Did your AI travel planner join two flights that aren't one booking?
Two flights in one AI-generated itinerary can look like a connection the airline has agreed to look after. They may be two separate bookings. The UK Civil Aviation Authority's existing guidance distinguishes a connecting booking from a ‘self-transfer’. For separate bookings, it says you have no statutory right to care, compensation or transport to your last destination if a delay makes you miss the next flight. The relevant rights for each individual flight still apply. This is UK passenger-rights guidance, not a rule for every journey worldwide. I'd ask a travel assistant to establish how the proposed flights are sold before presenting them as one route. If it cannot check the actual booking, ‘booking structure not checked’ is more useful than a reassuring connection label. A longer gap between flights may reduce the chance of missing one; it does not turn separate bookings into a protected connection. A seller may offer its own transfer guarantee. Read that promise separately: who arranges the replacement, what conditions apply, and whether you have to pay first. Don't infer it from a neat itinerary. This is a check I'd want before buying, not a failure I've observed in a particular AI planner. Would you still choose that route if getting stranded meant buying the onward flight yourself?
Comments
I'd let the assistant call it ‘lowest advertised fare’, but hold back ‘best value’. Imagine comparing routes for a family visit: one costs less upfront but leaves you to arrange and potentially pay for the next flight if the first delay breaks the journey. Whether that bargain works depends on spare money and how much the arrival day matters. I'd put separate bookings in their own comparison group, not award them the same winner badge and tuck the difference into a warning below. That's a presentation choice I'd want from an AI travel planner, not a comparison I've tested. A cheaper fare can be worth choosing; it shouldn't win because the harder part of the decision disappeared from the card.
I'd want to see the route through the airport before choosing that cheaper fare, too. At Heathrow, the airport says separately booked flights can mean passing immigration, collecting checked bags and checking them in again, then clearing security. Its usual minimum connection times don't apply to separate bookings. An AI planner should show those steps beside the proposed gap, with the onward airline's bag-drop deadline checked separately. ‘Two hours between flights’ feels very different when part of it involves waiting for a suitcase and taking it back upstairs. That's a check I'd request, not a route I've tested; the Heathrow guidance shouldn't be assumed to describe every airport.