Layover Party

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Inspiration

Our team at Layover Party was inspired to create a unique "flight hack" site as part of our hackathon project. We wanted to come up with an innovative solution to save money on flights while making layovers more enjoyable. As we brainstormed ideas, we realized that long layovers could actually be an exciting opportunity to explore a city without incurring additional travel costs. The concept of a 24-hour layover, where travelers could venture out of the airport and experience a new city, sparked our interest. This idea led us to leverage flight booking APIs and various datasets to develop a platform that matches people with long layovers, encouraging meetups and making layovers an unforgettable part of the travel experience.

What it does

Layover Party is a creative mobile and web app that aims to transform the way travelers experience layovers. With a simple input of departure and destination locations, our app generates a list of potential flights with layovers that exceed a specific length. The most popular layover flights will be highlighted, giving users the opportunity to coordinate fun hangouts in or around the airport during those otherwise long and tedious layover hours. Whether it's exploring the city, trying out local cuisine, or meeting fellow travelers for exciting adventures, Layover Party empowers users to make the most out of their layovers and turn them into unforgettable travel experiences.

How we built it

For Layover Party we utilized a combination of Python with FastAPI for our RESTful API backend, and Flutter + Dart for our mobile and web frontend. FastAPI provided a robust and efficient framework for building our backend API, with SQLite being used as the underlying database for data indexing and user data storage. The built-in API documentation in FastAPI made it easier for our frontend developers to interact with the backend during development. On the frontend, we leveraged Flutter and Dart to create sleek and responsive mobile and web interfaces, utilizing the widely popular Material Design styles and widgets provided by Flutter. Git was our go-to version control system for seamless collaboration, with frequent use of git pulls, git rebases, and git merges during the Hackathon to ensure smooth teamwork and code integration.

Challenges we ran into

During the development of Layover Party, we encountered several challenges that put our project at risk, but we eventually found creative solutions around them. One of the biggest hurdles was finding a flight API that provided the data we needed at a reasonable cost. Many APIs lacked layover/stop information, or charged exorbitant fees, with the cheapest plan being as high as $50 per month. After thorough research, we finally found an API that was affordable, although it was much slower in response time. To mitigate this, we implemented a clever HTTP caching layer on top of it, optimizing query speed and improving user experience. Another significant challenge was coordinating the development efforts between the backend and frontend teams. Prioritizing parallel development, meticulous planning and documentation were crucial to ensure smooth collaboration. Despite the additional time invested in these efforts, it proved to be worth it as it saved us from last-minute chaos when dealing with the API and ensured seamless teamwork between the backend and frontend teams. Through effective coordination and teamwork, we were able to overcome these challenges and deliver a successful Layover Party project.

What we learned

We learned that flight API's are expensive, slow, and hard to come by. Google flights and skyscanner previously had free-to-use APIs that worked great, but both APIs have been killed or are for enterprises only now. We had to do extensive searching for an API that gave the data we needed, and had to make compromises no matter which one we chose.

We also learned that proper communication from the front-end and back-end can be incredibly efficient. As we worked on our project, both sides got better at documentation and communication relevant to the other team members.

What's next for Layover Party

• Ticket purchase verification, purchasing in-app
• Built-in messaging of those in the same layover party as you
• "Worthwhile" layovers, in cities with limited time events and fun activities
• Whether visa is needed to exit the airport

Winning Photo!

Built With

• dart
• fastapi
• flutter
• python
• sql
• sqlite