---
id: fast-flights
version: "3.0.2"
license: unclear
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# fast-flights — The fast, robust, strongly-typed Google Flights scraper (API) implemented in Python.

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 159.3K/mo

## What it is and what it does

fast-flights is a Python scraper that queries Google Flights by reverse-engineering the Base64-encoded Protobuf format Google uses internally for flight search parameters. Rather than using browser automation, it constructs and decodes Protobuf messages directly, making it significantly faster for programmatic flight lookups. The package provides a strongly-typed API to specify departure/arrival airports, dates, seat class, trip type, and passenger counts, then returns structured flight results.

The library ships with optional integrations for BrightData (IP rotation) and SearchApi (richer data). It requires three runtime dependencies: primp, protobuf, and selectolax. The package is actively maintained with no known security vulnerabilities and supports current Python versions.

Use it for:

- Build a travel recommendation chatbot that queries live flight availability and pricing without browser overhead.
- Aggregate flight prices across multiple date/route combinations for price-monitoring or deal-finding applications.
- Integrate flight search into a booking or trip-planning platform where speed and structured data matter.
- Scrape flight data for research or analysis, using BrightData integration to avoid IP blocking.
- Compare fares across seat classes and trip types programmatically for a travel comparison tool.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Scrapes flight data from Google Flights by decoding Base64-encoded Protobuf requests, returning structured flight information without browser automation.

Yes. The package solves a real problem (fast, programmatic Google Flights access) with low install friction, active maintenance, no security issues, and permissive licensing. The main caveat is that scraping Google Flights carries legal and operational risk—Google may block or change the underlying Protobuf format without notice, and terms of service compliance is the user's responsibility. If you accept that risk and need fast flight data lookup, this is a solid choice.

## Install

pip install fast-flights
uv add fast-flights
poetry add fast-flights

## Installing fast-flights

Before you install: Low friction installation with a pure-Python wheel. Actively maintained with recent commits and no known vulnerabilities. Requires Python 3.10 or later.

License in practice: Licensed under MIT (permissive), allowing free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install fast-flights

from fast_flights import FlightQuery, Passengers, create_query, get_flights

query = create_query(
    flights=[FlightQuery(date="YYYY-MM-DD", from_airport="MYJ", to_airport="TPE")],
    seat="economy",
    trip="one-way",
    passengers=Passengers(adults=1)
)
res = get_flights(query)

Requires Python 3.10 or later.

Verify before relying:

- Whether Google's terms of service permit this scraping approach or if blocking is likely.
- Stability of the Protobuf schema as Google Flights evolves its internal API.
- Whether the SearchApi integration requires a paid account or API key.
- Performance characteristics under high-volume or concurrent query scenarios.

## Package facts

- License: not declared (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 159.3K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

google flights scraper, flight search api python, protobuf flight data, airline price scraper, travel booking data extraction, flight availability lookup, google flights alternative, web-scraping, travel-data, protobuf

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