This major airline lets you book flights by experience, not city.
American Airlines has quietly been rolling out a new booking tool. The new AI-powered feature allows travelers to search for flights based on the kind of trip they want to have, rather than the specific airports they want to fly to and from.
“People are more and more wanting to look for experiences when they travel,” Anshuman Singh, American’s Managing Director of Customer Experience – Digital Transformation, told USA TODAY during a virtual demonstration of the tool on Sept. 30.
This shift is significant: as search behavior moves further away from traditional city-pair inputs, airports should be cautious about relying on search-based data to make strategic decisions about their markets.
Why Search Data Doesn’t Translate to Catchment
At face value, search queries can look like demand indicators. But for ASD managers, the risk lies in mistaking interest for traffic.
- Overcounting: A single traveler may search multiple destinations or dates without booking, inflating “demand.”
- Non-air travel substitutions: A family may search for flights to Florida beaches, then decide to drive.
- Leakage blind spots: Search data won’t show if a traveler ends up booking from a competing airport after the search.
For catchment analysis—where accuracy is essential—search data is too noisy and speculative to guide route development or airline discussions.
Air Mobility Data: The Real View of Your Catchment
The most accurate way to measure true passenger behavior is through air mobility data—tracking the real-world movements of devices to and from airports. Unlike search or booking data, air mobility data provides:
- Verified traffic patterns: Who actually traveled, not just who searched or booked.
- Surface leakage insights: Where passengers originated, including those bypassing your airport for a competitor.
- Mode-shift visibility: How travelers split between driving, connecting through hubs, or choosing alternate modes.
- Granularity for strategy: Data you can bring directly to airline conversations to prove actual demand.
For ASD teams tasked with justifying new routes, defending service, or understanding leakage, this level of accuracy is non-negotiable.
Takeaway for Airports
American’s new booking tool highlights a reality ASD managers already know: search behavior is evolving, and it is increasingly disconnected from actual travel choices.
If airports want a reliable basis for catchment studies, competitive analysis, and air service development, they need to move past search data.
Air mobility data delivers the only accurate picture of actual traveler behavior—helping airports make the case with airlines using facts, not assumptions.