search_flights
Find and compare flight options by searching Bing Flights with parameters like dates, passengers, and cabin class.
Instructions
Search for flights on Bing Flights.
Args: origin: Origin airport code (e.g., "SEA") destination: Destination airport code (e.g., "ICN") departure_date: Departure date in YYYY-MM-DD format return_date: Return date in YYYY-MM-DD format (optional) adults: Number of adult passengers (default: 1) children: Number of child passengers (default: 0) infants: Number of infant passengers (default: 0) cabin_class: 0=Economy, 1=Premium Economy, 2=Business, 3=First (default: 0) max_results: Maximum number of results to return (default: 10) headless: Run browser in headless mode (default: True)
Returns: Dictionary containing flight search results with structure: - search_params: Search parameters used - results_count: Number of results returned - flights: List of flight options with pricing, airline, times, etc. - timestamp: When the search was performed
Input Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| origin | Yes | ||
| destination | Yes | ||
| departure_date | Yes | ||
| return_date | No | ||
| adults | No | ||
| children | No | ||
| infants | No | ||
| cabin_class | No | ||
| max_results | No | ||
| headless | No |
Implementation Reference
- mcp_server.py:8-59 (handler)The primary MCP tool handler for 'search_flights'. Decorated with @mcp.tool() for automatic registration and schema generation from type hints and docstring. Delegates to BingFlightsScraper.
@mcp.tool() async def search_flights( origin: str, destination: str, departure_date: str, return_date: str | None = None, adults: int = 1, children: int = 0, infants: int = 0, cabin_class: int = 0, max_results: int = 10, headless: bool = True ) -> dict: """Search for flights on Bing Flights. Args: origin: Origin airport code (e.g., "SEA") destination: Destination airport code (e.g., "ICN") departure_date: Departure date in YYYY-MM-DD format return_date: Return date in YYYY-MM-DD format (optional) adults: Number of adult passengers (default: 1) children: Number of child passengers (default: 0) infants: Number of infant passengers (default: 0) cabin_class: 0=Economy, 1=Premium Economy, 2=Business, 3=First (default: 0) max_results: Maximum number of results to return (default: 10) headless: Run browser in headless mode (default: True) Returns: Dictionary containing flight search results with structure: - search_params: Search parameters used - results_count: Number of results returned - flights: List of flight options with pricing, airline, times, etc. - timestamp: When the search was performed """ scraper = BingFlightsScraper(headless=headless) try: results = await scraper.search_flights( origin=origin, destination=destination, departure_date=departure_date, return_date=return_date, adults=adults, children=children, infants=infants, cabin_class=cabin_class, max_results=max_results ) return results finally: await scraper.close() - Core helper method in BingFlightsScraper class implementing the actual flight search logic: validation, URL construction, browser navigation with Playwright, scraping results, and response formatting.
async def search_flights( self, origin: str, destination: str, departure_date: str, return_date: Optional[str] = None, adults: int = 1, children: int = 0, infants: int = 0, cabin_class: int = 0, max_results: int = 10 ) -> dict: """Search for flights and return results. Args: origin: Airport code (e.g., "SEA") destination: Airport code (e.g., "ICN") departure_date: Departure date in YYYY-MM-DD format return_date: Return date in YYYY-MM-DD format (None for one-way) adults: Number of adult passengers (default: 1) children: Number of child passengers (default: 0) infants: Number of infant passengers (default: 0) cabin_class: 0=Economy, 1=Premium Economy, 2=Business, 3=First (default: 0) max_results: Maximum number of results to return (default: 10) Returns: Dictionary with flight results Raises: ValueError: If parameters are invalid PlaywrightTimeoutError: If page doesn't load within timeout """ # Validate inputs if not origin or not destination: raise ValueError("Origin and destination are required") if not departure_date: raise ValueError("Departure date is required") if cabin_class not in self.CABIN_CLASSES: raise ValueError(f"Cabin class must be 0-3, got {cabin_class}") if adults < 1: raise ValueError("At least 1 adult passenger is required") if max_results < 1: raise ValueError("max_results must be at least 1") # Build URL url = self._build_url( origin=origin.upper(), destination=destination.upper(), departure_date=departure_date, return_date=return_date, adults=adults, children=children, infants=infants, cabin_class=cabin_class ) # Ensure browser is started if not self.context: await self._start() # Create page and navigate page = await self.context.new_page() try: await page.goto(url, timeout=60000, wait_until='networkidle') # Store the URL for use in flight data search_url = url # Wait for flight results to load - Bing uses .itrCard class try: await page.wait_for_selector('.itrCard', timeout=30000) except PlaywrightTimeoutError: # If no results, still try to scrape await page.wait_for_timeout(5000) # Scrape results flights = await self._scrape_flight_results( page, max_results, search_url ) # Build response trip_type = "round-trip" if return_date else "one-way" return { "search_params": { "origin": origin.upper(), "destination": destination.upper(), "departure_date": departure_date, "return_date": return_date, "trip_type": trip_type, "passengers": { "adults": adults, "children": children, "infants": infants }, "cabin_class": self.CABIN_CLASSES[cabin_class] }, "results_count": len(flights), "flights": flights, "timestamp": datetime.utcnow().isoformat() + "Z" } finally: await page.close() - Helper function to construct the Bing Flights search URL from input parameters.
def _build_url( self, origin: str, destination: str, departure_date: str, return_date: Optional[str], adults: int, children: int, infants: int, cabin_class: int ) -> str: """Construct Bing Flights URL from parameters. Args: origin: Origin airport code destination: Destination airport code departure_date: Departure date (YYYY-MM-DD) return_date: Return date (YYYY-MM-DD) or None adults: Number of adults children: Number of children infants: Number of infants cabin_class: Cabin class (0-3) Returns: Complete Bing Flights search URL """ # Determine if round-trip is_roundtrip = return_date is not None isr = 1 if is_roundtrip else 0 # Use return_date if provided, otherwise use departure_date rdate = return_date if return_date else departure_date params = { 'q': f'flights from {origin}-{destination}', 'src': origin, 'des': destination, 'ddate': departure_date, 'isr': isr, 'rdate': rdate, 'cls': cabin_class, 'adult': adults, 'child': children, 'infant': infants, 'form': 'FLAFLI' if not is_roundtrip else 'UNKHUB', 'entrypoint': 'UNKHUB' } base_url = 'https://www.bing.com/travel/flight-search' return f"{base_url}?{urlencode(params)}" - Helper function to parse individual flight cards from the scraped page, extracting price, airlines, times, stops, etc.
async def _parse_flight_card( self, element, index: int, search_url: str ) -> Optional[dict]: """Parse individual flight result card. Args: element: Playwright element locator for flight card index: Result index (1-indexed) search_url: The search URL to use as booking link Returns: Dictionary with flight details or None if parsing fails """ try: # Extract price - look for .itrPriceVal price_text = None price_elem = await element.query_selector('.itrPriceVal') if price_elem: price_text = await price_elem.inner_text() price_text = price_text.strip() # Extract airline - look for .airlinePair airlines = [] airline_pair = await element.query_selector('.airlinePair') if airline_pair: airline_elem = await airline_pair.query_selector( '.bt_focusText' ) if airline_elem: airline_text = await airline_elem.inner_text() airline_text = airline_text.strip() if airline_text: airlines = [airline_text] # Extract times and duration from .durationPair departure_time = None arrival_time = None duration = None duration_pair = await element.query_selector('.durationPair') if duration_pair: # Get time range (e.g., "11:00 AM - 3:55 PM") time_elem = await duration_pair.query_selector('.bt_focusText') if time_elem: time_text = await time_elem.inner_text() time_text = time_text.strip() # Parse departure and arrival times if ' - ' in time_text: parts = time_text.split(' - ') departure_time = parts[0].strip() # Remove +1D suffix if present arrival_time = parts[1].replace('+1D', '').strip() # Get duration from the span (e.g., "11h 55m") duration_spans = await duration_pair.query_selector_all('span') for span in duration_spans: text = await span.inner_text() text = text.strip() if 'h' in text and 'm' in text: duration = text break # Extract stops info from .stopsPair stops = 0 stops_pair = await element.query_selector('.stopsPair') if stops_pair: stops_elem = await stops_pair.query_selector('.bt_focusText') if stops_elem: stops_text = await stops_elem.inner_text() stops_text = stops_text.strip().lower() if 'non-stop' in stops_text or 'nonstop' in stops_text: stops = 0 elif '1 stop' in stops_text: stops = 1 elif '2 stop' in stops_text: stops = 2 # Use the search URL as the booking link booking_link = search_url # Parse price price_value = None currency = "USD" if price_text: # Extract numeric value from price text import re cleaned_price = price_text.replace(',', '') price_match = re.search(r'[\d,]+\.?\d*', cleaned_price) if price_match: price_value = float(price_match.group()) # Try to detect currency if '$' in price_text: currency = "USD" elif '€' in price_text: currency = "EUR" elif '£' in price_text: currency = "GBP" # Build flight data flight_data = { "price": { "total": price_value, "currency": currency, "per_person": price_value }, "airlines": airlines if airlines else ["Unknown"], "outbound": { "departure_time": departure_time, "arrival_time": arrival_time, "duration": duration, "stops": stops, "layovers": [], "flight_numbers": [] }, "booking_link": booking_link, "result_index": index } return flight_data except Exception as e: print(f"Error parsing flight card: {e}") return None - mcp_server.py:8-8 (registration)The @mcp.tool() decorator registers the search_flights function as an MCP tool.
@mcp.tool()