Book connecting flights with different airlines at Alternative Airlines. We offer flights from more than 600+ airlines and combine different routes from each airline to give you the best flight options that can't be found anywhere else.
Want to connect and book flights with different airlines that you can't ordinarily book together? At Alternative Airlines, you can book flights from 600+ airlines, make unique flight connections for lots of different routes and find flight combinations that you can't find anywhere else, all thanks to Amadeus' (one of our great partners) virtual interlining technology.
Virtual interlining technology? What's that?
We won't bore you with all the technical details. But, virtual interlining is a super complex algorithm that scans and combines all possible flight routes and connections from various different airlines around the world and puts them into a simple, direct and — often — cheaper itinerary. It enables you to book flights to and from anywhere in the world and finds the absolute easiest itinerary for you to travel on.
Virtual interlining combines airlines that don't have a pre-existing agreement, giving you totally unique flight options. Before virtual interlining, if you wanted to find these types of flights, it would take hours of researching the different flight routes and times from each different airline. Virtual interlining cuts all of that out and guarantees you the easiest and most convenient flight options, all in one place, without you having to do a thing.
To search and book flights that connect different airlines, use our search form at the top of the page. Choose to fly between any two destinations — we'll do all the hard work and show you the best, cheapest and most direct route for your search. All you need to do is book and enjoy your flight!
The main benefit of connecting flights through different airlines with virtual interlining is that it gives you flight options that you won't find anywhere else. For example, let's say that you wanted to book a flight:
Lincoln, Nebraska ➡ Austin, Texas
There are no direct flights from Lincoln to Texas. So, you'd have to get a connecting flight. The big issue you'd have is that not many airlines within the US have pre-existing interline agreements. That means, without virtual interlining, your flight route would be long and indirect. It might look something like this:
Lincoln ➡ Minnesota, Minneapolis ➡ Austin
Because there are no airlines that have a pre-existing interline agreement for this route, the connection for this flight would have to be with the same airline (for example, Delta). As Minnesota is the nearest airport to Lincoln with a direct flight to Austin that Delta offers, you'd be forced to fly up to Minnesota and away from Austin in order to get a connection.
With virtual interlining, your route might look like this:
Lincoln ➡ Denver, Colorado ➡ Austin
As an example, your 1st flight (Lincoln ➡ Denver) would be with United and your 2nd flight would be with Frontier (Denver ➡ Austin). Because virtual interlining is able to connect United's and Frontier's independent schedules and combine them into 1 itinerary, your route and connection is far more direct and will save you lots of time on your journey.
Of course, you could build your own itinerary and book connecting flights on different airlines if you really wanted to. But, it'd require the following:
Still with us? It's a lot, right?
At Alternative Airlines, we build the itinerary for you in an instant moment, automatically generating the best flight option that there is. This saves an enormous amount of time and hassle and guarantees that you won't make any errors that you might from your building your own itinerary.
The virtual interlining algorithm scans flight combinations from various different airlines and analyses thousands of different routes for each search. Because it covers all bases and looks at all options, it also maximises the possibility of finding cheaper fares.
A self transfer flight is the name given when you book a connecting flight with multiple airlines yourself, without the help of virtual interlining. Without virtual interlining, some people build and book their own combination of flights to make an itinerary that includes connections from multiple airlines that don't have a pre-existing agreement. This is called a self transfer flight.
Booking and building a self transfer flight yourself is time-consuming and complicated. At Alternative Airlines, we build a self transfer flight for you instantaneously and automatically generate the best results for you.
Connecting and booking flights from different airlines with Alternative Airlines is really easy. Just search for flights how you normally would! We do all the hard work and display to you lots of flight options with complex itineraries that are simple to follow and easy to book.
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