With AI quickly becoming the first stop for trip planning, LLM recommendations are driving which brands travelers choose for their vacation plans. In our previous analysis, we saw how prompts about hotel deals surface a handful of globally recognized online booking websites. For this investigation, we turned our attention from hotels to airlines to see which brands achieved the highest visibility in answers to the prompt: What are the best airline deals to travel around Europe in spring 2026?
Using GenAI Lens, we analyzed responses across eight leading LLMs — ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Grok, Llama, and Perplexity — from February 24 to March 17, 2026. The results revealed how low-cost carriers dominate AI-driven discovery, while legacy airlines fall behind in reaching high-intent, budget-conscious consumers.
AI Models Prioritize Low-Cost Airlines in Spring Break Flight Deal Searches
Ryanair and easyJet dominated in LLM visibility through a combination of frequent, prominent mentions and high prevalence across responses. Ryanair led with 88% visibility, closely followed by easyJet at 87% thanks to frequent, prominent mentions, often in the beginnings of AI-generated answers.
By contrast, LLMs mentioned legacy carriers like British Airways (31% visibility), Lufthansa (26%), KLM (16%), and Air France (16%) much less consistently, frequently, and prominently.
These rankings bode well for budget airlines, confirming their high visibility to cost-conscious customers, but less so for legacy airlines, which LLMs framed as secondary options during the critical discovery stage.
As always though, LLM recommendations were far from uniform. With visibility varying significantly across models, consumers’ exposure to airlines appears to be highly dependent on which models they use. For example, while Ryanair was highly visible on Grok (99%), DeepSeek (98%), and Claude (93%), it was much less so on Google’s Gemini (63%) and AI Overviews (42%). Instead, on AI Overviews, arguably one of the more prominent platforms for the everyday consumer, British Airways scored highest with 60% visibility.
Overall, Grok, DeepSeek, and Claude recommended low-cost airlines more aggressively for the best flight deals, while Perplexity and Google AI Overviews mentioned a slightly wider range of brands.
Strategic Takeaway: For legacy and hybrid carriers targeting cost-conscious travelers, and indeed for brands targeting consumers in any industry, optimizing for the LLMs they use most is key to staying competitive.
Top Sentiment Drivers
Being recommendations, LLMs inherently had more praise than critique for the airlines they mentioned. However, responses were not 100% positive, nor did they highlight the same qualities across airlines.
LLMs positively mentioned Ryanair’s and easyJet’s prices, route availability, and flight frequency. Plus, easyJet enjoyed additional praise for its airport access, ease of use, and flexibility. Wizz Air stood out for its strong Eastern/Central Europe coverage, and Vueling for its strength in Southern Europe. Overall, outside of just low fares, AI prioritized broad and convenient networks in its recommendations to European spring breakers on a budget.
On the flip side, lack of transparency was a recurring theme in less than favorable brand mentions. LLMs frequently warned consumers to “watch for extra fees” or “check baggage policies”, driving home the narrative low prices come with caveats.
For low-cost carriers, negative sentiment drivers highlight opportunities to build trust through price transparency and simplicity. For legacy airlines, the challenge comes in demonstrating total cost efficiency.
Strategic Takeaway: Winning the AI-driven discovery game for cost-conscious consumers may depend on ensuring that “deals” are not just seen as cheap, but as genuinely valuable.
Brand Websites Had Limited Influence on LLMs
For brands across industries, reshaping LLM narratives begins with developing strategies for the sources that influence them most. In the case of spring break airline deals, travel deal platforms were more influential than brand websites in informing AI-generated responses. They accounted for six of the ten leading sources, led by Kayak with 63 mentions and Momondo with 56 mentions.
Three brand websites ranked among the top ten sources, including Virgin Atlantic which did not achieve a top visibility score. A lone earned media source, Thrifty Traveler, also made the list, highlighting just how influential niche websites with consistent, expert-informed content can be.
Collectively, however, LLMs relied far more on aggregator content than on brand-owned messaging when constructing recommendations, likely perceiving them as more objective and useful.
Strategic Takeaway: First, for airlines, winning in AI requires strong presence in aggregator ecosystems and trusted, niche websites, not just owned channels. Second, brands regardless of industry must ensure that third-party sources accurately reflect their value proposition so that the LLMs that reference them do as well.
Final Thoughts
As AI increasingly shapes how travelers discover and evaluate options, visibility in LLM responses grows more closely tied to consumer demand. For airlines and travel brands, gaining an edge lies in understanding where, how, and how often you appear compared to competitors. It also requires aligning messaging across the third-party sources LLMs rely on most.
Across industries, the AI era is challenging marketers to pinpoint exactly how these platforms characterize and perpetuate information to a wide range of high-intent buyers. GenAI Lens makes that research feasible at scale, finally giving brands the chance to take control of their AI narrative.
FAQ: Airline Deals, AI Recommendations, and LLM Visibility
Which airlines have the best deals for Europe travel in spring 2026?
According to Meltwater’s GenAI Lens analysis of flight deals for spring break, low-cost carriers like Ryanair, easyJet, and Wizz Air are most frequently recommended by AI models. These airlines dominate visibility due to their strong association with affordability, route availability, and frequent service across Europe.
How do AI tools decide which airlines to recommend for cheap flights?
Meltwater’s GenAI Lens analysis shows that LLMs prioritize airlines based on factors like price competitiveness, network coverage, and how often they appear in trusted third-party sources like aggregators and travel deal sites. This means brands with strong presence on platforms like Kayak or Momondo are more likely to be recommended.
Do different AI models recommend different airlines?
Yes. Meltwater’s GenAI Lens analysis of LLM recommendations for spring break airline deals in Europe reveals significant variation across models. For example, Ryanair has near-total visibility on Grok and DeepSeek but is much less prominent on Google AI Overviews, where British Airways performs better. This highlights how airline discovery depends heavily on the AI platform used.
What factors influence airline rankings in AI-generated answers?
According to Meltwater’s GenAI Lens analysis of LLM recommendations for spring break airline deals, key factors include visibility (how often a brand appears), prevalence (how consistently it’s included), frequency (total mentions), and prominence (placement within responses). Airlines that perform well across all four metrics are more likely to dominate recommendations.
What are the pros and cons of low-cost airlines according to AI?
Meltwater’s GenAI Lens analysis of LLM recommendations for spring break airline deals shows that AI consistently praised low-cost airlines for price and route coverage, but also flagged drawbacks like extra fees, baggage costs, and pricing complexity. This creates a “cheap but with trade-offs” narrative in AI-generated answers.
Why don’t airline websites influence AI recommendations for flight deals very much?
Meltwater’s GenAI Lens analysis found that AI models rely heavily on third-party sources like aggregators (e.g., Kayak, Momondo). They potentially perceive these websites as more objective and useful than brand websites.
How can airlines improve their visibility in AI search results for flight deals?
Based on Meltwater’s GenAI Lens insights, airlines can improve visibility by strengthening their presence and consistent value messaging on aggregator platforms.
Why does AI visibility matter for airlines and travel brands?
As highlighted in Meltwater’s GenAI Lens analysis, AI recommendations have the potential to shape early-stage travel decisions. Airlines that are consistently visible in LLM recommendations have greater exposure to high-intent travelers, likely giving them a competitive advantage in bookings and brand preference.
