How flights are displayed
Flights appear at the top (outbound) and bottom (return) of the itinerary timeline. Depending on the complexity of the itinerary, some flights might appear in middle legs as well. Each flight card shows:
Airline name
Departure and arrival airports (IATA codes and city names)
Departure and arrival times
Flight duration
Number of stops (direct or connections)
If a template includes pre-selected flights, they appear automatically. If flights are not yet selected, an automated process fetches default flights for the user.
Searching for flights
There are two main ways to arrive at flight search in Smart Planner.
From a template: If the template includes flights, Smart Planner may show pre-selected flights or prompt the user to search. The search is pre-filled with the template's origin, destination, and dates.
"Start with Flights" entry point: Users can begin their trip planning by searching for flights first. After selecting flights, Smart Planner builds the itinerary around the chosen flight schedule.
Changing flights
Once flights are part of the itinerary, users can change them by clicking "Change flight" on the flight card. This opens the Flights Drawer, a side panel where users can:
See available flight options for the same route and dates
Compare airlines, times, duration, and pricing
Select a different flight
When a new flight is selected, the itinerary updates automatically — adjusting departure/arrival times and recalculating the trip price.
Use Smart Planner for Flights Search
Under Settings → DC → Discovery → Smart Planner, there is a toggle called Use Smart Planner for Flights Search. When enabled:
The flight search experience runs inside Smart Planner rather than redirecting to the legacy GDS flight search page.
This provides a unified experience where the user never leaves the Smart Planner interface.
When disabled, flight searches may redirect to the legacy flight search interface, and the selected flights are then passed back to Smart Planner.
Multi-stop flights
For multi-stop itineraries, flights may be shown between stops where air travel is needed. Smart Planner handles this by displaying flight cards at the relevant points in the itinerary timeline rather than only at the top and bottom.
For administrators
Flight availability in Smart Planner depends on the same GDS and flight supplier integrations configured in your TripBuilder instance. Key points:
Ensure your flight suppliers (GDS connections, NDC, LCC integrations) are active.
The "Start with Flights" entry point must be enabled per DC if you want consumers to begin with flight search.
The Use Smart Planner for Flights Search toggle controls whether the flight search runs natively in Smart Planner or falls back to the legacy search page.