsSearch (default) or suggestions / airportSuggest
4. Choose a country site (default travelstart.com)
5. Enter from + to (flights) or query (suggestions)
6. (Optional) Set departureDate / returnDate, tripType, cabin, travellers
7. Click Start and download the Dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, or JSONL

Start with maxResults: 5–10 to verify the query, then scale up.

---

How much does it cost to scrape Travelstart?

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing. You are charged for:

Event	Price
Actor Start (apify-actor-start)	$0.005 per start
Result (apify-default-dataset-item)	$3.00 / 1,000 results ($0.003 each)

Platform usage costs are included — you do not pay separate Apify compute/proxy usage for this Actor on top of the event prices above (User pays platform usage costs = No).

Example cost estimates

Results collected	Approx. event cost*
100	~$0.31
1,000	~$3.01
10,000	~$30.01

*Assumes one Actor start at default memory billing for start events, plus $0.003 per Dataset item. Exact start billing can scale with allocated memory (one start event per GB, minimum one).

Free Apify trial credit can cover a small test run — try maxResults: 5 first.

Free-tier caps (Actor developer limits)

Cap	Value
Free Apify-plan runs of this Actor	10 total
Free results / run	200
Paying Apify users	Unlimited runs (schema max still applies)

These limits are enforced in Actor code (set by the Actor developer, not Apify). When the run cap is hit, the Actor finishes successfully with RUN_SUMMARY.status = FREE_TIER_LIMIT and a clear status message.

---

Input

Open the Input tab for the full form. Common fields:

Field	Description
mode	flightsSearch, suggestions, airportSuggest (plus unsupported waivers)
countrySite	travelstart.com (default), .co.za, .com.ng, .co.ke
from / to	Origin and destination IATA or city text for flights
query	Text for airport / city suggestions
departureDate / returnDate	YYYY-MM-DD (return empty for one-way)
tripType	return, oneway, multicity (roundtrip normalized to return)
cabin	ECONOMY, PREMIUM, BUSINESS, FIRST
adults / children / infants / youngAdults	Traveller counts
maxResults	Cap on emitted Dataset rows
workerBaseUrl	Advanced allowlisted worker override (optional)

Input example (flights)

{
  "mode": "flightsSearch",
  "countrySite": "travelstart.co.za",
  "from": "JNB",
  "to": "CPT",
  "tripType": "return",
  "departureDate": "2026-08-20",
  "returnDate": "2026-08-27",
  "cabin": "ECONOMY",
  "adults": 1,
  "maxResults": 20
}

Input example (suggestions)

{
  "mode": "suggestions",
  "query": "Johannesburg",
  "countrySite": "travelstart.com",
  "maxResults": 8
}

---

Output

You can download the dataset extracted by Travelstart Flights Scraper in formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

Each Dataset item includes mode / site metadata plus fields such as:

Field	Description
mode / countrySite	Collection mode and Travelstart host
direction	outbound, inbound, or bundled
id	Itinerary id when present
airlineCode / airlineName	Marketing / validating carrier signals
amount / currencyCode / priceText	Price signals
segments	Leg details (times, airports, flight numbers)
stops / durationMs	Route complexity
origin / destination	Requested route
iata / locationId	Suggestion fields
capturedAt	Capture timestamp

Output example

{
  "type": "flight_itinerary",
  "mode": "flightsSearch",
  "direction": "outbound",
  "id": 0,
  "amount": 849,
  "currencyCode": "ZAR",
  "priceText": "ZAR849",
  "airlineCode": "FA",
  "airlineName": "FlySafair",
  "stops": 0,
  "origin": "JNB",
  "destination": "DUR",
  "countrySite": "travelstart.co.za",
  "source": "travelstart_flightResults"
}

Field presence depends on mode and what the public page exposes for that run.

---

Coverage matrix

Dimension	Coverage
Country sites	travelstart.com (default) + .co.za / .com.ng / .co.ke
Modes shipped	flightsSearch · suggestions / airportSuggest
Waivers	Hotels UNAVAILABLE · cars / buses / packages UNSUPPORTED

---

Tips for best results

• Prefer IATA codes (JNB, CPT) over ambiguous city strings when possible
• Use maxResults: 2–5 for first smoke tests, then raise the cap
• Domestic South African routes often return separate outbound + inbound lists (isBundled=false)
• Do not rely on README sample inputs for production monitoring — rotate routes and dates
• Default run memory is 1024 MB (thin Actor; browser work runs on the worker)

---

Architecture and proxy ownership

Apify Actor (input, Dataset, free tier, Standby, PPE)
        │ HTTPS + WORKER_AUTH
        ▼
Cloud Run worker travelstart-com (Patchright session, parse, OpenAPI)
        ▼
Travelstart public flight shopping / suggestion APIs

WORKER_PROVIDES_PROXY=1 is enabled by default. The Actor does not mint or transmit proxyUrl; proxy/egress is configured on the worker (including egress-control). Set WORKER_BASE_URL and secret WORKER_AUTH in Actor settings.

---

Run artifacts

Key	Purpose
INPUT_ECHO	Normalized non-secret input and resolved worker source
RUN_SUMMARY	Worker, proxy source, free-tier, and record metrics
ERROR_SUMMARY	Structured failure before valid records are emitted

---

Integrations & API

• Schedule recurring Travelstart flight pulls from Apify Console
• Call the Actor from Python, Node.js, or curl via the Apify API
• Connect to Make, n8n, Zapier, Google Sheets, or your BI stack

API example

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/lentic_clockss~travelstart-scraper/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "mode": "flightsSearch",
    "countrySite": "travelstart.com",
    "from": "JNB",
    "to": "CPT",
    "maxResults": 20
  }'

---

FAQ

Is login required?

No. The Actor targets publicly reachable Travelstart shopping / suggestion surfaces via the managed worker.

Can it book flights?

No. Booking, payment, and traveller checkout flows are intentionally excluded.

Why not hotels or cars?

Hotels were unavailable (Cloudflare 522 on the hotel subdomain during recon). Cars use a third-party Meili embed with Turnstile. Those modes stay visible and fail with clear waiver errors.

Do I pay Apify platform usage separately?

No for this Actor’s configured PPE plan — User pays platform usage costs = No. You pay the event prices above; platform usage is covered by the Actor developer.

How is this different from Google Flights scrapers?

This Actor scrapes Travelstart OTA results (Africa / global Travelstart hosts), not Google Flights aggregates. Use it when you need Travelstart-specific prices and suggestion IDs.

---

Legal & responsible use

Use this Actor only for lawful purposes and in line with Travelstart terms and applicable laws. You are responsible for how you store and use the data. Prefer low-volume smoke inputs first (maxResults: 2–5).

Our scrapers target publicly shared shopping / suggestion data. Results may still contain personal or business data depending on what the site exposes. Do not scrape personal data unless you have a legitimate reason. If unsure, consult your counsel.

---

Support

Questions or feature requests: open an issue on the Actor page in Apify Console or contact the developer through Apify.