Group travel
Group flight booking for ten or more travelers
Once you pass nine passengers, online booking stops working. The airline moves you to a group desk that operates by phone and email, prices the seats differently, and will normally hold them on a deposit while you collect names. Trailisse runs that process for you.
On this page
Why you cannot just book ten seats online
Booking engines cap at nine passengers per transaction. That is not an arbitrary limit: a group is a different commercial product to the airline. Buying ten individual tickets instead is possible, but it means ten separate reservations that are not linked, so a schedule change hits each one independently, seats cannot be assigned together reliably, and every name must be final at the moment you pay.
A proper group booking behaves differently, and the differences are the reason to make one.
What a group booking actually gets you
| Ten individual tickets | Group booking | |
|---|---|---|
| Names needed at booking | All of them, immediately | No — usually due weeks before departure |
| Deposit | Full payment upfront | Typically a per-seat deposit holds the fare |
| Fare movement | Each booking priced when purchased | Fare generally fixed once the group is confirmed |
| Seating together | Chance, or paid seat selection each time | Requested for the group as a block |
| Schedule change | Handled separately per reservation | Handled once, for the group |
| Invoicing | Ten card transactions | One invoice |
| Adding or dropping people | New booking at the current fare | Limited changes permitted within the contract |
Exact deposit amounts, name deadlines and change allowances are set by each airline's group contract and vary by carrier, route and season. We tell you the specific terms for your group before you commit to anything.
Groups we handle most
- Weddings. Guests travelling from several cities to one destination, often with people confirming late. Held seats matter more here than anywhere.
- Corporate travel and conferences. One invoice, one point of contact, and a cost that finance can approve before names exist.
- Sports teams and touring groups. Excess and oversized baggage is the thing that catches people out, and it needs arranging in advance rather than at check-in.
- Family reunions and milestone trips. Mixed ages, mixed departure cities, and often a wheelchair or an unaccompanied minor in the mix.
- Student and faculty groups. Chaperone ratios, and institutions that need a formal quote before releasing funds.
- Religious and community travel. Large numbers on fixed dates, where the whole group has to be on the same aircraft.
How we run it
- You give us the shape of it. Rough passenger count, origin cities, destination and dates. Nothing needs to be final.
- We approach the airlines. Group desks quote individually, so we ask more than one and compare what comes back — including terms, not just price.
- You get the options in writing. Total per passenger including all taxes and fees, plus the deposit, the name deadline and the change rules.
- You place the deposit. Seats are held at the agreed fare.
- You send names as you get them. We add them to the booking and chase you before the deadline rather than after it.
- We ticket and stay on it. Seat blocks, special meals, assistance requests and any schedule change, up to the day of travel.
Things that catch groups out
- The name deadline is real. Miss it and seats can be released back to the airline. We manage that date for you.
- Deposits are usually non-refundable. That is what secures the fare. Understand the figure before you place it.
- Group fares are not always the lowest fare on the aircraft. On a quiet route a promotional public fare can beat the group rate. We compare both and tell you which is better, even when that means a smaller booking for us.
- Baggage is priced per passenger. On a fee-charging carrier, twenty checked bags is a meaningful line item that belongs in the budget from the start.
- Splitting across two flights is sometimes better. If one aircraft cannot take everyone at a sensible fare, two departures may cost less and carry less risk than forcing a single one.
Common questions
How many passengers counts as a group?
Ten or more travelling together on the same itinerary is the usual threshold for US airlines. Below that we book individually, which is often the better option anyway.
Do we all have to be on the same flight?
No. Groups frequently travel from several cities and converge, or split across two departures. It is one booking from your side either way.
When do we have to give you the names?
The airline sets the deadline in the group contract, and it is typically several weeks before departure. We tell you the exact date up front and remind you well ahead of it.
What if someone drops out?
Group contracts usually allow a proportion of seats to be released without penalty up to a set point, and substituting one traveller for another is normally easier than on an individual ticket. The specifics depend on the carrier.
Can you invoice our organisation rather than take a card?
In most cases yes, which is one of the main reasons corporate and institutional groups use an agent. Tell us what your finance team needs.
Can you hold seats before we have approval to spend?
That is exactly what the deposit-and-hold structure is for. It lets you fix the fare and the seats while the decision is still going through.
Tell us about the group
Rough numbers are fine at this stage. We can firm up dates and names later.