Getting Started with Flight Search

This page covers the essential information needed to get started with Flight Search using the ORX API. We'll explain how to use the POST /flight/search endpoint to search for flights, what the required payload is, what the expected response looks like, and how to manage your session.

Search for Flights

POST /flight/search

This endpoint specifies the criteria for your flight search. It will return a session public ID that you can use to manage your itinerary, including adding flights, passengers, and more.

Payload

The payload for POST /flight/search should include the following:

{
  "queries": [
    {
      "departure_airport": "LAX",
      "arrival_airport": "YVR",
      "departure_date": "2033-03-26"
    },
    {
      "departure_airport": "YVR",
      "arrival_airport": "LAX",
      "departure_date": "2033-03-28"
    }
  ],
  "passengers": [
    {
      "code": "ADT"
    },
    {
      "code": "CHD"
    }
  ]
}

This payload may include the following fields:

• queries: An array of objects that represents the flight search query. The example above searches for flights from LAX to YVR on March 26th, 2023.

  • The dates provided are supposed to be in the ISO8601 (opens in a new tab) format.

  • Airport codes should be provided in the 3-letter IATA (opens in a new tab) format.

• passengers: An array of objects that representing each passenger. The example above includes one adult passenger.

  • code is of type Passenger Code.

• preferences: An object that represents additional search preferences. It could be used to specify a suppression method and discount codes. See advanced usage for more info.

Response

The response for POST /flight/search will include a session public ID that you can use to manage the entire itinerary. The response will look like this:

{
  "flow": "FLIGHT",
  "expireAt": "2023-03-25T01:37:28.949Z",
  "createdAt": "2023-03-24T23:37:28.949Z",
  "public": "14a010e5-6d9e-4acd-8979-625cb003ece8"
}

The public property is what you'll use to identify the session. You can retrieve the same information about your session using the GET /session endpoint.

Possible Errors

Advanced Usage

You can also pass in additional search preferences in the preferences object in the payload.

{
  "queries": [
    //query
  ],
  "passengers": [
    //versions/v1/passengers
  ],
  "preferences": {
    "suppression": "NO_SUPPRESSION",
    "discount_codes": ["discount"]
  }
}

🛎 Note that these preferences will override your default settings. We recommend only customizing these if you have a specific need.

Suppression

The suppression property controls duplicate suppression for the search results. It can take one of the following values:

• FIRST_BOUND: This is the default behavior and will remove duplicates based on the first bound found.
• REDEMPTIVE: This will remove duplicates based on all bounds.
• NO_SUPPRESSION: This will not suppress duplicate flights at all.

Discount Codes

he discount_codes property can accept an array or a single string.

"preferences": {
    "discount_codes": ["discount"]
}

🛎 We recommend only using proper values as discount codes, as some sources will deny any response for invalid codes.