Gfli Google Flights

Find a better flight. Keep your standards.

CI Python 3.10-3.13 License: MIT

Search Google Flights from your terminal or AI assistant. Find likely or possible Starlink-equipped flights, see what that preference costs, rule out bad connections, and save the whole search for next time.

One CLI. Seven MCP tools. No Google API key. No database.

gfli JAX IAD 2026-10-15 \
  --starlink possible --starlink-premium \
  --min-layover 60 --max-layover 180 \
  --no-overnight-layovers

Source preview: Install from this repository, not PyPI. The Python CLI and MCP server are supported; no registry release has been published. Starlink labels are sourced fleet estimates, not flight guarantees.

Install | Starlink | Connections | Presets | MCP | Limits

What You Get

Install

The project name is GFLI (gfli); the earlier glfi spelling was a typo. If you installed that preview, uninstall it before installing gfli, update your MCP command and GLFI_* environment variables to GFLI_*, and move any saved presets from ~/.config/glfi/presets to ~/.config/gfli/presets (or the equivalent directory under XDG_CONFIG_HOME).

Requires uv. GFLI supports Python 3.10-3.13; this command selects 3.11 and installs into an isolated tool environment:

uv tool install --python 3.11 \
  'gfli[mcp] @ git+https://github.com/davefmurray/gfli-google-flights.git'

gfli --version
gfli doctor

That installs gfli, gfli-mcp, and gfli-mcp-http. Omit [mcp] for the CLI without optional server dependencies. If your shell cannot find the commands, run uv tool update-shell and restart it.

Prefer a checkout?

git clone https://github.com/davefmurray/gfli-google-flights.git
cd gfli-google-flights
uv tool install --python 3.11 '.[mcp]'

To refresh a source installation, rerun the GitHub install command with --force --reinstall. For a reproducible installation, append @COMMIT_SHA to the Git URL. Do not install gfli from PyPI until a package release is announced.

First Flights

Use future travel dates in these examples.

# Find an airport.
gfli airports Jacksonville

# One way. "flights" is the default command.
gfli JAX JFK 2026-10-15

# Two adults, one child, multiple destination airports.
gfli JAX JFK,LGA 2026-10-15 --adults 2 --children 1

# Morning outbound, evening return.
gfli JAX JFK 2026-10-15 --return 2026-10-19 \
  --time 6-12 --return-time 16-23

# Structured output for scripts and agents.
gfli JAX JFK 2026-10-15 --format json

Cabin, airline, alliance, stop, and locale options: gfli flights --help. Passenger flags also include --infants-in-seat and --infants-on-lap; --passengers, --adults, and -p all mean adult count.

Round-trip prices use the final selected itinerary quote, not the outbound starting price or the sum of two quotes. Booking links preserve cabin, passenger mix, and selected flights. Always confirm the final fare with the seller.

Starlink Finder

gfli JAX IAD 2026-10-15 --starlink possible
gfli DOH LHR 2026-10-15 --return 2026-10-19 --starlink likely
gfli starlink

Every connection and both directions must qualify. Operating airlines take precedence over marketing codes. Free Wi-Fi does not prove Starlink, and unknown does not mean absent.

Initial coverage includes selected Hawaiian, Qatar, and United/United Express aircraft. Results carry the reason, source URL, checked date, and review deadline. gfli starlink --json exposes the exact catalog; STARLINK.md documents the aircraft scopes and evidence.

Evidence was reviewed September 5, 2026, with a December 4, 2026 review deadline and travel horizon. Stale evidence or travel beyond that horizon causes an explicit error when filtering, until the catalog is re-reviewed. Unfiltered searches remain available. Aircraft swaps, outages, and route restrictions can still change the onboard experience.

What Does Starlink Cost You?

gfli JAX IAD 2026-10-15 --starlink possible --starlink-premium

GFLI compares qualifying flights with the cheapest known same-currency fare in the same search, with other filters unchanged. A $243 qualifying fare against a $93 baseline is a $150 premium. Those figures illustrate the comparison, not a fare promise.

The comparison is for the entire passenger party. It is not a Wi-Fi fee, a currency conversion, or a claim about every flight on the market. Missing price or currency means no comparison. Works on fixed-date one-way and round-trip searches, not date grids. JSON/MCP output includes starlink_premium with baseline_price, amount, currency, and scope.

Connection Controls

gfli JAX LHR 2026-10-15 \
  --min-layover 60 --max-layover 180 \
  --exclude-layover JFK,EWR \
  --no-overnight-layovers

Bounds are inclusive. Airport flags accept comma-separated codes or repeated flags. Nonstop flights remain eligible. Rules apply to both directions and are also available on gfli dates and MCP flight/date/booking tools.

Timing uses airport-local timestamps, so daylight-saving ambiguities remain. Airport transfers are excluded when requested timing rules cannot be established.

Flexible Dates

# Depart within a window, stay three to five days.
gfli dates JAX JFK,LGA \
  --from 2026-10-15 --to 2026-10-17 \
  --round --min-duration 3 --max-duration 5

# Four-day trip, likely Starlink on every leg.
gfli dates DOH LHR \
  --from 2026-10-15 --to 2026-10-16 \
  --round --duration 4 --starlink likely

Stay ranges require both --min-duration and --max-duration; do not combine them with fixed --duration. Round trips default to a three-day stay when neither is supplied. --return-time overrides the outbound time preference on the return; otherwise the return inherits --time.

Start with a short window. Date scans make multiple requests. Return-time, Starlink, and connection constraints require expanding actual return candidates; ordinary unconstrained round-trip date prices remain outbound-board starting quotes. The 366 date/stay-combination ceiling is not a 366-request ceiling.

Saved Searches

Set your preferences once. Change the dates when the next trip comes up.

gfli save work-trip -- JAX IAD 2026-10-15 \
  --starlink possible --starlink-premium \
  --no-overnight-layovers

gfli run work-trip
gfli run work-trip --date 2026-11-05 --format json

gfli presets list
gfli presets show work-trip
gfli presets delete work-trip

Saving performs no search. You can also add --save NAME to a flight/date command, or use gfli save NAME -- dates .... Add --replace-preset to the search arguments to explicitly replace an existing preset.

run --date shifts the saved flight dates together; --return overrides the return. Date-search presets use --from and --to; changing --from shifts the window. Overrides are revalidated in memory and never rewrite the saved file.

Presets are versioned JSON in ~/.config/gfli/presets, respecting XDG_CONFIG_HOME or GFLI_PRESET_DIR. Writes are atomic, with owner-only file permissions on POSIX. They contain travel preferences and dates, not booking tokens or credentials. They are not encrypted. No background monitoring, price alerts, or cloud account is involved.

MCP For AI Assistants

Install with [mcp], then add this entry to your MCP client's configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gfli": {
      "command": "gfli-mcp"
    }
  }
}

If the client does not inherit your shell's PATH, replace gfli-mcp with the absolute path returned by command -v gfli-mcp.

Try asking your assistant:

Find JAX to IAD flights for October 15, 2026 with possible Starlink. Compare the fare premium and exclude overnight connections. Show the evidence.

CLI and MCP share the same local preset store. MCP parameter names include starlink, starlink_premium, min_layover, max_layover, exclude_layover, and no_overnight_layovers. Starlink premium comparison is flight-search only.

gfli-mcp-http

Troubleshooting

gfli doctor                   # Local checks only; no network, no file changes.
gfli doctor --json            # Machine-readable diagnostics.
gfli doctor --check-provider  # Explicitly test a live search.
gfli flights --help
gfli dates --help

Doctor checks installation, dependencies/MCP configuration, preset files, and Starlink freshness. Optional-dependency/stale-evidence warnings differ from configuration failures. Provider checking runs a nonstop JAX-JFK search 30 days ahead, subject to normal retries; it does not verify your MCP client's setup.

GFLI_TIMEOUT sets a positive, finite per-request timeout in seconds (default 60). Retries and multi-request searches can take longer. Error logs under ~/.gfli/logs include arguments and tracebacks: review them before sharing.

Know The Limits

• Unofficial provider. Google changes its endpoints. Consent pages, geography, rate limiting, and provider changes can affect results. GFLI is not affiliated with Google, Starlink, SpaceX, or any airline.
• Errors are not empty results. Provider, parsing, and unavailable-price errors are explicit. CLI JSON uses error.type; MCP uses error_type. A failed date request fails the scan rather than disappearing from it.
• Returned inventory, not the whole market. Round-trip searches expand every decoded outbound by default; Google still controls the supplied inventory. Python's optional top_n trades coverage for fewer requests and warns when incomplete. Starlink premium comparisons reject that cap.
• Some filters are not enforceable yet. Baggage, emissions, and basic-economy options currently warn rather than reliably enforce. Do not rely on them.
• No multi-city or Explore search. Their provider paths are unavailable. Booking-price RPC can also be rejected; booking deep links remain separate.
• Links do not preserve every filter. GFLI-only Starlink, time, and connection exclusions may not survive in Google links. Recheck the itinerary before booking.
• Timezones and passenger edge cases. Same-day validation uses a conservative UTC-minus-one-day allowance, not airport timezones. Some infant/passenger combinations may yield no inline results. Unknown amenities remain unknown.
• Python first. The inherited fli-js/ transport is experimental, lacks Python live-search parity, and is not published to npm.

Development

git clone https://github.com/davefmurray/gfli-google-flights.git
cd gfli-google-flights
uv sync --python 3.11 --all-extras
make lint
make test-offline
make audit
make verify-install

The latest local feature verification passed 1,075 offline tests on each of Python 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, and 3.13, plus clean wheel/sdist and CLI/MCP checks. The badge above reports GitHub CI status separately. Live smoke checks are documented in PRELAUNCH.md; they are not uptime guarantees.

The distribution and commands are gfli; Python imports remain fli for upstream compatibility. Do not install GFLI and the original flights package in the same environment. uv tool keeps them isolated.

Found a bug? Open an issue with your version, redacted command, and diagnostic output. Keep travel details and credentials out of public reports. Contributions should include regression tests; provider failures must never be presented as successful empty searches.

Historical docs/ and examples may use upstream names or unavailable APIs. This README is the supported setup guide.

Credits And License

GFLI is an independently maintained derivative of Fli, created by Punit Arani and its contributors. GFLI preserves the upstream history and MIT notices, with additional work maintained by Dave Murray.

MIT license. Attribution and incorporated work.