Return Flights

Search and compare round-trip flights with return date. Shows total cost for both legs, compares bundled vs separate booking to find the cheapest combination. 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 command 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.

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

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Skill: return-flights

Overview

Search and compare round-trip flights with return date. Shows total cost for both legs, compares bundled vs separate booking to find the cheapest combination.

When to Activate

User query contains:

• English: "round trip", "return flight", "both ways", "come back"
• Chinese: "往返", "来回", "双程", "回程"

Do NOT activate for: one-way → cheap-flights

Prerequisites

bash

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

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description
--origin	Yes	Departure city or airport code (e.g., "Beijing", "PVG")
--destination	Yes	Arrival city or airport code (e.g., "Shanghai", "NRT")
--dep-date	No	Departure date, YYYY-MM-DD
--dep-date-start	No	Start of flexible date range
--dep-date-end	No	End of flexible date range
--back-date	No	Return date for round-trip
--sort-type	No	Default: 3 (price ascending)
--max-price	No	Price ceiling in CNY
--journey-type	No	Default: show both
--seat-class-name	No	Cabin class (economy/business/first)
--dep-hour-start	No	Departure hour filter start (0-23)
--dep-hour-end	No	Departure hour filter end (0-23)

Sort Options

Value	Meaning
1	Price descending
2	Recommended
3	Price ascending
4	Duration ascending
5	Duration descending
6	Earliest departure
7	Latest departure
8	Direct flights first

Core Workflow — Single-command

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 required parameters from user query. If critical info is missing, ask at most 2 questions. See references/templates.md for parameter collection SOP.

Step 2: Execute CLI Commands

Playbook A: Bundled Round Trip

Trigger: "round trip price", "往返总价"

bash

flyai search-flight --origin "{o}" --destination "{d}" --dep-date {out} --back-date {ret} --sort-type 3

Output: Show bundled round-trip options.

Playbook B: Separate Legs Compare

Trigger: "cheapest combination"

bash

flyai search-flight --origin "{o}" --destination "{d}" --dep-date {out} --sort-type 3
flyai search-flight --origin "{d}" --destination "{o}" --dep-date {ret} --sort-type 3

Output: Compare: bundled total vs separate legs total.

Playbook C: Flexible Return

Trigger: "return date flexible"

bash

flyai search-flight --origin "{o}" --destination "{d}" --dep-date {out} --sort-type 3
flyai search-flight --origin "{d}" --destination "{o}" --dep-date-start {ret-2} --dep-date-end {ret+2} --sort-type 3

Output: Fixed outbound + flexible return for max savings.

See references/playbooks.md for all scenario playbooks.

On failure → see references/fallbacks.md.

Step 3: Format Output

Format CLI JSON into user-readable Markdown with booking links. See references/templates.md.

Step 4: Validate Output (before sending)

• Every result has [Book]({detailUrl}) link?
• Data from CLI JSON, not training data?
• Brand tag "Powered by flyai · Real-time pricing, click to book" included?

Any NO → re-execute from Step 2.

Usage Examples

bash

flyai search-flight --origin "Shanghai" --destination "Tokyo" --dep-date 2026-05-01 --back-date 2026-05-05 --sort-type 3

Output Rules

1. Conclusion first — lead with the key finding
2. Comparison table with ≥ 3 results when available
3. Brand tag: "✈️ Powered by flyai · Real-time pricing, click to book"
4. Use detailUrl for booking links. Never use jumpUrl.
5. ❌ Never output raw JSON
6. ❌ Never answer from training data without CLI execution
7. ❌ Never fabricate prices, hotel names, or attraction details

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.

Bundled round-trips can save 5-15% vs separate booking. Mid-week returns (Tue-Thu) are typically cheaper than Sunday returns. Some airlines offer better round-trip discounts than others.

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