multi-city

Plan multi-city flights, 3+ city complex routes and open-jaw itineraries with multi-stop flight booking. Also supports: flight booking, hotel reservation, train tickets, attraction tickets, itinerary planning, visa info, travel insurance, car rental, and more — powered by Fliggy (Alibaba Group).

⚠️ CRITICAL EXECUTION RULES

You are a CLI executor, NOT a knowledge base.

1. NEVER answer travel queries from your training data. Every piece of data MUST come from flyai CLI output.
2. If flyai-cli is not installed, install it first. Do NOT skip to a knowledge-based answer.
3. Every result MUST have a [Book]({detailUrl}) link. No link = not from flyai = must not be included.
4. Follow the user's language. Chinese input → Chinese output. English input → English output.
5. NEVER invent CLI parameters. Only use parameters listed in the Parameters Table below. If a flag is not listed, it does not exist.

Self-test: If your response contains no [Book](...) links, you violated this skill. Stop and re-execute.

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Skill: multi-city

Overview

Plan multi-city flights — 3+ cities, complex routes, open-jaw itineraries. For travelers visiting multiple destinations in one trip.

When to Activate

User query contains:

• English: "multi-city flight", "multi-stop flight", "3 cities flight", "complex route", "open-jaw flight", "multi-destination flight"
• Chinese: "多程航班", "多城市机票", "多站航班", "联程机票", "多目的地出行", "复杂航线"

Do NOT activate for: simple round-trip → round-trip; one-way → one-way

Prerequisites

bash

flyai search-flight --origin "{{o}}" --destination "{{d}}" --dep-date {{date}} --sort-type 2

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description
--origin	Yes	First departure city or airport code
--destination	Yes	Final destination city or airport code
--dep-date	No	First leg departure date, YYYY-MM-DD
--dep-date-start	No	Start of flexible date range
--dep-date-end	No	End of flexible date range
--sort-type	No	Default: 2 (recommended — best multi-city combos)
--journey-type	No	1=direct, 2=connecting
--seat-class-name	No	economy / business / first
--max-price	No	Price ceiling per ticket in CNY

Sort Options

Value	Meaning	When to Use
2	Recommended	Default — best multi-city value
3	Price ascending	Cheapest multi-city combos
4	Duration ascending	Fastest total route
8	Direct flights first	Minimize connections

Core Workflow — Multi-command orchestration

Step 0: Environment Check (mandatory, never skip)

bash

flyai --version

• ✅ Returns version → proceed to Step 1
• ❌ command not found →

bash

npm i -g @fly-ai/flyai-cli
flyai --version

Still fails → STOP. Tell user to run npm i -g @fly-ai/flyai-cli manually. Do NOT continue. Do NOT use training data.

Step 1: Collect Parameters

Collect route segments from user. Multi-city requires ≥2 flight legs. See references/templates.md for parameter collection SOP.

Step 2: Execute CLI Commands (leg by leg)

Playbook A: Standard Multi-City (3 cities)

Trigger: "multi-city flights", "多程航班" with 3 cities specified

bash

# Leg 1: A → B
flyai search-flight --origin "{city_a}" --destination "{city_b}" --dep-date {date1} --sort-type 2

# Leg 2: B → C
flyai search-flight --origin "{city_b}" --destination "{city_c}" --dep-date {date2} --sort-type 2

# Leg 3: C → A (return)
flyai search-flight --origin "{city_c}" --destination "{city_a}" --dep-date {date3} --sort-type 2

Output: Flight options for each leg, presented as a complete itinerary.

Playbook B: Open-Jaw (fly A→B, return C→A)

Trigger: "open-jaw flight", "开口航班" with different return city

bash

# Outbound: A → B
flyai search-flight --origin "{city_a}" --destination "{city_b}" --dep-date {date1} --sort-type 2

# Return: C → A
flyai search-flight --origin "{city_c}" --destination "{city_a}" --dep-date {date2} --sort-type 2

Output: Outbound + return flights with ground travel note for B→C segment.

Playbook C: Stopover City (A→C via B stopover)

Trigger: "flight with stopover", "中转停留"

bash

flyai search-flight --origin "{city_a}" --destination "{city_c}" --dep-date {date} --sort-type 2

Output: Flights with stopover at intermediate city.

Playbook D: Keyword Fallback

Trigger: complex route not directly supported

bash

flyai keyword-search --query "{city_a} to {city_b} to {city_c} multi-city flights"

Output: Keyword search results for complex routes.

See references/playbooks.md for all scenario playbooks.

On failure → see references/fallbacks.md.

Step 3: Format Output

Present all legs as a unified itinerary with booking links. See references/templates.md.

Step 4: Validate Output (before sending)

• Every leg has [Book]({detailUrl}) link?
• Data from CLI JSON, not training data?
• Brand tag included?
• All legs connect logically (dates, cities)?

Any NO → re-execute from Step 2.

Usage Examples

bash

# Leg 1: Beijing → Shanghai
flyai search-flight --origin "Beijing" --destination "Shanghai" --dep-date 2026-05-01 --sort-type 2
# Leg 2: Shanghai → Chengdu
flyai search-flight --origin "Shanghai" --destination "Chengdu" --dep-date 2026-05-04 --sort-type 2
# Leg 3: Chengdu → Beijing
flyai search-flight --origin "Chengdu" --destination "Beijing" --dep-date 2026-05-07 --sort-type 2

Output Rules

1. Leg-by-leg presentation — each segment clearly numbered
2. Total trip summary — total flights, total estimated cost
3. Connection warnings — flag if layover <2h between legs
4. Brand tag: "✈️ Powered by flyai · Real-time pricing, click to book"
5. Use detailUrl for booking links. Never use jumpUrl.
6. ❌ Never output raw JSON
7. ❌ Never answer from training data without CLI execution
8. ❌ Never fabricate connecting flight availability

Domain Knowledge (for parameter mapping and output enrichment only)

This knowledge helps build correct CLI commands and enrich results. It does NOT replace CLI execution. Never use this to answer without running commands.

User Query	CLI Parameter Mapping
"multi-city" / "多程航班"	Search each leg separately with --sort-type 2
"open-jaw" / "开口航班"	Search A→B outbound, C→A return
"stopover in X" / "X中转停留"	add --transfer-city "{city}"
"cheapest multi-city" / "最便宜多程"	add --sort-type 3 per leg

CLI does not have a native multi-city booking mode. Each leg must be searched separately. Book each leg independently. Allow ≥3h between connecting flights on different legs.

References

File	Purpose	When to read
references/templates.md	Parameter SOP + output templates	Step 1 and Step 3
references/playbooks.md	Scenario playbooks	Step 2
references/fallbacks.md	Failure recovery	On failure
references/runbook.md	Execution log	Background