Sabre Air Shopping API Guide | Traveltekpro

If you have ever booked a flight online you might have wondered how travel websites truly manage to show you so many flight options, prices and combinations instantly. The secret behind that magical system is something called the global distribution system and one of the biggest players in this space is Sabre. In this guide you can learn everything about Sabre Air Shopping . It’s a powerful tool that helps you as a travel business no matter whether it’s small or big or for real time flight searches and accurate pricing and availability all in one place.

What is Sabre Air API?

Just imagine you  want to build a flight search engine. Your users type where they want to fly from and to pick up dates choose the number of passengers and hit search. You actually want to show them available flights the best prices and let them filter options all without delay. But here is the challenge airlines don’t give out the flight data freely or in a standardized way. There are hundreds of airlines each with their own systems. 

That’s where the Sabre Air Pricing API actually comes into the picture. Sabre is a huge centralized hub that connects to many airlines and also stores all the flight schedules, availability and fares in one place. The Sabre air shopping API is a door into a hub away from your app or website to ask hey what flights do you have from Mumbai to New York on July 15th? How much do they cost? Can you get a round trip back on the 22nd? Sabrett answers back with a list of flight prices times and a lot more all in real time.

Why should you care about Sabre Air Shopping

It is because it powers the flight search feature that you use every day.

• Sabre API actually saves you from building complex airline integrations yourself.
• It gives you access to hundreds of airlines globally including big names like Emirates Lufthansa British Airways and a lot more.
• It helps you provide your users with the most updated flight information.
• The API also supports complex itineraries including multi carrier flights and stopovers.
• It’s scalable and also completely reliable handling thousands of flight queries every day.
  
  

How does the API work?

When a user searches for flights on your website  or app that uses Sabre Air API. The traveller will enter the origin airport destination dates and passengers.

• Your app will send a request to Sabre air shopping API with all the details.
• Sabre will check its live airline information and find matching flights and fares.
• Sabre will also send back detailed information with prices and schedules.
• Your app shows all the flight prices and allows filtering and sorting.
• The users will pick the preferred flight and continue the booking process.
• The process usually happens in a matter of a few seconds so the user experience is completely fast and smooth.
  
  

What can you do with Sabre Air Pricing API?

The API lets you:

• Search one-way, roundtrip, and multi-leg flights.
• Get fares for different passenger types (adults, children).
• Filter results by cabin class (economy, business, first class).
• Show flights with direct routes or with stops.
• Retrieve lowest fares across a range of dates.
• Display curated fare deals like weekend trips or adventure packages.
• Fetch detailed fare breakdowns, including taxes and fees.
  
  

Key Endpoints of the Sabre Air Shopping API

An API endpoint is like a door to a specific service or feature. Here are the main endpoints you will use:

Sample API Request and Response — What Does It Look Like?

Say your user wants to fly from Dubai (airport code: DXB) to London Heathrow (LHR), leaving July 15, 2025, returning July 22, 2025, for one adult in economy.

Example API Request JSON

json

CopyEdit

{

  “origin”: “DXB”,

  “destination”: “LHR”,

  “departureDate”: “2025-07-15”,

  “returnDate”: “2025-07-22”,

  “passengerType”: “ADT”,

  “cabin”: “ECONOMY”

}

Example API Response JSON

json

CopyEdit

{

  “PricedItinerary”: {

“TotalFare”: {

   “CurrencyCode”: “USD”,

   “Amount”: “480.00”

},

“FlightSegments”: [

   {

     “Carrier”: “EK”,

     “FlightNumber”: “1”,

     “DepartureTime”: “2025-07-15T10:00”,

     “ArrivalTime”: “2025-07-15T14:00”

   },

   {

     “Carrier”: “BA”,

     “FlightNumber”: “132”,

     “DepartureTime”: “2025-07-22T16:00”,

     “ArrivalTime”: “2025-07-22T20:00”

   }

]

  }

}

So your app gets back the flight details airline codes, flight numbers times and the total fare.

Authentication: How to Access the API Securely

Sabre uses OAuth 2.0 for security. This means:

• Your app must authenticate with Sabre to get an access token.
• This token is sent with every API request.
• Tokens last around 30 minutes, so your app needs to refresh them regularly.
• There are two main environments:
  
  

Sabre gives you all the sandbox credentials when you register to help you build and test your app safely.

Developer tips making the most of Sabre Air Shopping

Here are some of the tips from developers that work with Sabre to keep your app fast, efficient and also cost effective.

1. Cache a flight search results

Sabre charges based on API calls. You can reduce the cost and improve the speed cache Results for popular queries for five to 10 minutes. You can also use catching systems like Redis or memcached. You need to also key the catch using parameters like origin destination data and cabin class. This way if two of your users are searching the same route you will serve the cached result instantly instead of calling Sabre twice.

2. Autocomplete airport  codes

A lot of users don’t know airport codes. So you need to let your users type city names and show airport suggestions. All you have to do is use Sabres airports list or third party city airport database. This will help you reduce error and also improve the booking flow.

3. Handle no results carefully

Sometimes no flights are available for certain dates or even routes. So you must show friendly messages like no flights found. You can also suggest alternatives nearby airports or ±1 or two days different cabin classes. This will help you keep your users engaged instead of bouncing away.

4. Show airline names and logos

Sabre returns airline codes. You need to build trust and improve UX by maintaining a lookup table mapping airline codes to full names and logos. It is very important for you to display all of this clearly in the search results.

5. Flexible filters for user preferences

You must help users find exactly what they want with filters like direct flights only to allow stops, departure times and maximum journey duration besides preferred or excluded airlines.

6. Pagination and sorting

Large flight searches can return hundreds of options. You must implement pagination like showing just 20 flights per page and also allow sorting by price duration, departure and time. That makes the search very easy to navigate.

Who uses Sabre Air API?

Sabre Air Shopping API powers many kinds of travel businesses, including:

Sabre versus other flight apis: Why choose Sabre?

Sabre is ideal if you want huge coverage of traditional full service airlines globally with a reliable GDS back end. It’s perfect for corporate travel solutions and OTAs that need global reach.

So above all you must know that Sabre Air Shopping API is the engine under the hood of modern flight search engines. It gives you complete access to real time reliable flight data from hundreds of airlines, lets you build flexible and scalable flight search tools and offers customization to deliver exactly what your users want.  By using it smartly with catching autocomplete filtering and friendly UX you can create a smooth, fast and trustworthy flight booking experience.

Read More: Sabre API Integration Guide | Setup & Best Practices

FAQ’S

1. What is Sabre Air Shopping API used for?

Sabre Air Shopping API is used to fetch real-time flight schedules, fares, availability, and itinerary options from hundreds of global airlines in seconds. It powers flight search engines for OTAs, mobile travel apps, and corporate booking tools by returning live pricing, multi-leg itineraries, and fare rules, enabling businesses to deliver fast and accurate flight search results.

2. How does Sabre Air Shopping API return real-time flight results?

When a user searches for a route, the API sends a structured request to Sabre’s GDS, which checks live airline inventory, seat availability, schedules, and fare rules, then returns filtered flight options instantly. The process uses Sabre’s centralized data system, ensuring search results are accurate, updated, and based on real airline availability.

3. What are the key Sabre Air Shopping API endpoints?

Sabre Air Shopping API includes several important endpoints, each designed to support different parts of the flight search workflow. The primary endpoint is /v2/shop/flights, which delivers complete flight options including schedules, fares, and availability for one-way, round-trip, and multi-city searches. The /v1/shop/calendar endpoint displays the lowest fares across a 30-day window, helping flexible travelers find cheaper travel dates. If users want fares for nearby dates, /v1/shop/alternate-dates returns pricing variations within a ±3-day range. Sabre also offers /v1/shop/themes, which provides curated fares such as weekend getaways or seasonal deals. For complete pricing transparency, the /v1/shop/fare-details endpoint returns full fare breakdowns including taxes, surcharges, baggage rules, and fare conditions.

4. How do you authenticate Sabre Air Shopping API securely?

Sabre uses OAuth 2.0 authentication, where your system first generates an access token using your credentials and then attaches that token to every API request. Tokens typically last 30 minutes, so your platform must automatically refresh them before expiry to avoid failed responses, ensuring uninterrupted real-time flight search functionality.

5. How can travel websites optimize Sabre Air Shopping API performance?

Websites can optimize API usage by caching popular routes for 5–10 minutes, using autocomplete for airport codes, implementing pagination, reducing unnecessary repeated searches, and adding fallback flows for no-results scenarios. These optimizations lower API costs, improve user experience, and speed up search results significantly.

6. Who should use Sabre Air Shopping API for flight search development?

Sabre Air Shopping API is ideal for OTAs, travel agencies, corporate travel platforms, meta-search engines, airline booking tools, and mobile apps needing global GDS coverage. It is especially valuable for businesses targeting multi-airline content, complex itineraries, and accurate fare visibility across international routes.