How to vibe codeAirHelp
Air Passenger Rights Experts
airhelp.com ↗Consumer LegalTech / Travel
The verdict: can you vibe code AirHelp?
You can build a functional personal prototype of the claim calculator and tracking dashboard, but AirHelp's true value relies on an enterprise legal network and proprietary aviation data.
While a solo developer can spin up a Next.js frontend with claim forms and a SQLite database in a couple of weeks, you hit a concrete wall when trying to replicate the core engine: verifying flight disruption causes against historical air traffic control data, parsing chaotic boarding pass PDFs with high reliability, and managing cross-border legal escalation workflows against uncooperative international airlines.
Estimated effort: 3-4 months of part-time work
What you can't replicate
- Global network of aviation legal partners and court escalation infrastructure
- Proprietary historical flight delay and weather verification pipelines
- 140+ enterprise airline and OTA distribution partnerships
Founded
2013
Raised
$17.2M
Team
390+
Cheapest paid tier
No Win, No Fee (35% fee)
What AirHelp does
Tech-enabled legal services and consumer-advocacy platform that helps air passengers secure financial compensation for delayed, canceled, or overbooked flights under global regulations.
Core features
- Free flight compensation calculator based on EC 261, UK 261, and Montreal Convention
- Flight status lookup and schedule verification engine
- User authentication and profile management
- Document upload pipeline for boarding passes and booking confirmations
- Claim submission and status tracking dashboard
- Multi-jurisdiction legal case workflow management queue
- Subscription tier management for AirHelp+ trip protection
The business
Pricing
- Standard ClaimNo Win, No Fee (35% fee)
- AirHelp+ Smart€39.99 / year
Funding
$17.2M from Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, Nordic Eye, TempoCap, Abry Partners
Pay vs build, cumulative
Break-even at month 2 — after that, every month is money kept.
The hard parts of vibe coding AirHelp
- Real-time and historical flight tracking data ingestion to legally prove airline-fault delays versus extraordinary weather circumstances
- Multi-country legal compliance engine managing distinct statutory deadlines and regional aviation regulations
- High-volume OCR document parsing for chaotic, poorly formatted user boarding passes
- B2B airline and OTA manifest integrations ensuring strict aviation data privacy standards
How to vibecode AirHelp
Prerequisites
Node.jsfree
Runtime environment for the Next.js stack
GitHubfree
Code repository and deployment linkage
AI coding tools
Recommended stack
| Frontend | Next.js with Tailwind CSS and TypeScript |
|---|---|
| Backend | Next.js Server Actions and API Routes |
| Database | Turso (SQLite at the edge) |
| Auth | better-auth |
| Payments | Stripe |
| Other | Resend for email notifications, OpenAI API for boarding pass OCR parsing |
Hosting & infrastructure
| Cloudflare | Edge frontend and serverless API deployment via Pages | $0-5/mo |
Build guide
01Project Scaffolding & Database Schema
Initialize a Next.js 16 project with TypeScript and Tailwind CSS 4, configure Turso SQLite connection, and define database schemas for users, flights, claims, and subscriptions.
Initialize a new Next.js project with App Router, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS. Configure Turso as the database client using libSQL. Create database migration scripts for the following tables: 'users' (id, email, password_hash, created_at), 'claims' (id, user_id, flight_number, departure_date, airline, status, compensation_amount, created_at), and 'subscriptions' (id, user_id, tier, status, expires_at). Implement a robust database connection utility with environment variable validation.02Authentication & User Dashboard
Set up secure user authentication using better-auth and build a personal dashboard to view submitted claims and membership status.
Integrate better-auth into the Next.js app supporting email/password and session management. Create sign-in, sign-up, and account settings pages. Build a protected user dashboard displaying active claims, claim history status badges, and AirHelp+ subscription details with responsive Tailwind UI components.03Compensation Eligibility Calculator
Build an interactive multi-step compensation calculator checking flight distance, delay duration, and regulatory frameworks (EC 261, UK 261).
Build a multi-step flight compensation calculator form component. Step 1: Departure and arrival airports. Step 2: Flight number and date. Step 3: Delay duration or cancellation reason. Implement a calculation logic module in TypeScript that evaluates EC 261 distance tiers (under 1500km = €250, 1500-3500km = €400, over 3500km = €600) and displays estimated compensation payout results.04Document Parsing Pipeline (OCR)
Implement file upload and OCR extraction for boarding passes and booking confirmations using OpenAI Vision API.
Create a secure document upload endpoint supporting PDF and image uploads for boarding passes and confirmation emails. Use OpenAI API (vision model) to parse uploaded files and extract structured JSON data: flight number, passenger name, PNR reference, departure airport, arrival airport, and date. Pre-fill the claim submission form with extracted data and store file references securely.05Claim Submission & Management Workflow
Build the end-to-end claim submission workflow, status tracking timeline, and administrative case review queue.
Build a claim submission wizard that links the calculated compensation, uploaded documents, and user profile into a new claim record in the Turso database. Create a detailed claim status tracking timeline view for users (Submitted -> Verified -> Airline Contacted -> Payout). Add a basic admin dashboard view to update claim statuses and review uploaded evidence.06AirHelp+ Memberships & Stripe Billing
Integrate Stripe checkout to handle annual AirHelp+ Smart subscription tiers and fee waiver status updates.
Integrate Stripe SDK to handle annual subscription checkouts for AirHelp+ Smart (€39.99/yr). Implement Stripe webhooks to listen for checkout.session.completed events, updating the user's subscription status and activating fee waivers on active claims in the database. Add a subscription management card to the user settings page.
Cost vs paying for AirHelp
What will you build it with?
Starting total with Claude Code$0 one-time
Starting costs (one-time)
- Custom domain registration$12 one-time
- AI coding tool subscription$20 one-time
Total~$32 one-time
Ongoing costs (monthly)
- Cloudflare Pages & Turso DB$0/mo (free tier)
- OpenAI OCR API usage~$5/mo
- Resend transactional email$0/mo (free tier)
Total~$5/mo
Paying for AirHelp
Free per-claim (35% cut) / €39.99/yr membership
Your time to build
60 hours
AI tool credits
$20 (Claude Pro)
Break-even
Not applicable (personal prototype build)
Own AirHelp? Wear the score
Put this badge on your site or README — it links back to this report.
<a href="https://vibeityourself.com/app/airhelp"><img src="https://vibeityourself.com/badge/airhelp" alt="AirHelp vibe-codeability score" /></a>[](https://vibeityourself.com/app/airhelp)Vibe code AirHelp: FAQ
- Can you vibe code AirHelp yourself?
- Serious undertaking — 45/100 vibecodeable. You can build a functional personal prototype of the claim calculator and tracking dashboard, but AirHelp's true value relies on an enterprise legal network and proprietary aviation data.
- How long does it take to vibe code AirHelp?
- 3-4 months of part-time work — roughly 60 hours of hands-on time with an AI coding agent.
- How do you build your own AirHelp?
- Scoped to personal use: Next.js with Tailwind CSS and TypeScript on the front, Next.js Server Actions and API Routes behind it, Turso (SQLite at the edge) for data. Follow the 6-step build guide on this page — each step has a paste-ready prompt for an AI coding agent.
- How do you code your own AirHelp without being an expert?
- Use an AI coding tool (Claude Code or Cursor) and work in small steps: scaffold, data model, core screens, then deploy. Realistic effort: 3-4 months of part-time work. The prompts on this page are written so the AI does the heavy lifting.
- How much does it cost to vibe code AirHelp instead of paying?
- About ~$32 one-time to start and ~$5/mo to run, versus Free per-claim (35% cut) / €39.99/yr membership for AirHelp. Break-even: Not applicable (personal prototype build).
- What stack should you use to vibe code AirHelp?
- Next.js with Tailwind CSS and TypeScript; Next.js Server Actions and API Routes; Turso (SQLite at the edge); plus Resend for email notifications, OpenAI API for boarding pass OCR parsing.
Methodology
This report was generated by VibeItYourself's standard pipeline: we scrape airhelp.com (content, branding, screenshot), deep-research the company with AI + web search (pricing, funding, team, engineering complexity), then score rebuild feasibility 0–100 against the same rubric used for every app — scoped to a personal-use clone, not a competing business. How scoring works. Verdicts are honest by design: what you can't replicate is listed above.
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