Flight Scraper refers here to the public Go project antodippo/flight-scraper, not to every flight-data service with a similar name. It accepts a departure airport, arrival airport, travel date, and email recipients; queries Kayak.com; parses flight results; and sends an email containing the findings. The repository presents the program as a learning and experimentation project, so its README does not establish that it still works against Kayak’s current pages.
What this flight scraper actually does
The project is a small, single-workflow Go application. You provide four kinds of input:
- Departure airport code
- Arrival airport code
- A date in
YYYY-MM-DDformat - One or more email recipients
It then requests a Kayak.com flight-results page, extracts fields from the response, and sends an email. The README’s example table contains a route, departure or arrival time, airline and price. Those figures illustrate the email format; they are not current fare quotes.
This is different from a flight-search API. The repository does not document a general airline database, historical-price store, booking capability, fare alerts, or a public JSON API. Its documented output is an email generated by one executable.
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What you need before running it
Go and the source code
The program is written in Go. Obtain the antodippo/flight-scraper source, inspect its current README and dependencies, and use the Go version required by the repository if one is specified. The available project documentation does not establish a current maintenance schedule or a tested Go-version matrix.
A route and date
Use airport codes accepted by Kayak and a date formatted exactly as YYYY-MM-DD. Validate the date before starting a scheduled job; a malformed value can produce an empty result or a request that Kayak does not interpret as intended.
SMTP access
Email delivery is mandatory in the documented workflow. The README gives example environment variables for the sender address, SMTP host, port, username and password. Set those values for an account that permits SMTP submission. Keep credentials outside source control and use a provider-specific app password where the provider requires one.
Permission to collect the page
The README explicitly tells users to read Kayak.com’s terms and conditions before use. That is a direction to review the site’s rules, not a legal determination that a particular collection method is permitted in every country or use case.
Configuration model
The README documents SMTP settings rather than a hosted configuration service. A typical environment should contain the following categories of values; use the exact variable names shown in the version of the README you obtained:
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| Setting | Purpose | Operational note |
|---|---|---|
| Sender | From address used by the message | Usually must be authorized by the SMTP account |
| SMTP host | Mail server hostname | Use the provider’s submission endpoint |
| SMTP port | Connection port | Match the provider’s TLS or STARTTLS mode |
| Username | SMTP authentication identity | Often the full mailbox address |
| Password | SMTP authentication secret | Prefer an app password or secret-store value |
| Recipients | One or more destination addresses | Confirm the project’s separator and command syntax |
Do not copy the README’s sample credentials into production. They are examples, not a working account.
How to run the project
- Read the repository README and install the documented Go dependencies.
- Export the SMTP sender, host, port, username and password variables using the exact names required by that checkout.
- Choose the departure code, arrival code, date and recipient list.
- Run the project using the repository’s documented command. The README demonstrates a command that supplies a route, a
YYYY-MM-DDdate and an email recipient; copy that syntax rather than inventing flags for a different revision. - Check the recipient mailbox, including spam and provider quarantine folders. The expected result is an email table with route, time, airline and price fields when Kayak returns parseable results.
Because the source documentation does not establish current compatibility, treat the first run as a diagnostic. Save the terminal output, HTTP errors and email-delivery response so you can distinguish a Kayak-page change from an SMTP problem.
Scheduling with cron
The author suggests running the executable as a cron job. A reliable schedule needs an absolute executable path, an explicit environment and a log destination. Cron does not automatically load your interactive shell profile, so put required variables in a protected file or a service-level secret mechanism and source it from a wrapper script.
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. /etc/flight-scraper/smtp.env
/usr/local/bin/flight-scraper >> /var/log/flight-scraper.log 2>&1Then schedule the wrapper at the interval you choose. The exact project command and arguments belong in the wrapper, based on the README for your checkout. Use a lock (for example, a systemd timer with a non-overlapping policy) if a slow request could overlap the next run. Avoid very short intervals: repeated requests can trigger rate limits or violate site rules.
What can break, and how to diagnose it
No email arrives
- Verify the sender, host, port, username and password independently with the SMTP provider’s documented settings.
- Check spam, quarantine and sender-verification requirements.
- Run once interactively so the SMTP error is visible instead of hidden in cron output.
Authentication or TLS errors
Common causes are a wrong port/security mode, a disabled password-login method, or a provider requiring an app password. Correct the SMTP settings; do not disable certificate verification as a first response.
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The email is sent but contains no flights
Confirm the airport codes and date format. Then inspect the fetched Kayak response. A site redesign, consent interstitial, bot check, regional variation or changed HTML selector can make an older parser return no rows even when a browser shows flights.
HTTP blocking, CAPTCHA or timeouts
These indicate that the target site did not provide a normal results page. Retrying aggressively can worsen blocking. Respect Kayak’s terms, reduce frequency, and reassess whether a maintained browser or data provider is more appropriate.
Cron works manually but not on schedule
Use absolute paths, set the working directory explicitly, export every required variable in the wrapper and capture standard output and error. Cron’s network, PATH and home-directory context is usually different from an interactive shell.
Reliability and data-quality limits
The repository documentation supports a simple request, parse and email flow; it does not document retries, proxy rotation, browser rendering, historical storage, deduplication, currency normalization, or alert thresholds. Plan accordingly:
- Record the retrieval timestamp and the requested route/date in your own storage if you need history.
- Treat a missing row as “no parseable result,” not proof that no flight exists.
- Compare currency and fare conditions before acting on a price; the README does not define normalization rules.
- Expect selectors and anti-bot behavior to change when Kayak changes its site.
The author’s statement that it was built “just for learning and experimentation purposes” is the clearest maturity signal available in the project documentation. Current live operation has not been established here.
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When a managed service is a better fit
A small Go scraper is reasonable for a personal experiment with one route and infrequent email. Consider another architecture when you need several regions, concurrent collection, structured delivery, browser rendering, or operational monitoring.
| Option | What its published material describes | How it differs from this repository |
|---|---|---|
| Bright Data flight scraper | Scheduled collection, structured data delivery and managed proxy/unblocking infrastructure; its product page lists 5,000 free monthly credits and paid usage options, which should be rechecked because pricing and limits change. | A managed service rather than a local Go parser. |
| Browserbase | Cloud browser execution, geolocated sessions and concurrent collection for flight-scraping workflows. | Browser infrastructure you build around; not a drop-in command-line replacement. |
| ScrapingBee | Markets a managed API for flight-page extraction. | The repository documentation does not show an integration with it. |
Evaluate any alternative on target-site coverage, browser-rendering requirements, geolocation and blocking controls, structured output, scheduling and concurrency, integration effort, and total cost at your volume. Vendor success-rate or benchmark claims should be treated as vendor claims, not independent guarantees.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Or skip the browser setup
If your immediate need is a clean visual record of a flight-results page rather than parsed fare data, ScreenshotNeo provides a single HTTP call. It accepts consent banners before capture and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups and chat widgets. Bot checks, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads and cache hits are not billed, and response headers identify the page verdict and billing status. It also offers an MCP server for AI agents with take_screenshot, get_page_info and capture_pdf.
Use the documented options to set a full-page capture, wait for a selector or network idle, choose a device and viewport, apply custom headers or cookies, hide selectors, block requests, or schedule asynchronous jobs. A screenshot does not replace structured fare extraction; it is useful for audit trails, visual checks and human review.
See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for the current parameter list. The following cURL request captures a Kayak URL (replace it with the exact results URL you are authorized to access):
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import requests
r = requests.get("https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot", params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://www.kayak.com"}, timeout=90)
r.raise_for_status()
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)Node.js
const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://www.kayak.com' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`${res.status} ${await res.text()}`);
const fs = await import('node:fs/promises');
await fs.writeFile('shot.webp', Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer()));The Free plan includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card. Paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots; every feature is on every plan, and yearly billing gives two months free. Create a free ScreenshotNeo account to get started.
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Practical decision checklist
- Choose this Go project for learning, a small personal schedule and an email-shaped result.
- Choose a maintained or managed workflow when Kayak rendering, blocking, geography or concurrency is central to the job.
- Store timestamps and raw evidence if a fare decision must be auditable.
- Read Kayak’s terms before collecting data and keep request frequency conservative.
- Use ScreenshotNeo when a clean, billable-only screenshot or PDF is the actual requirement rather than a parsed fare feed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this project book or purchase flights?
No. Its documented behavior is to query Kayak, parse displayed results and email a table; booking is not described.
Can I treat the README’s sample prices as live fares?
No. They are illustrative values in the README, not current quotes.
Is the project’s current Kayak compatibility guaranteed?
No. The documentation presents it as a learning and experimentation project and does not establish present-day successful operation.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: antodippo/flight-scraper is a compact Go experiment for emailing parsed Kayak results from a route and date. It can be useful for learning and a low-frequency personal job, but its README does not promise current compatibility, reliability or legal permission. Validate the site terms, SMTP setup and parser behavior before depending on it.
Quick Recap
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