Have you ever tried to Google cheap airfare, only to be greeted by several pages of sponsored ads, each promising a low, low price that seems too good to be true? If you have booked a flight online without the aid of a travel agent in the 21st century, that scenario probably sounds familiar. That’s because there’s always a hunger, and a real need, for reliable and useful travel tools.

Looking up flight info is one of the trickiest and most frustrating parts of travel research. It’s also one of the most important. Flight APIs are an indispensable component of a functional travel app or product.

Flight APIs are much more than comparison shopping tools, although that’s an important function. There are flight APIs for booking and canceling flights. There are APIs for looking up general data on different models or individual airlines. Some APIs will even provide you with info on the destinations you’ll be visiting.

If you’re building a travel tool that involves researching flight data, here are ten APIs for flight prices and bookings.

1. TripAdvisor API

Some brands become household names for a reason. It’s no coincidence TripAdvisor is one of the most heavily visited travel sites on the internet, thanks to over 702 million reviews on everything from hotels to airlines. Not only does TripAdvisor have an incentive to offer a powerful and valuable API, they’ve got the resources to do so.

TripAdvisor’s Flight Price API is simple to use but also widely customizable due to its support of JSONP and URI Query String/CRUD request format, which returns the results in a basic JSON format.

It can handle up to 50 API calls a second and is free but only for approved partners.

2. Skyscanner API

Skyscanner is another flight API that’s become hugely popular in the years since William Shatner first started promoting Priceline. Like TripAdvisor, the Skyscanner Flight API is accessible and functional.

The Skyscanner Flight API lets users retrieve a wide range of flight info with a simple HTTP request. The results can be returned in several formats, including JSON, XML, JSONP, and URI Query String/CRUD request format. It also uses an API key authentication model. Finally, Skyscanner offers several valuable filtering options, like the ability to sort flights by carbon footprint.

Skyscanner’s popularity is its main selling point. There’s a large, active community of developers using the Skyscanner API, so an extensive knowledge base already exists. If you run into a problem that hasn’t already been solved, the Skyscanner developer community can help you troubleshoot any potential issues, often in near real-time.

Skyscanner API is also free to use for approved partners.

3. Expedia API

Expedia has been putting out quality travel products for some time. The larger scale and additional resources mean the Expedia Flight API offers a great range of features and is quite stable and secure.

The Expedia Flight API offers everything a developer could ever need for their users to look up and book flights. It lets users easily query the API for flight info, availability, cost, flight restrictions, booking notifications, and built-in confirmations. It can even take payments and return media results. The Expedia API is also secured via API key authentication and supports XML response format and JSONP, and URI Query String/CRUD request format.

Expedia API is free to use for approved partners, as well.

4. Kayak API

Kayak Flight API is one of the more popular of the newer travel APIs. Like Expedia and Priceline, it’s not just an API for flight prices and booking but an all-in-one travel API for everything from looking up flights to booking hotels and rental cars.

Like Skyscanner, Kayak has a large and robust community of developers already using the API. There’s a strong probability that any problem you encounter while using the Kayak flight API has already been solved. Kayak also has world-class API documentation, so getting set up and using the API is fast, easy, and intuitive.

Kayak API is free for approved partners.

5. Aviationstack API

So far, most of the flight information APIs we’ve mentioned have been fairly similar. There’s more to flight APIs than looking up prices, though. Aviationstack API is an incredibly useful API for fleshing out the other half of a flight API. It lets you look up info for specific flights, which are updated in real-time. It also enables you to monitor entire airlines, individual airports, or even whole cities.

If you’re considering building an all-inclusive travel app or website, you should consider including Aviationstack API in your stack. It pairs beautifully with other flight reservation and travel APIs.

6. Amadeus API

It can be notoriously tricky to get a straight answer on flight pricing since airlines rarely mention hidden fees and taxes upfront. To make matters even more confusing, that info is constantly changing. Sometimes you need a simple, straightforward API to tell you exactly how much a flight costs.

The Amadeus API gives you the actual cost of a flight in a simple, straightforward format. It also lets you look up pricing on additional features, like bag check fees or the cost of extra legroom.

If you’re looking for a straightforward, transparent, easy-to-use API for flight prices, give Amadeus a look.

7. British Airways API

British Airways is the largest airline in the UK. If you’re looking for an API for flight prices in England, you should consider checking out the British Airways API.

Like most of the biggest APIs on our list, the British Airways API does much more than return flight prices. A whole suite of APIs covers everything from itineraries to price checking to a listing of current in-flight entertainment. They also have APIs for booking rental cars and hotels.

If you’re building a product or website involving British flights in any regard, you should really consider adding the British Airways API to your API catalog.

8. Emirates API

Emirates is to the United Arab Nations what British Skyways is the United Kingdom. If you want to add support for flights to international hubs like Dubai, you’ll want the Emirates API.

The Emirates API lets you look up information for specific flights through the API, which you can then book. It even supports cancellations and refunds. There are also features for loyalty programs and paying for baggage checks. The ability to select seats to update trip info are in the works for future iterations of the Emirates API.

If your flight or travel product involves the UAE in any way, you should strongly consider the Emirates API.

9. Lufthansa API

Lufthansa is the premier airline for Germany. It’s the German equivalent of British Skyways or Emirates.

Like many of the other flight APIs we’ve mentioned, the Lufthansa API supports much more than looking up flight data. It also lets users look up whole airlines, airports, nearby airports, cities, and aircraft.

This wide range of data makes Lufthansa worthwhile for products or services involving more general knowledge about air travel. Whether you’re building an APP or website for German air travel or comparing info on the fuel consumption of different models of Boeing aircraft, the Lufthansa API will come in handy.

10. TravelTime API

Decision-making is part of the travel research process. You don’t always know precisely where you’re going, so looking up specific flights or destinations might not be the best method.

TravelTime API lets you look things up by travel time instead of distance. It also enables you to compare multiple routes to see which trip is the fastest and most efficient. These insights are then returned in one efficient, easy-to-understand table, making side-by-side comparison a snap.

Final Thoughts on APIs for Flights Prices and Bookings

After being stuck at home for so long during the pandemic, people are hungry for travel. Things have gotten exponentially more expensive at the same time, though. This is a perfect storm for creating flight info APIs.

Whether you’re just looking to build a simple price comparison tool or want to create an all-encompassing travel suite, these ten flight APIs will take you where you’re trying to go.