As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly book business travel within your expense budget.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open your employer's current travel and expenses policy, then copy the rules on budget, approved suppliers, booking method, class of travel, advance booking, refunds and approval into a note.
   2. Gather the journey dates, departure and destination points, latest acceptable arrival, earliest acceptable return, traveller count, baggage needs and any accessibility requirements.
   3. Paste the policy and trip details into the prompt, adding the maximum total budget in pounds and stating whether taxes, fees, baggage and seat reservations are included.
   4. Use an approved travel site or booking tool to obtain current search results, then paste the fares, timings, restrictions, baggage and cancellation terms into the chat without asking it to invent missing details.
   5. Ask the model to rank only the supplied results, identify any policy exception or approval requirement, and produce the recommended booking option and evidence checklist.
   6. Compare the recommended fare, timings, passenger details, cancellation terms and total against the live supplier page and your policy, obtain required approval, then book through the approved channel and save the confirmation and receipt.

   Prompt

   Help me choose and prepare a business travel booking that stays within my employer's expense rules. Do not book, pay or claim that a fare is available unless I provide a current booking result. Use only the information below and clearly mark anything missing or uncertain.
   
   Trip:
   - Departure: [city or station or airport]
   - Destination: [city or station or airport]
   - Outbound date and latest acceptable arrival time: [details]
   - Return date and earliest acceptable departure time: [details]
   - Number of travellers: [number]
   - Cabin or class allowed: [details]
   
   Budget and policy:
   - Maximum total budget in pounds: [amount]
   - Currency and whether the budget includes taxes, fees, baggage and seat reservations: [details]
   - Approved suppliers or booking channels: [details]
   - Rules on advance booking, refundable fares, rail versus air, hotels, ground transport and approvals: [paste policy]
   
   Preferences and constraints:
   - Accessibility or mobility needs: [details]
   - Baggage needs: [details]
   - Maximum journey time or number of changes: [details]
   - Loyalty or other preferences: [details]
   
   First, list the missing information that could change the recommendation. Then give me a short search brief and a comparison table with columns for supplier, route, dates, departure and arrival times, journey time, fare, taxes and fees, baggage, change and cancellation terms, policy status and evidence needed. If I paste current search results, rank only those results, calculate their stated totals in pounds without inventing prices, flag any option that needs approval, and recommend the cheapest option that meets the policy and constraints. End with a booking checklist covering the fare, passenger details, payment, approval, confirmation and expense evidence.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.