FlightHub.com - Flight Search Automation

Field-tested 2026-05-22 using browser-harness + Mac Chrome CDP. No anti-bot protections encountered beyond standard Cloudflare JS challenge (handled automatically by a real browser session).

Anti-Bot Protection

FlightHub uses Cloudflare. Key facts:

• Blocks all non-browser HTTP requests with 403 "Just a moment..." JS challenge page - curl, web_extract, and plain HTTP clients cannot retrieve any page, including the direct search URL
• The JS challenge requires a real browser environment (JavaScript engine, proper TLS fingerprint, cookie management)
• Solution: Use a real browser (local Chrome via CDP, cloud browser with residential proxy, or Playwright with stealth) - Cloudflare passes the challenge without captchas for legitimate residential IPs

Search URL Format

FlightHub search can be initiated via a direct URL - this avoids the fragile datepicker and airport autocomplete:

https://www.flighthub.com/flight/search?seg0_from={ORIGIN}&seg0_to={DEST}&seg1_to={ORIGIN}&seg1_from={DEST}&seg0_date={YYYY-MM-DD}&seg1_date={YYYY-MM-DD}&order_by=cheapest&currency=cad&num_adults=1&num_children=0&num_infants=0&num_infants_lap=0&type=roundtrip&seat_class=Economy

Example

https://www.flighthub.com/flight/search?seg0_from=YYZ&seg0_to=ICN&seg1_to=YYZ&seg1_from=ICN&seg0_date=2027-07-03&seg1_date=2027-07-25&order_by=cheapest&currency=cad&num_adults=1&num_children=0&num_infants=0&num_infants_lap=0&type=roundtrip&seat_class=Economy

UI Search Flow (when URL approach fails)

When navigating to https://www.flighthub.com/ directly, the page has an SPA flight search form. This form is automation-hostile due to the custom datepicker component, but the airport POI autocomplete works.

Step 1: Airport Autocomplete

The departure and destination inputs are #seg0_from_display and #seg0_to_display. fill_input() with real CDP keyboard events works:

fill_input("#seg0_from_display", "YYZ")
time.sleep(2)
press_key("Tab")  # dismiss POI dropdown
fill_input("#seg0_to_display", "ICN")
time.sleep(2)
press_key("Tab")

Gotcha: The departure POI dropdown may block the destination input. After filling departure, press Tab/Enter before filling destination.

Step 2: Datepicker (FAILS - custom click-resistant component)

FlightHub uses a custom JavaScript datepicker (not react-date-range as initially suspected). Standard click methods do NOT register:

Status: NOT automatable through the datepicker. If a direct URL approach exists (see above), use it instead. The datepicker behavior is specific to FlightHub's implementation and was confirmed with screenshot verification after each attempted click method.

Step 3: Search Button

Selector: .home-search-form-submit.search-form-submit.flights.fh

This is a <div>, not a <button>. Click it with click_at_xy():

rect = js("document.querySelector('.home-search-form-submit')?.getBoundingClientRect().toJSON() ?? null")
if rect:
    click_at_xy(rect["x"] + rect["width"] / 2, rect["y"] + rect["height"] / 2)

Results Page

After navigating to the search URL, the page shows:

1. "Searching for the best flights..." dialog (may take 10-30s)
2. Flight cards appear as search completes

Flight cards

Each flight card contains:

• Airline name and codes
• Departure/arrival times
• Number of stops + layover locations
• Total travel duration
• Price in selected currency
• "Select" button

Extracting flight data

# Wait for loading dialog to disappear
for attempt in range(12):  # up to ~60 seconds
    loading = js("document.querySelector('[class*=\"dialog\"]') ? true : false")
    if not loading:
        break
    time.sleep(5)
 
# Extract cards
listings = js("""
(function() {
    var cards = document.querySelectorAll(
        '[class*="flight-card"], [class*="result-item"], ' +
        '[class*="offer-card"], [class*="trip"]'
    );
    var result = [];
    var seen = new Set();
    cards.forEach(function(c) {
        var text = (c.innerText || '').trim();
        if (text.length > 50 && text.length < 1200 && !seen.has(text)) {
            seen.add(text);
            result.push(text.substring(0, 600));
        }
    });
    return JSON.stringify(result.slice(0, 30));
})()
""")

CSS Selectors for Flight Cards

These are heuristic - the actual classnames are obfuscated, so a broad selector is more reliable than specific classes:

• [class*="flight-card"]
• [class*="result-item"]
• [class*="offer-card"]
• [class*="trip"]
• [class*="listing"]

Sorting

Not directly controllable via URL parameters beyond order_by: cheapest, fastest, best.

Key Lessons

1. Direct URL first - encode everything into the search URL parameters. Avoid the datepicker entirely - it is the most robust approach and works while the form interaction is blocked by the custom datepicker.

2. real browser required - FlightHub's Cloudflare challenge means you need a real browser (local Chrome via CDP, or a cloud browser with residential proxy). Headless mode may work but is more detectable.

3. Datepicker is click-resistant - if you must use the form approach, be prepared for the datepicker to reject all programmatic click methods. The only known workarounds are (a) direct URL or (b) inspecting network requests to find the backend API.

4. Form submission is JS-driven - the Search button is a <div> with a JS click handler, not an HTML <button type="submit">. Use CDP mouse events, not form submission APIs.

5. POI autocomplete works - unlike some other OTAs (Trip.com), FlightHub's airport autocomplete responds to fill_input() with real keyboard events. This is the one form element that can be automated.

flights-search.md · updated Oct 9, 2026 · 879 words