Travel marketing agency Propellic has published a new study examining how AI agents are reshaping travel search and bookings, finding that most flight reservations initiated through Meta’s Muse and Instinct are routed through third-party booking infrastructure rather than directly to airlines.
The report, Agentic Travel Booking in Meta’s Muse and
Instinct, examines Meta’s Muse, launched in the US in September 2026 with
integrated travel booking, and Instinct, an invite-only AI agent accessed
through text messages.
According to the study, 57% of audited flight booking
scenarios would have been processed through Duffel, the booking API powering
both agents’ flight reservations, even when users specified a particular
airline. Direct bookings with airlines, hotels or tour operators accounted for
28% of cases, while online travel agencies such as Booking.com and Expedia
represented 14%.
However, user instructions significantly influenced booking
outcomes. Every hotel request explicitly asking for a direct reservation
resulted in a booking with the property, while requests naming a specific brand
were fulfilled through that brand. When users prioritised the cheapest option,
the agents selected the lowest displayed price in 88% of cases.
Despite their growing capabilities, AI agents have yet to
gain widespread approval to complete payments independently. Propellic found
that 66% of real-world conversations stopped at the research or shortlist
stage.
Among interactions reaching the approval stage,
approximately half saw users intervene to review details such as baggage
allowances, seat selection and cancellation conditions before completing the
booking themselves.
The survey also highlighted reservations about automated
payments. While 36% of respondents said they would allow an AI agent to pay for
a trip, another 36% would consider doing so only under certain conditions,
including refundable bookings or low-value purchases.
The findings suggest that while AI agents are increasingly
influencing travel discovery and booking decisions, consumer trust and control
over transactions remain significant barriers to fully automated travel
bookings.
“Earlier this year, we found that AI was recommending direct
booking options in 71% of results, with travelers handing AI the research but
keeping control of the payment. Now AI agents can take bookings all the way to
checkout, but more than half the time, those bookings would go through an
intermediary. Agentic AI platforms have swung the pendulum back towards the
traditional travel supply chain, adding a new layer in the middle,” said
Brennen Bliss, founder and CEO of Propellic.
To understand how these platforms handle travel bookings,
Propellic tested both agents across hotels, flights and tours. The research
combined scripted booking requests across four routes, a survey of current
users and recorded interviews that included a live booking task. It is
Propellic’s third study of AI in travel, following From Search to Purchase
(2025) and The State of AI Visibility for Travel in 2026. -TradeArabia News Service