Google Flights
Arcade.dev LLM tools for getting flights via Google Flights
4.1.0Google Flights Toolkit
The Arcade Google Flights toolkit wraps the SerpApi Google Flights API, enabling LLMs to search and resolve real-time flight itineraries — one-way, round-trip, and multi-city — and surface booking options from airlines and OTAs.
Capabilities
- Airport lookup: Resolve city names, country names, or airport names to IATA codes (including metropolitan codes like NYC or LON) usable in flight searches.
- One-way & round-trip search: Find itineraries with correct round-trip pricing in a single call; each result includes a direct
google_flights_urlfor immediate user hand-off. - Multi-city search: Query open-jaw and multi-leg itineraries as a single bundled request, which is typically cheaper than summing equivalent one-way fares.
- Booking option resolution: Convert a
booking_tokenfrom a flight search into a list of airlines and OTAs selling that exact itinerary, with optional POST data for backend vendor hand-offs.
Secrets
SERP_API_KEY — A SerpApi API key used to authenticate all Google Flights requests. Obtain it by creating an account at serpapi.com, then navigating to your dashboard where your private API key is displayed. The free tier has a limited monthly search quota; paid plans are required for higher volume. The key requires no specific scope configuration — a valid key grants access to all SerpApi endpoints, including Google Flights.
Configure this secret in Arcade following the tool secrets guide, or manage it directly at https://api.arcade.dev/dashboard/auth/secrets.
Available tools(4)
| Tool name | Description | Secrets | |
|---|---|---|---|
Resolve a ``booking_token`` to the airlines and OTAs selling that itinerary.
Pass a ``booking_token`` returned by ``search_flights`` or
``search_multi_city_flights`` to get the vendors selling that
specific flight. The token encodes the route, dates, cabin class,
and passenger counts (every segment for multi-city), so there are
no ``travel_class``, ``num_adults``, or ``num_children`` parameters;
supplying a cabin or party size would silently disagree with the
itinerary the token was issued for.
Leave ``include_booking_post_data`` off (the default) when an LLM
is comparing prices; turn it on only when a backend needs to
rebuild the vendor hand-off, since the POST body is multiple
kilobytes per option. | 1 | ||
Find IATA airport codes for a city, country, or airport name.
Metropolitan codes (NYC, LON, TYO, PAR, ...) are accepted as a
``departure_airport_code`` or ``arrival_airport_code`` in flight
searches and mean "any airport in this city". | 1 | ||
Search Google Flights for one-way or round-trip itineraries.
For a trip where the traveler returns to their origin, issue a
single call with both ``outbound_date`` and ``return_date`` set.
Do NOT issue two separate one-way searches in opposite directions
and sum the prices: airlines price round-trip fares independently
from one-way fares, so the sum of two cheapest one-ways is rarely
equal to the cheapest round-trip and is typically more expensive.
Each returned itinerary carries a ``google_flights_url`` that opens
that specific pre-selected flight on Google Flights, so you can hand
the user a booking link straight from these results without a
separate booking-options lookup. | 1 | ||
Search Google Flights for a multi-city (open-jaw) itinerary.
Use this for trips that are neither a simple one-way nor a round-trip
(e.g. an open-jaw three-leg trip that ends back at the origin).
The open-jaw bundle is typically cheaper than the equivalent set
of one-way searches summed; never substitute multiple
``search_flights`` calls for a single multi-city query.
Each returned itinerary carries a ``google_flights_url`` that opens
that specific pre-selected itinerary on Google Flights, so you can
hand the user a booking link straight from these results without a
separate booking-options lookup. | 1 |