September 2026 · Matan Rabi
ChatGPT flight API: connect live Google Flights data via MCP
ChatGPT's developer-mode connectors speak MCP. That means you can point ChatGPT at a hosted MCP server URL with your own RapidAPI key, and it gets native tools for searching live Google Flights and Booking.com data. No middleware to run, no server to maintain: the tools appear in your conversations and usage meters against your own subscription.
What developer mode is
Custom MCP connectors in ChatGPT are added through its developer-mode connector settings, which OpenAI documents as a Pro and Business plan feature (per its own help pages, checked 2026-08-27). Nothing about the server itself is experimental: the same URL serves Claude, Cursor, and any other MCP client. It is production infrastructure; the "developer mode" label is OpenAI's UI affordance for custom connectors.
The two connector URLs
Flights and hotels are separate MCP servers. Add both in your connector settings:
Flights: https://flights.flightpowers.com/mcp?x-rapidapi-key=YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY
Hotels: https://hotels.flightpowers.com/mcp?x-rapidapi-key=YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEYReplace YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY with your actual key from the RapidAPI listing. The key rides on the URL in your settings. ChatGPT never sees it in the chat itself. Treat the URL as a secret: anyone who has it can spend your quota.
The tools ChatGPT sees
Once connected, these tools appear in conversations:
- search_oneway_flights (flights server): One-way fares with Google's price band, the low | typical | high verdict, and a buy_link on every result. Takes a single date or a date range, expanded server-side.
- search_roundtrip_flights (flights server): Paired-leg round-trip itineraries with a combined total_price.
- search_hotels (hotels server): Destination search over live Booking.com rates, with the site's own filters (review_score_8, free_cancellation, and the rest).
- find_hotel_by_name (hotels server): One property by the name a human would type. price_as_seen_from prices it from any market, the rate-parity tool.
Example prompts that work
ChatGPT picks the tool and fills the parameters itself:
- "Is $480 for LHR to JFK in mid-October a good price, or should I wait?"
- "Find me the cheapest nonstop from Berlin to Paris in the second week of June."
- "Round trip JFK to London, out September 22, back September 29. Rank the options by value rather than price alone."
- "Find a hotel in Tokyo Shibuya for November 3 to 7, 2 adults, breakfast included."
- "Compare what the same room at the Kremlin Palace in Antalya costs when booked from Germany versus the US."
The last prompt uses the price_as_seen_from parameter on the find_hotel_by_name tool: the same room priced as a visitor from a different country sees it, for rate-parity monitoring.
Is your key billed to you?
Yes. The MCP servers are bring-your-own-key: ChatGPT sends your RapidAPI key with each call and usage meters against your own subscription. There is no FlightPowers account and no second bill. You subscribe on RapidAPI, add the key to the connector URL, and every search ChatGPT runs is a request on your plan.
Which plan do you need?
The free tier is 10 requests/month with a hard cap: enough to verify the connector works, not to use it. For day-to-day use, the $10 PRO plan (2,500 requests/month on flights) is the realistic floor. Every plan includes all of its API's endpoints.
Scheduled tasks
ChatGPT has scheduled Tasks on every plan, but OpenAI does not document whether custom developer-mode connectors run inside a Task, and we have not verified that they do. If you want a scheduled daily fare scan today, Claude is the verified path: its scheduled tasks run the same two connector URLs on any paid Claude plan.
Try it before adding a key
The live demo on the homepage and the free tools on this site run real requests on our key, so you can see the exact responses ChatGPT will get before you subscribe. Try the Flight Price Checker or the Cheapest Month to Fly tool to see the data shape.
The full setup guide
The integration page walks through adding both connectors in developer mode, testing them in a chat, and explains the tool inventory in detail. Start there if you want step-by-step instructions.
Other MCP clients
The same two server URLs work in any MCP client: Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Zed, or your own MCP host. The setup is the same: add the URL with your key, and the tools appear. The integration page lists verified clients.