Google Flights Scraper

This Apify actor scrapes flight information from Google Flights. It can be used to search for one-way and round-trip flights, and retrieve booking details including prices, layovers, and carrier information.

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Input Configuration

To perform a flight search, you provide a JSON object with your travel details. The simplest search requires an origin, a destination, and a departure date.

Example: Simple One-Way Flight

{
  "origin": "YVR",
  "destination": "NRT",
  "departure_date": "2025-12-03"
}

The system automatically handles date format conversion and infers the trip type. For a round trip, simply add a return_date.

1. Basic Flight Search

For a simple one-way or round-trip flight search, you need to provide the origin, destination, and travel dates.

1.1. Core Fields

Field	Type	Description	Required
origin	String	The 3-letter IATA code for the origin airport.	Yes
destination	String	The 3-letter IATA code for the destination airport.	Yes
departure_date	String	The departure date.	Yes
return_date	String	The return date. Required for round trips. If omitted, the search is treated as one-way.	No

1.2. Date Formats

The system accepts dates as strings in the following formats:

• YYYY-MM-DD (e.g., "2025-12-03")
• YYYY/MM/DD (e.g., "2025/12/03")
• MM/DD/YYYY (e.g., "12/03/2025")

1.3. Examples

One-Way Trip:

{
  "origin": "YVR",
  "destination": "NRT",
  "departure_date": "2025-12-03"
}

Round Trip:

{
  "origin": "YVR",
  "destination": "NRT",
  "departure_date": "2025-12-03",
  "return_date": "2025-12-10"
}

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2. Specifying Passengers and Cabin Class

You can specify the number and type of passengers, as well as the desired cabin class.

2.1. Passenger and Cabin Fields

Field	Type	Description	Default
passengers	Object	An object detailing the number of travelers.	{"adult": 1}
seat / cabin_class	String	The desired cabin class. You can use either field name. Accepted values are case-insensitive (e.g., "Economy", "Business", "First").	"economy"

The passengers object has the following structure:

Field	Type	Description	Default
adult	Integer	Number of adult passengers.	1
child	Integer	Number of child passengers.	0
infant	Integer	Number of infant passengers.	0

2.2. Example

Search for 2 adults and 1 child in Business Class:

{
  "origin": "YVR",
  "destination": "NRT",
  "departure_date": "2025-12-03",
  "return_date": "2025-12-10",
  "passengers": {
    "adult": 2,
    "child": 1
  },
  "seat": "business"
}

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3. Advanced Search: Fixed Flights

For complex itineraries where specific flights or layovers are required, you can use the fixed_flights field. This is useful for forcing a particular route or building multi-segment journeys.

When fixed_flights is used, the origin and destination at the top level still define the overall journey's start and end points.

3.1. fixed_flights Structure

Field	Type	Description	Required
fixed_flights	Object	An object containing lists of specific flight segments for the outbound and return journeys.	No

The fixed_flights object contains outbound and optional return legs, which are arrays of flight segments.

Field	Type	Description
outbound	Array	A list of one or more flight segments for the outbound journey.
return	Array	A list of one or more flight segments for the return journey. Cannot be used without outbound.

Each segment object in the array has the following structure:

Field	Type	Description
origin_airport	String	The origin airport for this specific segment.
destination_airport	String	The destination airport for this specific segment.
date	String	The departure date for this segment.
airline_code	String	The two-letter IATA code for the airline.
flight_number	String	The flight number.

3.2. Example

Round-trip from YVR to NRT with a specific layover in HKG on the outbound journey:

In this example, the user wants to fly from YVR to NRT via HKG on the way out, and the return journey from NRT to YVR can be any flight.

{
  "origin": "YVR",
  "destination": "NRT",
  "departure_date": "2025-12-03",
  "return_date": "2025-12-10",
  "fixed_flights": {
    "outbound": [
      {
        "origin_airport": "YVR",
        "destination_airport": "HKG",
        "date": "2025-12-03",
        "airline_code": "HX",
        "flight_number": "81"
      },
      {
        "origin_airport": "HKG",
        "destination_airport": "NRT",
        "date": "2025-12-04",
        "airline_code": "HX",
        "flight_number": "604"
      }
    ]
  },
  "passengers": { "adult": 2, "child": 1 },
  "seat": "economy"
}

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4. Configuration Options

These additional fields control the scraper's behavior and output filtering.

Field	Type	Description	Default
max_results	Integer	The maximum number of flight combinations to return. Set to 0 for no limit.	0
only_direct_airline_booking	Boolean	If true, the results will only include booking options directly from the airline, excluding OTAs.	false
type	String	The scraping mode. Use "search" for standard flight search or "booking" for specific flights.	"search"
debug	Boolean	If true, runs the browser in headful mode for debugging purposes.	false

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5. Error Handling

The system will raise an error if the input is invalid. Common errors include:

• Missing origin or destination fields.
• Providing return segments in fixed_flights without outbound segments.
• Using an unrecognized date format.

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Actor Output

The actor stores its results in the default dataset. The output is a flattened JSON array, where each object represents a unique combination of a flight itinerary and a booking option. This means if a single flight has 3 different booking agents (e.g., Airline, Expedia, CheapOair), it will appear as 3 separate entries in the dataset, each with the same flight details but different price, agent, and bookingUrl.

Sample Output

[
  {
    "segments": [
      {
        "origin": "YVR",
        "destination": "SFO",
        "departure_time": "7:00 AM",
        "arrival_time": "9:38 AM",
        "airline": "United",
        "flight_code": "UA 2322",
        "seat_class": "Economy",
        "aircraft": "Airbus A320",
        "duration": "2 hr 38 min"
      }
    ],
    "total_duration": "2 hr 38 min",
    "layovers": [ "Nonstop" ],
    "amenities": {},
    "bookingUrl": "https://www.google.com/travel/flights/booking?tfs=...",
    "price": "CA$353",
    "agent": "Book with UnitedAirline",
    "is_direct_airline": true
  },
  {
    "segments": [
      {
        "origin": "YVR",
        "destination": "SFO",
        "departure_time": "7:00 AM",
        "arrival_time": "9:38 AM",
        "airline": "United",
        "flight_code": "UA 2322",
        "seat_class": "Economy",
        "aircraft": "Airbus A320",
        "duration": "2 hr 38 min"
      }
    ],
    "total_duration": "2 hr 38 min",
    "layovers": [ "Nonstop" ],
    "amenities": {},
    "bookingUrl": "https://www.google.com/travel/flights/booking?tfs=...",
    "price": "CA$332",
    "agent": "Book with Air CanadaAirline",
    "is_direct_airline": true
  }
]

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Usage

Local Development

To run the actor locally, you need to have Node.js and Python installed.

1. Clone the repository.
2. Install dependencies:

   $npm install
   

3. Provide your input in the storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json file.
4. Run the actor:

   $npm start
   

Apify Platform

When running on the Apify platform, you can provide the input via the UI. The actor will run automatically and save the results in the default dataset.

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License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See the LICENSE.txt file for details.