It’s hard to argue against the benefits of using APIs to create an app or a website. APIs provide us with tools and materials to build a product that can set a good standard and beat its competitors. As opposed to it, creating something from scratch not only postpones the final result, but also requires a lot of resources (both financial and human). That being said, I suppose there are no doubts in the value of API use.
Nowadays there is a huge variety of APIs for every flavor. Some are offered by big companies as a product they developed and use themselves and ready to share, some are developed specifically for commercial purposes. In this article we’re going to focus on flight data APIs and flights affiliate programs which are widely used in travel apps and websites. Most of them can be used as travel agent booking software, performing the whole set of services needed for travel distribution, and some have more specific functions.
Amadeus API
Amadeus flight APIs exist in two versions: Self-Service APIs and Enterprise APIs. Self-Service APIs are comprised of several categories: COVID-19 and travel safety, air, hotel, destination content, and trip. Basically, a fundamental set that will come in handy for a lot of travel apps. Enterprise APIs contain more options: air, booking management, cars and transfers, customer profile, hotel, insurance, payment, queue management, and rail. Apart from a selection that looks a bit wider, they also promise a dedicated support and guidance.
Skyscanner API
The Skyscanner flight search is sharing its own flight search API. And what’s better it’s a free API if you get approved. Skyscanner Travel API offers two types of price search: Live Prices API or Indicative Prices API. The former will allow you to compare prices for specific dates while the latter will let you be more flexible with dates and destinations as the information is retrieved from cached data. Either way you will get access to the cheapest price for flight tickets.
AwardWallet API
AwardWallet shares its Email Parsing API that can be used to extract information from confirmation emails. This API can parse various types of reservations: flight reservations, hotel reservations, car rental reservations, train reservations, cruises and expenses. It supports multiple email formats and retrieves such details as: price, destination, delays, layovers, mileage, cabin class, type of vehicle and more. It is widely used in itinerary planning and expense tracking.
AirLabs Data API
AirLabs Data API provides you with all the necessary flight data: routes and schedules, real-time flights, airlines and airports details, time zones and taxes. The set of APIs also include the Flight Delay API and Flight Alert API which will allow users to stay up-to-date with the most recent changes in their trips. AirLabs offer several payment plans, starting with the free one with a number of queries limited to 1,000 and ending with enterprise with 1,000,000 queries. There are some minor differences in four available plans, but your choice will mainly depend on how many requests are you planning to have monthly.
Travelport API
Travelport offers an extensive set of travel APIs including air APIs. Travelport flight API allows for a full cycle of searching and booking flight tickets. Users will be able to look for the cheapest flight options, receive information about seats availability and other flight details, and finally book the chosen flight. The dates can be flexible with two days before and two days after a chosen date. You will also get access to real-time flight status, schedules, flight specific details (such as meals on board or travel time) and seat map.
Flightradar API
This API allows you to integrate with flight tracking content of Flightradar24. It will enable your app to track aircraft position live (positions update every five seconds), allow users to see the flight path with progress bar, and provide information about type of aircraft, its current speed and altitude. The service of flight tracking is popular among users, because for some people it adds the sense of security to the flying experience.
Duffel Flights API
This API offers flight content from a variety of airlines (more than 300). Users will be able to search for flights, book them, choose the seats and add the extra bags, pay for the flight and cancel if needed. Duffel provides its potential partners with extensive guidelines on how to use the API, so it will possible even for the newcomers to use it and sell airline tickets in the most effective way.
Kiwi API
Kiwi API will allow users first to search for flights, offering a variety of itinerary options, then to book the chosen flight and complete the booking with the payment. The results of the search can be sorted by quality, price, date, or duration. Recently Kiwi came up with a new product called Tequila, which is a platform that connects you with Kiwi API as well as other tools to support your travel business.
Travelpayouts API
With Travelpayouts API you can you can act in two ways. First, you can get flight data API to get travel insights on your website and earn money if people follow the links. The insights include information about cheapest flights for chosen destinations, the calendar of prices for a month, popular directions, special offers and more. The other way to become a Travelpayouts partner is to submit a request to receive access to free flights API by Aviasales. In your request you should explain why you need the API access and give details about your website or app. If you succeed, you will get access to real-time flight search, as opposed to the cached data of the first method.
Sabre API
Sabre, being one of the GDS, offers a huge variety of flight data APIs (around 200). You can pick and combine several APIs to suit the needs of your app or website. The list includes, but not limited to: flight fare search, air tax calculation, passenger check-in, booking cancellation, and many more. Sabre also provides its partners with guidelines easing them into a successful integration.
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