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AI adoption is no longer the challenge—trusted context is. Most organizations have AI tools, but many still rely on disconnected, stale, or unverified data, limiting the quality and trustworthiness of AI-generated outputs. Meltwater MCP brings trusted, real-time intelligence into AI assistants.

Your Best Context is Already in the Room

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics?
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.
Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.
Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

Before people click through to anything these days, they’re asking AI. They’re using tools like Perplexity as search engines and answer engines. These tools shape how others understand your brand in seconds. If you’re not paying attention to how you show up there, you’re missing a major piece of the visibility puzzle.

That’s exactly why brand monitoring needs an upgrade. Traditional brand monitoring was built for a world of links, headlines, search results, and social mentions. It tells you who’s talking about your brand — but not how AI is summarizing that conversation or turning it into recommendations.

Monitoring your brand on Perplexity means running real-world queries and using AI monitoring tools to track trends over time. You’re checking whether your brand appears, and if it does, you’re also checking to see how AI tools frame it and what questions trigger it. It also helps to see which competitors show up alongside you.

Here’s how Perplexity brand monitoring works and why it needs to be part of your strategy.

Why Monitoring Your Brand on Perplexity Matters

How To Monitor Your Brand on Perplexity AI

Anticipating Future Developments in AI Brand Monitoring

You’re probably already watching Google rankings and social mentions. That’s table stakes. But discovery is changing. People now ask things like “What’s the best budgeting app?” or “Is this skincare brand legit?”, and they trust the AI’s answer.

Perplexity synthesizes information into a single response. That means users may never visit your site. If the AI highlights outdated info, a negative review, or a competitor’s positioning instead of yours, that narrative can stick.

Proactive LLM monitoring helps you catch issues early. It acts as a reputation radar so you’ll know where you’re winning or falling short, allowing you to adjust your approach.

AI brand monitoring starts with understanding how AI systems are interpreting your brand, and using those insights to make smarter content and positioning decisions. When you monitor how tools like Perplexity surface and summarize information, you start to see patterns that traditional dashboards simply don’t capture. 

Done right, this becomes a strategic advantage, not just a defensive exercise. Here’s what you stand to gain with Perplexity brand monitoring:

Reputation control: Spot misinformation or negative framing before it spreads.

Customer insight: See the exact questions people ask. For example, if users keep asking whether your SaaS tool integrates with Slack, that’s a content gap worth fixing.

Competitive intelligence: Notice which brands AI recommends first and why.

Content direction: Learn what sources Perplexity trusts and replicate that authority.

Opportunity discovery: Spot unexpected use cases or emerging trends.

Over time, these insights help you move away from reacting and toward shaping the narrative. Instead of guessing what matters to your audience (or to AI), you can prioritize the signals that actually influence discovery and consideration.

Perplexity runs real-time web searches and uses large language models to build concise answers with citations. Those citations are gold: They show exactly where your brand narrative is coming from.

If you want to monitor how your brand shows up in Perplexity, it helps to understand what’s actually happening behind the scenes. It’s not magic. It’s a mix of real-time search and source synthesis working together. Once you know how it pulls and packages information, it becomes much easier to influence what appears and why.

Perplexity runs live searches across the web, then uses an LLM to turn what it finds into a clear, conversational answer. Think of it like a very fast research assistant summarizing multiple sources into one response.

The biggest advantage is that it shows its work. Each answer includes citations that link back to the original content. For Perplexity brand monitoring, those citations are where the real insight lives. They tell you exactly which sources are shaping the AI’s understanding of your brand.

Perplexity casts a wide net. It doesn’t rely only on official brand content or press releases. Instead, it aggregates from across the open web, including:

Major news publications and niche industry sites

Blogs, forums, Reddit discussions, and personal websites

Publicly indexed conversations surfaced through media coverage

Databases and knowledge hubs like Wikipedia or specialized repositories

For example, here’s what Perplexity AI said when we asked it to explain our GenAI Lens platform:

Along with an overview, Perplexity also cites multiple sources where it pulled its information. 

Perplexity is powerful, but not flawless. AI can misinterpret nuance. It might prioritize biased sources or lag on breaking updates. That’s why ongoing monitoring matters.

Like any AI system, Perplexity has blind spots. New developments may take time to appear. If inaccurate or biased information dominates online, the AI can pick that up. Highly authoritative sources tend to carry more weight, but niche discussions can still show up if they directly answer a user’s question.

Context is another challenge. AI models are getting better, but satire, sarcasm, and complex nuance can still be misread or taken at face value. The better you understand how Perplexity gathers and prioritizes information, the better you can shape the signals it uses to tell your brand story.

Now that you know why Perplexity matters and how it gathers information, let’s get practical. Monitoring your brand here isn’t complicated, but it does require intention. The goal is to see what real users see, understand how AI summarizes your brand, and identify the signals shaping that narrative.

Let’s look at three ways to use Perplexity AI for brand monitoring:

This is the fastest place to start. Think like your audience. What would they ask if they were researching your brand or comparing options?

<table>
      <thead>
        <tr>
          <th>Simple Brand-Level Queries</th>
          <th>Product and Use-Case Questions</th>
          <th>Leadership and Industry Context</th>
        </tr>
      </thead>
      <tbody>
        <tr>
          <td>"What is [Your Brand Name]?"</td>
          <td>"[Your Product Name] features"</td>
          <td>"[CEO Name] [Brand Name]"</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td>"Tell me about [Your Brand Name]."</td>
          <td>"How to use [Your Service]"</td>
          <td>"Who founded [Brand Name]?"</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td>"[Your Brand Name] reviews"</td>
          <td>"Alternatives to [Your Product]"</td>
          <td>"Best [industry] companies"</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td>"Is [Your Brand Name] legitimate?"</td>
          <td></td>
          <td>"Trends in [industry] related to [Brand Name]"</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td>"Problems with [Your Brand Name]" (Yes — search the negatives.)</td>
          <td></td>
          <td></td>
        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>



Once you run the query, slow down and analyze what you see. Read the AI summary closely: Is the tone accurate? Does it highlight the strengths you want associated with your brand? 

Then click every citation. These sources reveal where Perplexity is forming its opinion from. Unexpected links often point toward hidden conversations worth monitoring.

Don’t ignore the “follow-up questions” suggestions either. They’re a window into real user curiosity and a steady source of new ideas. Setting a weekly or monthly routine helps you catch narrative shifts early.

Method 2: Use third-party AI monitoring tools

Manual searches work well for spot checks. But as your brand grows (or if you’re tracking multiple markets), scale becomes an issue. That’s where AI monitoring platforms come in.

Meltwater functions as a Perplexity AI brand mention monitoring tool. Our platform has evolved to track generative AI visibility alongside traditional coverage. When evaluating options, look for:

Broad source coverage that mirrors AI search environments

Reliable LLM sentiment analysis across AI-generated content

Real-time or scheduled alerts for new mentions

Reporting that surfaces themes, positioning trends, and competitive context

Explicit tracking of AI answer engines like Perplexity

AI-native tools are also emerging, designed specifically to analyze how models synthesize information. These can offer deeper narrative insight, though they often require budget justification. 

Method 3: Influence What Perplexity Finds

You can’t dictate what Perplexity says, but you can absolutely shape the inputs. Think of content strategy as proactive brand monitoring.

High-quality, authoritative content gives AI clearer signals. That means publishing helpful guides, transparent product information, FAQs, comparison pages, and thought leadership that directly answers real questions.

Semantic optimization matters too. Focus less on keywords and more on intent. Structure content so AI can easily extract meaning by using strong headings and clear positioning. Front-loading direct answers to questions can also support AI-generated summaries.

Authority signals, like backlinks from trusted publications, increase the likelihood that AI models view your content as credible. Consistent messaging across digital channels reduces confusion and prevents conflicting narratives from surfacing. Structured data also plays a role, helping AI understand relationships between products and brand claims.

Spotting a brand mention in Perplexity is just the starting point. The real value comes from how you respond and what you learn. 

AI visibility isn’t static. Narratives evolve based on new content and signals. That means every mention is both feedback and opportunity.

Not all mentions require the same level of action. A simple framework helps you prioritize quickly:

Positive: Praise, strong recommendations, or favorable comparisons. These are opportunities to amplify credibility.

Negative: Complaints, criticism, or inaccurate claims. These need timely, thoughtful responses.

Neutral: Informational or factual references without strong sentiment. These are useful for awareness tracking and competitive benchmarking.

This quick categorization keeps teams focused on what actually moves the needle.

Negative visibility can shape perception fast, especially when AI summarizes it. The first step is context: Is the issue valid? Is the source credible? Is the sentiment emotional or evidence-based?

If the mention appears somewhere you can engage (like a forum or publication comments section), respond calmly and constructively. Empathy and clarity go further than defensiveness.

When factual inaccuracies surface, the long game is signal correction. Publish accurate information on authoritative channels and request updates from the original publisher. Over time, better inputs lead to better AI outputs.

It’s also worth treating criticism as insight. Recurring complaints about onboarding complexity or pricing transparency, for example, may signal real product or messaging gaps.

Tip: Learn more about PR strategies for better GEO, and how to optimize press releases for GEO

Positive mentions are momentum builders. Share credible coverage across owned channels. Thank customers or creators who advocate for your brand. Repurpose strong endorsements into testimonials or case studies.

Then dig deeper. What themes are driving praise? Ease of use? Sustainability? Customer support? Doubling down on these strengths can reinforce positive associations in future AI responses.

Individual mentions matter. Patterns matter more.

Track recurring questions and themes. If users consistently ask about integrations or security features, that’s content direction. 

Compare how often your brand appears versus competitors and in what context. Monitor whether campaigns or launches are shifting sentiment or increasing visibility.

Over time, this kind of narrative intelligence helps you move from reactive monitoring to proactive brand shaping.

AI isn’t slowing down, and neither is the way people use it to discover brands. What feels advanced today will quickly become baseline. That’s why staying informed about how AI search evolves starts now.

This is where specialized tools come into play. Solutions like Meltwater’s GenAI Lens help brands understand where they appear and how AI platforms are synthesizing information to shape perceptions. As generative search matures, investing in tools that decode AI-driven visibility will move from a competitive edge to a business necessity.

Learn more about how Meltwater helps you with Perplexity monitoring when you request a demo by filling out the form below.

Perplexity Brand Monitoring: How to Monitor Your Brand Mentions on Perplexity AI

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

<div style="max-width:1000px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;background:#ffffff;border-radius:12px;box-shadow:0 4px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.08);border:1px solid #eaeaea;overflow:hidden;">

  
  <div style="height:6px;background:linear-gradient(90deg,#28bbbb,#b627a1);"></div>

  
  <div style="padding:16px 20px;">
    <div style="font-size:18px;font-weight:600;color:#000;">Airline Performance Overview</div>
  </div>

  
  <div style="padding:0 16px 16px 16px;">
    <table style="width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;table-layout:fixed;font-size:14px;color:#4c4d4f;text-align:center;">

      
      <tr>
        <th style="padding:12px;">Visibility Ranking</th>
        <th style="padding:12px;">Airlines</th>
        <th style="padding:12px;">Visibility Score</th>
        <th style="padding:12px;background:#eef3f7;">Total Mentions</th>
        <th style="padding:12px;">Prevalence Score</th>
      </tr>

      

      
      <tr style="border-top:1px solid #eaeaea;height:64px;">
        <td>1</td>
        <td style="font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">Ryanair</td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#28bbbb" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="88 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">88%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
        <td style="background:#eef3f7;">283 </td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#28bbbb" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="78 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">78%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="border-top:1px solid #eaeaea;height:64px;">
        <td>2</td>
        <td style="font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">easyJet</td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#28bbbb" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="87 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">87%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
        <td style="background:#eef3f7;">237 </td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#28bbbb" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="77 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">77%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="border-top:1px solid #eaeaea;height:64px;">
        <td>3</td>
        <td style="font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">Wizz Air</td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#28bbbb" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="81 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">81%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
        <td style="background:#eef3f7;">198 </td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#28bbbb" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="72 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">72%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="border-top:1px solid #eaeaea;height:64px;">
        <td>4</td>
        <td style="font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">Vueling</td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#ff6221" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="48 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">48%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
        <td style="background:#eef3f7;">96 </td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#ff6221" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="49 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">49%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="border-top:1px solid #eaeaea;height:64px;">
        <td>5</td>
        <td style="font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">British Airways</td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#ff6221" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="31 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">31%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
        <td style="background:#eef3f7;">54 </td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#ff6221" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="30 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">30%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="border-top:1px solid #eaeaea;height:64px;">
        <td>6</td>
        <td style="font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">Lufthansa</td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#ff6221" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="26 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">26%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
        <td style="background:#eef3f7;">44 </td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#ff6221" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="27 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">27%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="border-top:1px solid #eaeaea;height:64px;">
        <td>7</td>
        <td style="font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">Eurowings</td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#ff6221" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="25 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">25%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
        <td style="background:#eef3f7;">42 </td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#ff6221" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="23 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">23%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="border-top:1px solid #eaeaea;height:64px;">
        <td>8</td>
        <td style="font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">KLM Royal Dutch Airlines</td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#ff6221" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="16 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">16%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
        <td style="background:#eef3f7;">24 </td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#ff6221" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="13 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">13%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="border-top:1px solid #eaeaea;height:64px;">
        <td>9</td>
        <td style="font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">Air France</td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#ff6221" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="16 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">16%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
        <td style="background:#eef3f7;">22 </td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#ff6221" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="14 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">14%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="border-top:1px solid #eaeaea;height:64px;">
        <td>10</td>
        <td style="font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">Transavia</td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#ff6221" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="16 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">16%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
        <td style="background:#eef3f7;">19 </td>
        <td>
          <svg width="44" height="44" viewBox="0 0 36 36">
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#eaeaea" stroke-width="4" fill="none"/>
            <circle cx="18" cy="18" r="16" stroke="#ff6221" stroke-width="4" fill="none" stroke-dasharray="13 100" stroke-linecap="round" transform="rotate(-90 18 18)"/>
            <text x="18" y="21" text-anchor="middle" font-size="10" fill="#000">13%</text>
          </svg>
        </td>
      </tr>

    </table>
  </div>
</div>

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. 

<div style="max-width:1100px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;background:#ffffff;border-radius:12px;box-shadow:0 4px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.08);border:1px solid #eaeaea;overflow:hidden;">

  
  <div style="height:6px;background:linear-gradient(90deg,#28bbbb,#b627a1);"></div>

  
  <div style="padding:16px 20px 8px 20px;">
    <div style="font-size:18px;font-weight:600;color:#000;">Brands performance by model</div>
  </div>

  
  <div style="padding:8px 16px 8px 16px;">
    <table style="width:100%;table-layout:fixed;border-collapse:separate;border-spacing:6px;font-size:10px;color:#4c4d4f;text-align:center;">

      
      <tr>
        <th style="text-align:left;"> </th>
        <th>Gemini</th>
        <th>Grok</th>
        <th>Perplexity</th>
        <th>Llama</th>
        <th>DeepSeek</th>
        <th>ChatGPT</th>
        <th>Claude</th>
        <th>Google AI Overview</th>
      </tr>

      

      
      <tr style="height:52px;">
        <td style="text-align:left;font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">Ryanair</td>
        <td style="background:#5f8fc9;border-radius:6px;color:#fff;">63</td>
        <td style="background:#1e4fa0;border-radius:6px;color:#fff;">99</td>
        <td style="background:#2f6fbf;border-radius:6px;color:#fff;">86</td>
        <td style="background:#2f6fbf;border-radius:6px;color:#fff;">83</td>
        <td style="background:#1e4fa0;border-radius:6px;color:#fff;">98</td>
        <td style="background:#3f78c2;border-radius:6px;color:#fff;">78</td>
        <td style="background:#2a5fb5;border-radius:6px;color:#fff;">93</td>
        <td style="background:#7f9fc9;border-radius:6px;color:#fff;">42</td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="height:52px;">
        <td style="text-align:left;font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">easyJet</td>
        <td style="background:#6f95c5;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">52</td>
        <td style="background:#1e4fa0;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">99</td>
        <td style="background:#3f78c2;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">81</td>
        <td style="background:#2f6fbf;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">83</td>
        <td style="background:#1e4fa0;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">98</td>
        <td style="background:#3f78c2;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">78</td>
        <td style="background:#2a5fb5;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">92</td>
        <td style="background:#8aa6cc;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">39</td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="height:52px;">
        <td style="text-align:left;font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">Wizz Air</td>
        <td style="background:#5f8fc9;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">61</td>
        <td style="background:#1e4fa0;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">98</td>
        <td style="background:#7f9fc9;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">53</td>
        <td style="background:#2f6fbf;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">83</td>
        <td style="background:#1e4fa0;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">98</td>
        <td style="background:#4a82c6;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">67</td>
        <td style="background:#3f78c2;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">83</td>
        <td style="background:#8aa6cc;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">39</td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="height:52px;">
        <td style="text-align:left;font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">Vueling</td>
        <td style="background:#9fb4cc;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">35</td>
        <td style="background:#2f6fbf;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">85</td>
        <td style="background:#8aa6cc;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">51</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">0</td>
        <td style="background:#4a82c6;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">73</td>
        <td style="background:#5f8fc9;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">56</td>
        <td style="background:#5f8fc9;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">58</td>
        <td style="background:#aabbd0;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">28</td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="height:52px;">
        <td style="text-align:left;font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">British Airways</td>
        <td style="background:#b7c5d6;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">21</td>
        <td style="background:#aabbd0;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">33</td>
        <td style="background:#5f8fc9;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">60</td>
        <td style="background:#aabbd0;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">30</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">0</td>
        <td style="background:#c7d2de;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">17</td>
        <td style="background:#b7c5d6;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">22</td>
        <td style="background:#5f8fc9;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">60</td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="height:52px;">
        <td style="text-align:left;font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">Lufthansa</td>
        <td style="background:#d5dde7;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">12</td>
        <td style="background:#8aa6cc;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">41</td>
        <td style="background:#9fb4cc;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">38</td>
        <td style="background:#8aa6cc;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">42</td>
        <td style="background:#aabbd0;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">23</td>
        <td style="background:#aabbd0;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">26</td>
        <td style="background:#b7c5d6;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">22</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">11</td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="height:52px;">
        <td style="text-align:left;font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">Eurowings</td>
        <td style="background:#8aa6cc;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">40</td>
        <td style="background:#7f9fc9;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">47</td>
        <td style="background:#d5dde7;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">18</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">0</td>
        <td style="background:#9fb4cc;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">38</td>
        <td style="background:#aabbd0;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">30</td>
        <td style="background:#d5dde7;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">14</td>
        <td style="background:#d5dde7;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">12</td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="height:52px;">
        <td style="text-align:left;font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">KLM Royal Dutch Airlines</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">7</td>
        <td style="background:#d5dde7;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">15</td>
        <td style="background:#8aa6cc;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">48</td>
        <td style="background:#d5dde7;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">18</td>
        <td style="background:#d5dde7;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">19</td>
        <td style="background:#d5dde7;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">15</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">0</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">0</td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="height:52px;">
        <td style="text-align:left;font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">Transavia</td>
        <td style="background:#d5dde7;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">19</td>
        <td style="background:#d5dde7;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">15</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">12</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">0</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">12</td>
        <td style="background:#aabbd0;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">33</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">11</td>
        <td style="background:#d5dde7;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">15</td>
      </tr>

      
      <tr style="height:52px;">
        <td style="text-align:left;font-weight:600;color:#28bbbb;">Air France</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">7</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">8</td>
        <td style="background:#aabbd0;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">31</td>
        <td style="background:#8aa6cc;color:#fff;border-radius:6px;">42</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">6</td>
        <td style="background:#b7c5d6;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">21</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">0</td>
        <td style="background:#eaeaea;color:#4c4d4f;border-radius:6px;">0</td>
      </tr>

    </table>
  </div>

  
  <div style="padding:12px 20px 16px 20px;">
    <div style="height:10px;border-radius:6px;background:linear-gradient(90deg,#eaeaea,#9fb4cc,#5f8fc9,#2f6fbf,#1e4fa0);margin-bottom:6px;"></div>
    <div style="display:flex;justify-content:space-between;font-size:11px;color:#4c4d4f;">
      <span>0–11</span>
      <span>11–19</span>
      <span>19–33</span>
      <span>33–51</span>
      <span>51–81</span>
      <span>81–99</span>
    </div>
  </div>

</div>

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. 

<div style="max-width:1000px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;background-color:#ffffff;border-radius:12px;box-shadow:0 4px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.08);overflow:hidden;border:1px solid #eaeaea;">
  
  
  <div style="height:6px;background:linear-gradient(90deg,#28bbbb,#b627a1);"></div>
  
  
  <div style="padding:16px 20px 8px 20px;">
    <div style="font-size:18px;font-weight:600;color:#000000;margin-bottom:4px;">
      Airline Brand Sentiment Overview
    </div>
    <div style="font-size:13px;color:#4c4d4f;">
      Visibility, sentiment drivers, and strategic implications across major European airlines
    </div>
  </div>
  
  
  <div style="padding:8px 16px 16px 16px;">
    <table cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" style="width:100%;border-collapse:separate;border-spacing:0;font-size:14px;color:#4c4d4f;">
      <thead>
        <tr>
          <th style="text-align:left;background-color:#c4f4f4;border-bottom:1px solid #eaeaea;">Brand</th>
          <th style="text-align:left;background-color:#c4f4f4;border-bottom:1px solid #eaeaea;">Visibility</th>
          <th style="text-align:left;background-color:#c4f4f4;border-bottom:1px solid #eaeaea;">Positive Sentiment Drivers</th>
          <th style="text-align:left;background-color:#c4f4f4;border-bottom:1px solid #eaeaea;">Negative Sentiment Drivers</th>
          <th style="text-align:left;background-color:#c4f4f4;border-bottom:1px solid #eaeaea;">What It Means</th>
        </tr>
      </thead>
      <tbody>
        <tr>
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">Ryanair</td>
          <td>88%</td>
          <td>Very strong on price and network coverage</td>
          <td>Highest negatives (17) driven by fees, baggage, and add-ons</td>
          <td style="font-weight:500;color:#000000;">High visibility amplifies trade-offs</td>
        </tr>
        <tr style="background-color:#f9fefe;">
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">easyJet</td>
          <td>87%</td>
          <td>Price + convenience (main airports, flexibility, usability)</td>
          <td>Fee-related concerns (13) but less severe</td>
          <td style="font-weight:500;color:#000000;">Best balance of value + experience</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">Wizz Air</td>
          <td>81%</td>
          <td>Low fares and strong Eastern Europe coverage</td>
          <td>Fees, baggage costs, and add-ons (13)</td>
          <td style="font-weight:500;color:#000000;">Strong value but trust gap</td>
        </tr>
        <tr style="background-color:#f9fefe;">
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">Vueling</td>
          <td>48%</td>
          <td>Competitive pricing and strong regional routes</td>
          <td>Fees and ancillary costs (lower volume)</td>
          <td style="font-weight:500;color:#000000;">Good perception but low scale</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">British Airways</td>
          <td>31%</td>
          <td>More stable experience, fewer complaints</td>
          <td>Limited negatives but weak link to “deals”</td>
          <td style="font-weight:500;color:#000000;">Not seen as value</td>
        </tr>
        <tr style="background-color:#f9fefe;">
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">Lufthansa</td>
          <td>26%</td>
          <td>Reliability and full-service quality</td>
          <td>Minimal negatives but low relevance to deals</td>
          <td style="font-weight:500;color:#000000;">Strong equity but low inclusion</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">Air France / KLM</td>
          <td>~16%</td>
          <td>Balanced, fewer negatives</td>
          <td>Very low negatives but also low presence</td>
          <td style="font-weight:500;color:#000000;">Missing from “deals” conversation</td>
        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>
  </div>

</div>

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

<div style="max-width:1000px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;background-color:#ffffff;border-radius:12px;box-shadow:0 4px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.08);overflow:hidden;border:1px solid #eaeaea;">
  
  
  <div style="height:6px;background:linear-gradient(90deg,#28bbbb,#b627a1);"></div>
  
  
  <div style="padding:16px 20px 8px 20px;">
    <div style="font-size:18px;font-weight:600;color:#000000;margin-bottom:4px;">
      Top Sources
    </div>
    <div style="font-size:13px;color:#4c4d4f;">
     
    </div>
  </div>
  
  
  <div style="padding:8px 16px 16px 16px;">
    <table cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" style="width:100%;border-collapse:separate;border-spacing:0;font-size:14px;color:#4c4d4f;">
      <thead>
        <tr>
          <th style="text-align:left;background-color:#c4f4f4;border-bottom:1px solid #eaeaea;">Website</th>
          <th style="text-align:left;background-color:#c4f4f4;border-bottom:1px solid #eaeaea;">Mentions</th>
          <th style="text-align:left;background-color:#c4f4f4;border-bottom:1px solid #eaeaea;">Source Type</th>
        
        </tr>
      </thead>
      <tbody>
        <tr>
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">Kayak.com</td>
         
          <td>63</td>
           <td>Travel Deal Platform</td>
        </tr>
        <tr style="background-color:#f9fefe;">
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">Momondo.com</td>
          <td>56</td>
          <td>Travel Deal Platform</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">Virginatlantic.com</td>
          <td>55</td>
          <td>Airline</td>
        </tr>
        <tr style="background-color:#f9fefe;">
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">Thriftytraveler.com</td>
          <td>43</td>
          <td>Travel Deal Resource and News Website</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">Expedia.com</td>
          <td>40</td>
          <td>Travel Deal Platform</td>
        </tr>
        <tr style="background-color:#f9fefe;">
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">Travelocity.com</td>
          <td>39</td>
          <td>Travel Deal Platform</td>

        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">Skyscanner.com</td>
          <td>37</td>
          <td>Travel Deal Platform</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">Easyjet.com</td>
          <td>32</td>
          <td>Airline</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">Britishairways.com</td>
          <td>27</td>
          <td>Airline</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <td style="color:#28bbbb;font-weight:600;">Going.com</td>
          <td>27</td>
          <td>Travel Deal Platform</td>
        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>
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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.

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.

The European Airlines Dominating LLMs

PR has quietly shifted under everyone’s feet. You’re still pitching stories, still building relationships, but that’s not where the story ends anymore.

Now there’s another layer sitting on top of everything, with AI tools pulling from thousands of sources, stitching together a version of your brand, and handing that to your audience as the answer. Not a list of links, not a balanced mix of opinions from different sources, just one clean response.

So the real question isn’t whether you landed the coverage, it’s how AI perceives your brand narrative, because that’s what your audience is starting to see first.

This is where Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) comes in. It gives you a way to influence how AI systems describe your company, your category, and your relevance, and if you get it right, you don’t just show up in AI platforms, you show up accurately, consistently, and in the right context.

The shift: From gatekeepers to synthesizers

How Meltwater can help you optimize your PR strategies for GEO

Key takeaways: Mastering narrative control in the age of AI

PR used to be straightforward. You pitched a story, a journalist wrote it, and your audience read it. Now, AI sits in the middle, pulling from thousands of sources at once - it doesn’t just pass information along, it rewrites it, compresses it, decides what matters.

So instead of one story being told, you’ve got this blended version of your brand floating around, built from dozens or hundreds of inputs, and you don’t get to approve it.

Earned media still matters, but it’s no longer the final word. AI is looking across sources, weighing them, spotting repetition, and if something shows up often enough, in similar terms, it starts to look like the truth.

That’s where things get tricky, because if your messaging isn’t consistent, or if competitors are more disciplined than you are, their version of the story starts to win.

You can’t rely on isolated wins anymore, one strong article won’t carry your narrative. What matters is the full picture. Every mention, every quote, every page on your site, it all adds up to create the version of your brand and your organization that AI sees and passes on to its users. 

That means your PR, SEO, and content teams need to work together, not in silos. You’re not just telling stories any more, you’re making sure those stories line up, everywhere, all the time. Clean, simple, repeatable, because that’s what AI understands.

3. GEO as category creation & domination strategy

5. The defensive GEO playbook (proactive protection)

6. Crisis communications in the age of GEO (reactive & long-term repair)

Visibility sounds simple, but in this context it’s not just about being seen, it’s about being understood clearly and consistently. That difference matters more than most teams realize, because AI doesn’t just surface your brand, it interprets it.

AI leans heavily on sources it already trusts, like major publications, analyst reports, and established platforms, so if you’re not showing up in those places you’re already behind. But even when you are present, what really matters is how those sources describe you, because that language becomes part of how AI defines your brand.

This is where things often break down. A lot of brands try to sound ambitious or forward-thinking, and in doing so they drift into vague, overcomplicated language that doesn’t hold up. AI needs clarity to work with, not clever phrasing, so if you can’t explain what you do in simple, direct terms, it won’t be able to either.

The Meltwater Blog

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