NEWS

---

flightanalysis 3.0.0

Breaking Changes

• flight_results-only API: All data processing functions (fa_summarize_prices(), fa_plot_prices(), and fa_find_best_dates()) now only accept flight_results objects returned from fa_fetch_flights().
  • Removed support for direct data frame input
  • Removed support for query object or list of query objects input
  • Users must use fa_fetch_flights() to create flight_results objects before using analysis functions
  • Clear error messages guide users to the correct workflow

Rationale

This change simplifies the API by enforcing a consistent workflow:

1. Create queries with fa_define_query() or fa_define_query_range()
2. Fetch data with fa_fetch_flights() to get flight_results objects
3. Analyze data with processing functions

flightanalysis 2.1.0

API Improvements

Breaking Changes

• Function Rename: fa_create_date_range() has been renamed to fa_define_query_range() for consistency with fa_define_query(). The old function has been removed.

New Features

• flight_results Class: When fetching data for multiple queries (e.g., from fa_define_query_range()), fa_fetch_flights() now returns a flight_results object that:
  • Contains a merged $data field with all flight data accessible directly
  • Preserves individual query objects as named elements (e.g., $BOM, $DEL)
  • Has a dedicated print method for better display

Enhancements

• Parameter Renaming: fa_summarize_prices() and fa_find_best_dates() now use flight_results as the parameter name instead of results for clarity and type safety
• Improved Documentation: Updated all examples and documentation to use the new function names
• Better Data Access: No need to manually merge data from multiple origins - access unified data via flights$data directly

Example

# Create queries for multiple origins
queries <- fa_define_query_range(
  origin = c("BOM", "DEL"),
  dest = "JFK",
  date_min = "2025-12-18",
  date_max = "2025-12-22"
)

# Fetch data - returns flight_results object with merged data
flights <- fa_fetch_flights(queries)

# Access merged data directly
flights$data

# Or access individual origin data
flights$BOM$data
flights$DEL$data

# Use with analysis functions
fa_summarize_prices(flights)
fa_find_best_dates(flights, n = 5)

flightanalysis 2.0.0

Major API Redesign

This release represents a complete redesign of the package API following Tidyverse conventions with consistent fa_ prefixing for all user-facing functions.

Core Functions

Query Creation:

• fa_define_query() - Create flight query objects for one-way, round-trip, chain-trip, or perfect-chain searches
• fa_define_query_range() - Create query objects for multiple origins and dates

Data Fetching:

• fa_fetch_flights() - Fetch flight data from Google Flights using chromote

Analysis Functions:

• fa_summarize_prices() - Create wide summary table showing prices by city/airport and date
• fa_find_best_dates() - Identify cheapest travel dates across routes

Example Usage

library(flightanalysis)

# Create a query
query <- fa_define_query("JFK", "IST", "2025-12-20", "2025-12-27")

# Fetch flight data
result <- fa_fetch_flights(query)

# Analyze results
summary <- fa_summarize_prices(result)
best <- fa_find_best_dates(result, n = 5)

Date Range Search

# Search multiple origins over a date range
queries <- fa_define_query_range(
  origin = c("BOM", "DEL", "VNS"),
  dest = "JFK",
  date_min = "2025-12-18",
  date_max = "2026-01-05"
)

# Fetch data for each origin
for (code in names(queries)) {
  queries[[code]] <- fa_fetch_flights(queries[[code]])
}

# Analyze all results
summary <- fa_summarize_prices(queries)
best_dates <- fa_find_best_dates(queries, n = 10, by = "mean")

Internal Functions

The following functions are internal and not exported:

• Flight() - Used internally for parsing scraped data
• flights_to_dataframe() - Converts flight objects to data frames

Package Organization

• Functions organized by purpose:

  • fa_define_query_range.R - Date range query creation
  • fa_summarize_prices.R - Price summary tables
  • fa_find_best_dates.R - Best date identification
  • filter_placeholder_rows.R - Data cleaning helpers
  • scrape.R - Core query and fetching functionality

• Comprehensive examples in examples/ directory

• Full test coverage in tests/testthat/

• Suggested dependencies: chromote, progress

flightanalysis 1.0.0

• Initial CRAN-ready release
• Full R package implementation with chromote-based scraping
• Support for one-way, round-trip, chain-trip, and perfect-chain queries
• Driver-free browser automation using Chrome DevTools Protocol