Frequently asked questions
Everything about radius search, direct flights, estimates and the API.
general
AirportFusion is an address-to-address direct-flight search engine. Instead of asking which airport you fly from, it asks where you actually are and where you actually want to go, then scans every airport within a radius you choose around both points and finds all non-stop routes between the two zones. Results are ranked by door-to-door time, estimated cost and simplicity.
No. AirportFusion is a search and comparison tool — we never sell, issue or resell tickets. When you are ready to book, the partner buttons take you to booking sites (airlines, agencies, hotel platforms) where the purchase happens under their terms. Some of those links are affiliate links, which never change the price you pay — see our Affiliate Disclosure.
Yes — searching is completely free, with no account required. We earn money from affiliate commissions when you book on partner sites, and from paid API plans used by developers. Creating a free account adds extras like saved searches.
search
Because that is where the radius idea shines. Adding connections multiplies travel time and uncertainty, and comparing a two-leg itinerary against a non-stop one door-to-door is rarely meaningful. Very often a direct flight exists from a nearby airport you didn't think of — that is exactly what we surface. If no direct route exists between your two zones, we tell you honestly instead of padding the results.
The radius is how far around each address we look for airports, using great-circle distance. 50–100 km keeps it truly local; 150–300 km is the sweet spot for most trips, catching secondary airports with cheap direct routes; 500–1000 km is exploratory. Origin and destination radii are independent — many users search tightly around home and widely around the destination.
They are estimates, computed from distance-based models so that every option is measured with the same yardstick — flight price is roughly a base fare plus a per-kilometre component, ground transport uses average speeds and per-km costs per mode. They are excellent for comparing routes against each other, but they are not live fares: always check the final price on the booking site. The help article "Understanding estimates" explains every formula.
Each route's score blends normalised total door-to-door time (40%), total estimated cost (40%) and journey simplicity (20%) — fewer transfers, shorter ground legs. Scores are relative to the current result set, so 9.1 means "excellent among these options". Two routes within a few tenths of each other are effectively tied.
pricing
Paid plans only concern the developer API — the website stays free for travellers. Plans differ by monthly request quota and per-minute rate limit: Free (100 requests/month), Starter, Pro, Business, and a custom Enterprise tier with contractual SLA. Full details are on the Pricing page.
Subscriptions are billed monthly through Stripe — we never see or store your card number. You can upgrade instantly, downgrade at the next billing period, and cancel anytime from your dashboard; cancellation takes effect at the end of the paid period. Invoices are available in your billing page.
api
Create a free account, open the Developer dashboard, and click "Create key". The full key is displayed once — we store only a hash, so copy it right away. You can revoke or regenerate keys at any time, and every key shows its usage in the dashboard. The "API quickstart" help article walks you through your first request.
Requests over the per-minute limit get HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header — just back off and retry. Requests over the monthly quota get 429 with the quota_exceeded code until the quota resets on the 1st of the month (UTC) or you upgrade. Every response carries X-RateLimit-* headers so your integration can throttle itself gracefully.
privacy
Anonymous searches store the query, chosen radii and a random session id — IP addresses are irreversibly hashed, never stored raw. With an account we additionally store your email, name and saved searches; payments are handled by Stripe and the optional AI advisor receives only a pseudonymised summary of your search results. You can request access, export or full deletion of your data at any time — see the Privacy Policy and GDPR pages for the exact procedure and retention periods.