Engine’s Holiday Travel & AI Report finds travelers are ready to hand AI the busywork, while keeping control of the decisions that matter.
Holiday travel has a way of turning even the best-laid plans upside down. A delayed flight becomes a missed connection. A cancellation sends you searching for alternatives at 11 p.m. And suddenly, a trip you planned weeks ago needs to be reorganized in minutes.
That’s exactly where travelers see a role for AI.
Engine’s new Holiday Travel & AI Report, based on a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults who traveled in the past year, looks at how travelers want AI to fit into their trips. The big finding: travelers are ready for AI to take work off their plates, but they’re much less interested in handing over the trip entirely.
The biggest travel headaches are the ones AI could help solve
Delays and cancellations are by far travelers’ biggest source of stress, cited by 34% of respondents—nearly twice as many as airports and security (18%).
The rest of the list is largely logistical, too: finding and comparing travel options (12%), getting around once they arrive (10%), and rebooking when plans change (9%).
It makes sense, then, that these are also the areas where travelers are most open to AI stepping in.
Travelers are ready to offload the busywork
Just 14% of travelers said they don’t want AI involved in their trips at all.
For everyone else, the most appealing uses are practical. More than half (51%) would use AI to search and compare flights or trains. About a third would let it book travel based on their preferences (35%) or build an itinerary (34%), while 25% would hand over restaurant reservations.
Travelers are even open to giving AI more autonomy when something goes wrong. Faced with a late-night flight cancellation, 55% would be comfortable with AI automatically rebooking them on a reasonable alternative. That includes 21% who said they’d simply be relieved it was handled and another 34% who would be comfortable as long as the new flight matched their preferences.
And what would travelers do with the time AI gives back? If it saved them 30 minutes of planning and travel admin, 21% would use it to explore their destination. Others would take a nap (11%) or grab another drink or meal (10%).
There are still plenty of people who enjoy doing the work themselves: 17% said they’d rather spend those 30 minutes planning the trip.
Travelers want assistance from AI, not full control
Where travelers draw the line is full autonomy.
Only 5% would let AI manage an entire trip and involve them only when there’s a problem. Instead, 36% want AI to recommend the best option and ask for approval, while 33% want it to present choices and leave every decision to them.
For 40% of travelers, that means approving every booking or change.
But some decisions matter more than others. 33% want AI to check with them whenever a change would cost more than the original booking, while 27% want approval if it changes their arrival or departure time.
Money and mid-trip changes are where trust gets tested
Ask travelers what they’re least comfortable handing over completely to AI, and choosing a flight or hotel isn’t at the top of the list.
Instead, 22% said spending above a certain budget threshold, tied with the 22% who said changing plans while they’re already traveling. By comparison, just 12% were most concerned about AI choosing their accommodations and 10% about choosing their flight or train.
In other words, travelers seem comfortable letting AI do more when the stakes are low and their preferences are clear. They want a checkpoint when more money is involved—or when a decision could meaningfully change the trip they thought they were taking.
The best AI use for travel may be the kind you barely notice
This holiday season, AI’s biggest opportunity in travel may not be planning an entire vacation from start to finish. It’s handling the tedious parts: sorting through options, keeping track of preferences, responding when plans change, and cutting down the time travelers spend managing logistics.
That’s also how we think about technology at Engine. The goal is making travel easier—using technology to remove work and solve problems while keeping travelers and their teams in control.
Methodology: Engine surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults who had traveled within the past 12 months. The survey was conducted in September 2026.
