🔧 Compare flight prices across multiple booking platforms with email reports

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Description

This workflow automates flight price comparison across multiple booking platforms (Kayak, Skyscanner, Expedia, Google Flights). It accepts natural language queries, extracts flight details using NLP, scrapes prices in parallel, identifies the best deals, and sends professional email reports with comprehensive price breakdowns and booking links.

📦 What You’ll Get

A fully functional, production-ready n8n workflow that:

✅ Compares flight prices across 4 major platforms (Kayak, Skyscanner, Expedia, Google Flights)
✅ Accepts natural language requests (“Flight from NYC to London on March 25”)
✅ Sends beautiful email reports with best deals
✅ Returns real-time JSON responses for web apps
✅ Handles errors gracefully with helpful messages
✅ Includes detailed documentation with sticky notes

🚀 Quick Setup (3 Steps)

Step 1: Import Workflow to n8n

Copy the JSON from the first artifact (workflow file)
Open n8n → Go to Workflows
Click “Import from File” → Paste JSON → Click Import
✅ Workflow imported successfully!

Step 2: Setup Python Scraper

On your server (where n8n SSH nodes will connect):

# Navigate to your scripts directory
cd /home/oneclick-server2/

# Create the scraper file
nano flight_scraper.py

# Copy the entire Python script from the second artifact
# Save with Ctrl+X, then Y, then Enter

# Make it executable
chmod +x flight_scraper.py

# Install required packages
pip3 install selenium

# Install Chrome and ChromeDriver
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y chromium-browser chromium-chromedriver

# Test the scraper
python3 flight_scraper.py JFK LHR 2025-03-25 2025-03-30 round-trip 1 economy kayak

Expected Output:

Delta|$450|7h 30m|0|10:00 AM|6:30 PM|https://kayak.com/...
British Airways|$485|7h 45m|0|11:30 AM|8:15 PM|https://kayak.com/...
...

Step 3: Configure n8n Credentials

A. Setup SMTP (for sending emails):

In n8n: Credentials → Add Credential → SMTP

Fill in details:

Host: smtp.gmail.com
Port: 587
User: your-email@gmail.com
Password: [Your App Password]

For Gmail Users:

Enable 2FA: https://myaccount.google.com/security
Create App Password: https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords
Use the 16-character password in n8n

B. Setup SSH (already configured if you used existing credentials):

In workflow, SSH nodes use: ilPh8oO4GfSlc0Qy
Verify credential exists and points to correct server
Update path if needed: /home/oneclick-server2/

C. Activate Workflow:

Click the workflow toggle → Active ✅
Webhook is now live!

🎯 How to Use

Method 1: Direct Webhook Call

curl -X POST https://your-n8n-domain.com/webhook/flight-price-compare \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "message": "Flight from Mumbai to Dubai on 15th March, round-trip returning 20th March",
    "email": "user@example.com",
    "name": "John Doe"
  }'

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Flight comparison sent to user@example.com",
  "route": "BOM → DXB",
  "bestPrice": 450,
  "airline": "Emirates",
  "totalResults": 18
}

Method 2: Natural Language Queries

The workflow understands various formats:

✅ All these work:

“Flight from New York to London on 25th March, one-way”
“NYC to LHR March 25 round-trip return March 30”
“I need a flight from Mumbai to Dubai departing 15th March”
“JFK LHR 2025-03-25 2025-03-30 round-trip”

Supported cities (auto-converts to airport codes):

New York → JFK
London → LHR
Mumbai → BOM
Dubai → DXB
Singapore → SIN
And 20+ more cities

Method 3: Structured JSON

{
  "from": "JFK",
  "to": "LHR",
  "departure_date": "2025-03-25",
  "return_date": "2025-03-30",
  "trip_type": "round-trip",
  "passengers": 1,
  "class": "economy",
  "email": "user@example.com",
  "name": "John"
}

📧 Email Report Example

Users receive an email like this:

FLIGHT PRICE COMPARISON
==================================================

Route: JFK → LHR
Departure: 25 Mar 2025
Return: 30 Mar 2025
Trip Type: round-trip
Passengers: 1

🏆 BEST DEAL
--------------------------------------------------
British Airways
Price: $450
Duration: 7h 30m
Stops: Non-stop
Platform: Kayak

💰 Save $85 vs highest price!

📊 ALL RESULTS (Top 10)
--------------------------------------------------
1. British Airways - $450 (Non-stop) - Kayak
2. Delta - $475 (Non-stop) - Google Flights
3. American Airlines - $485 (Non-stop) - Expedia
4. Virgin Atlantic - $495 (Non-stop) - Skyscanner
5. United - $520 (1 stop) - Kayak
...

Average Price: $495
Total Results: 23

Prices subject to availability.
Happy travels! ✈️

🔧 Customization Options

Change Scraping Platforms

Add more platforms:

Duplicate an SSH scraping node
Change platform parameter: kayak → new-platform
Add scraping logic in flight_scraper.py
Connect to “Aggregate & Analyze Prices” node

Remove platforms:

Delete unwanted SSH node
Workflow continues with remaining platforms

Modify Email Format

Edit the “Format Email Report” node:

// Change to HTML format
const html = `
&lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt;
&lt;html&gt;
&lt;body&gt;
  <h1>Flight Deals</h1>
  <p>Best price: ${bestDeal.currency}${bestDeal.price}</p>
&lt;/body&gt;
&lt;/html&gt;
`;

return [{
  json: {
    subject: "...",
    html: html,  // Instead of text
    ...data
  }
}];

Then update “Send Email Report” node:

Change emailFormat to html
Use {{$json.html}} instead of {{$json.text}}

Add More Cities/Airports

Edit “Parse & Validate Flight Request” node:

const airportCodes = {
  ...existing codes...,
  'berlin': 'BER',
  'rome': 'FCO',
  'barcelona': 'BCN',
  // Add your cities here
};

Change Timeout Settings

In each SSH node, add:

"timeout": 30000  // 30 seconds

🐛 Troubleshooting

Issue: “No flights found”

Possible causes:

Scraper script not working
Website structure changed
Dates in past
Invalid airport codes

Solutions:

# Test scraper manually
cd /home/oneclick-server2/
python3 flight_scraper.py JFK LHR 2025-03-25 "" one-way 1 economy kayak

# Check if output shows flights
# If no output, check Chrome/ChromeDriver installation

Issue: “Connection refused” (SSH)

Solutions:

Verify SSH credentials in n8n
Check server is accessible: ssh user@your-server
Verify path exists: /home/oneclick-server2/
Check Python installed: which python3

Issue: “Email not sending”

Solutions:

Verify SMTP credentials
Check email in spam folder
For Gmail: Confirm App Password is used (not regular password)
Test SMTP connection:
```
telnet smtp.gmail.com 587
```

Issue: “Webhook not responding”

Solutions:

Ensure workflow is Active (toggle on)
Check webhook path: /webhook/flight-price-compare
Test with curl command (see “How to Use” section)
Check n8n logs: Settings → Log Streaming

Issue: “Scraper timing out”

Solutions:

# In flight_scraper.py, increase wait times
time.sleep(10)  # Instead of time.sleep(5)

# Or increase WebDriverWait timeout
WebDriverWait(driver, 30)  # Instead of 20

📊 Understanding the Workflow

Node-by-Node Explanation

1. Webhook - Receive Flight Request

Entry point for all requests
Accepts POST requests
Path: /webhook/flight-price-compare

2. Parse & Validate Flight Request

Extracts flight details from natural language
Converts city names to airport codes
Validates required fields
Returns helpful errors if data missing

3. Check If Request Valid

Routes to scraping if valid
Routes to error response if invalid

4-7. Scrape [Platform] (4 nodes)

Run in parallel for speed
Each calls Python script with platform parameter
Continue on failure (don’t break workflow)
Return pipe-delimited flight data

8. Aggregate & Analyze Prices

Collects all scraper results
Parses flight data
Finds best overall deal
Finds best non-stop flight
Calculates statistics
Sorts by price

9. Format Email Report

Creates readable text report
Includes route details
Highlights best deal
Lists top 10 results
Shows statistics

10. Send Email Report

Sends formatted email to user
Uses SMTP credentials

11. Webhook Response (Success)

Returns JSON response immediately
Includes best price summary
Confirms email sent

12. Webhook Response (Error)

Returns helpful error message
Guides user on what’s missing

🎨 Workflow Features

✅ Included Features

Natural Language Processing: Understands flexible input formats
Multi-Platform Comparison: 4 major booking sites
Parallel Scraping: All platforms scraped simultaneously
Error Handling: Graceful failures, helpful messages
Email Reports: Professional format with all details
Real-Time Responses: Instant webhook feedback
Sticky Notes: Detailed documentation in workflow
Airport Code Mapping: Auto-converts 20+ cities

🚧 Not Included (Easy to Add)

Price Alerts: Monitor price drops (add Google Sheets)
Analytics Dashboard: Track searches (add Google Sheets)
SMS Notifications: Send via Twilio
Slack Integration: Post to channels
Database Logging: Store searches in PostgreSQL
Multi-Currency: Show prices in the user’s currency

💡 Pro Tips

Tip 1: Speed Up Scraping

Use faster scraping service (like ScraperAPI):

// Replace SSH nodes with HTTP Request nodes
{
  "url": "http://api.scraperapi.com",
  "qs": {
    "api_key": "YOUR_KEY",
    "url": "https://kayak.com/flights/..."
  }
}

Tip 2: Cache Results

Add caching to avoid duplicate scraping:

// In Parse node, check cache first
const cacheKey = `${origin}-${dest}-${departureDate}`;
const cached = await $cache.get(cacheKey);

if (cached && Date.now() - cached.time &lt; 3600000) {
  return cached.data; // Use 1-hour cache
}

Tip 3: Add More Platforms

Easy to add Momondo, CheapOair, etc.:

Add function in flight_scraper.py
Add SSH node in workflow
Connect to aggregator

Tip 4: Improve Date Parsing

Handle more formats:

// Add to Parse node
const formats = [
  'DD/MM/YYYY',
  'MM-DD-YYYY',
  'YYYY.MM.DD',
  // Add your formats
];

🔗 Nodes Used

Send Email, Webhook, SSH

📥 Import

Download workflow.json and import into n8n: Workflow menu → Import from File

📖 Importing guide · 🔑 Credential setup