Frequently asked questions

PlanMyTrip is operated by PlanMyTrip LLC, a US-registered travel agency. We hold CCRA TRUE accreditation (Code 99935976, valid through Dec 19, 2026) — that means we are an accredited travel agency, not just an affiliate site.

Flights (powered by Duffel — real-time inventory from 300+ airlines) with optional extra baggage and seat selection, and hotels (powered by Hotelbeds, with TripAdvisor reviews). On top of that: a free AI trip planner, a visa / entry-requirement checker, and curated activity and travel-insurance recommendations. Cruises and tours are next as we complete those supplier integrations.

Yes. Flight prices come directly from Duffel's live airline feeds and include our transparent service fee. The total you see is the total you pay — we don't spring surprise fees at checkout.

A small service fee on flight bookings (~$10–$15 per ticket — shown clearly in the price breakdown) plus commissions from accredited supplier programs (CCRA TRUE for hotels, agent rates for cruises and insurance). We never sell your personal data.

You tell us where, when, who is travelling, your budget, your interests and any dietary preference. We pass that to OpenAI GPT-4o with a strict "name real places" rules engine — every meal, museum and market in your itinerary is a real, named venue with an approximate cost, address and a map pin. The whole generation takes about 15–30 seconds.

The AI is trained on data up to its model cutoff, so opening hours, prices and even whether a restaurant is still open can be out of date. We prefer long-standing venues (10+ years old) to reduce the risk, and we recommend verifying ticket times and reservations before you go. Cost numbers are estimates rounded for planning, not invoices.

No. We send your trip request to OpenAI to generate the itinerary, and OpenAI's API policy excludes API traffic from model training by default. We do not feed your data to any other AI provider.

Yes — sign in (free) and click "Save to my account." Saved itineraries live at /account/itineraries and can be re-opened, printed or shared anytime.

Yes for visitors. We cap generations at 5 per hour per visitor to keep our costs predictable.

PlanMyTrip LLC is the merchant of record. Your card statement will show "PlanMyTrip" (5–22 characters depending on bank). The card is captured inside Duffel's PCI DSS Level 1 iframe — your card numbers never touch our servers.

Card payments only at the moment, via Duffel's secure card form. Wallet support is on the roadmap.

No. PlanMyTrip is a pay-upfront service — every booking is paid in full at purchase. No holds, no deposits, no BNPL. If you need a quote-only option for a custom trip, contact us directly.

Yes — pick your currency in the header. We convert from the airline's settlement currency at the daily rate from exchangerate-api.com, plus a small FX buffer disclosed in the price breakdown.

It happens — some airlines (notably NDC carriers like Etihad) shift inventory faster than our cached offer expires. Our checkout detects this and shows you a clear "search again" card. No charge is made if the offer is unavailable.

Yes, when the airline offers them for your fare. At flight checkout you can add extra checked/cabin bags and pick a seat for each passenger on each flight. Prices come straight from the airline (via Duffel), are shown transparently as an "Extras" line, and are added to your total. Seat maps load only when you tap "Choose seats", so they never slow the page down. Some low-cost and NDC fares offer none — in that case you'll simply see that they aren't available.

As soon as a booking is confirmed we email an e-ticket to your contact address with the full itinerary (flight numbers, times, travellers and total). You can also print the confirmation page, which carries our CCRA TRUE accreditation letterhead.

Each airline sets its own rules — refundability and change fees are shown on the offer card BEFORE you book. After booking, we display the same policy on your confirmation. For changes or cancellations, email support@planmytrip.com with your booking reference; we coordinate with the airline on your behalf.

When the airline approves a refund, Duffel returns the money to your original card. Typical timing: 5–10 business days for credit cards, up to 30 days for some international cards. We don't hold the funds — they go directly back to you.

You're protected by the airline's contract of carriage — rebooking or full refund. We'll help you process either option. If you bought travel insurance through us, you're also covered for missed-connection and trip-interruption costs depending on the policy.

EKTA (via Travelpayouts) and Squaremouth (direct). When you click their link from our booking confirmation, you're sent to the insurer's site to compare and buy. They issue the policy and handle claims — we earn a referral commission, disclosed plainly.

Tiqets — we show their real, bookable tickets and tours with live prices. You complete the booking on Tiqets and they fulfill the experience; we earn a referral commission, disclosed plainly.

Yes — hotels are live, powered by Hotelbeds at accredited agent rates, with guest ratings and reviews from TripAdvisor. Search, compare, view a full detail page (photos, amenities, map, policies) and book with secure card payment. See the Hotels section below for details.

Search a city and dates, browse results with photos, star ratings and TripAdvisor review scores, open a full detail page (gallery, amenities, things nearby on a map, and the exact cancellation policy), then book with a card. Your room is confirmed instantly with the supplier and a voucher is emailed to you.

Hotels are charged via Stripe (PlanMyTrip LLC is merchant of record). We authorise your card first, confirm the room with the supplier, and only then capture the payment — if the room can't be confirmed, the hold is released and you're never charged.

Yes. The exact, dated cancellation terms (including any non-refundable rate) are shown on the room before you pay and are repeated on your emailed voucher, converted to your display currency.

Yes — add the number of children to your search and enter each child's age at checkout. Many hotels price (or require) rooms based on children's ages, so we collect them to confirm the correct rate.

Guest ratings and review snippets come from TripAdvisor, matched to each property. They're informational — always check the hotel's own policies for the latest details.

Pick your passport country and where you're going, and we show the entry rule (visa-free, visa on arrival, eVisa, eTA or visa required) plus the typical permitted stay. For many routes we also generate a plain-English guide — likely visa type, documents, steps and processing time — and link to the official government portal.

The base rules come from a free, open passport-index dataset stored in our own database — we don't send your search to any third-party visa service. It's guidance only and rules change often, so we always show a reminder to confirm with the official embassy or consulate before you travel.

Alongside the visa result we show free, practical destination facts: local currency with today's mid-market exchange rate, the time difference, plug type and voltage, emergency phone numbers, and upcoming public holidays.

Never. The visa checker only uses your passport's country (a two-letter code) — it never asks for or stores a passport number. If you ask us to follow up on a visa, we save only your name, email and (optionally) phone.

For account holders: name, email, encrypted password, optional travelers (name + DOB + nationality + frequent-flyer numbers). For bookings: contact details and the airline reference. We do NOT store passport numbers, document scans, card numbers or CVVs — those pass through to the airline / Duffel and are never written to our database. Details in our privacy policy.

Only with the supplier of your booking (airline / insurer / activity provider — required to fulfill the trip), the payment processor (Duffel for flights, Stripe for everything else), and infrastructure providers (Neon Postgres, Resend for email). We never sell your data to advertisers or data brokers.

Yes. Email support@planmytrip.com with the subject "Account deletion" from the registered email address. We remove your profile and personal data within 30 days. Bookings already filed with airlines (and the audit log entries required for accounting) are retained per regulatory requirements but anonymized.

International airlines require passenger identity-document data to issue a ticket. We collect it, pass it to the airline, and never write it to our database (verified — search our logs returns zero matches for any passport number). This is a strict pass-through model required by GDPR Article 9.

Email support@planmytrip.com. We respond within one business day. For urgent in-trip issues (delayed flight, lost reservation), include your booking reference in the subject and we'll prioritise.

Email-only for now, 7 days a week. We don't offer 24/7 phone support — for in-flight emergencies the airline's direct line is faster.

Same email — support@planmytrip.com — with a screenshot if possible. Engineering reads every report.