How to spot fake travel itineraries

Spotting a fake travel itinerary in 2025 is harder than ever. Sophisticated forgery tools and AI-generated documents make fakes nearly indistinguishable for insurance underwriters and risk teams.

But it’s not just insurance agencies. This is a critical document for any organization that relies on proof of travel verification. 

A travel itinerary details the plan of a trip, outlining flights, accommodations, and other reservations. It serves as crucial evidence for visa applications, corporate expense reports, and proof of onward travel, making its authenticity paramount. 

A convincing travel itinerary scam can expose an organization to significant compliance, financial, and legal risks. With travel itinerary fraud on the rise, is your system secure?

Read on to learn what travel itineraries are, how they're being forged, how to spot a fake, and how AI-powered tools can help.

Check out our “how to spot fake documents” blog to learn about more common document forgeries.

What is a travel itinerary?

A travel itinerary is a document that confirms a traveler's arrangements, issued by a travel agency, airline, or hotel booking platform. Travellers use it to keep track of their accommodations, flights, and any other tours/events taking place during their trip.

Key elements of a travel itinerary include:

• Booking reference number. A unique alphanumeric code, often called a PNR (Passenger Name Record) for flights or a confirmation number for hotels.
• Issuing entity. The name, logo, and contact information of the airline, hotel chain, or travel agency (e.g., Expedia, CWT).
• Traveler's full name. The name of the passenger(s), which must match their official identification like a passport.
• Flight and/or accommodation details. Includes flight numbers, airport IATA codes (e.g., JFK, SIN), departure/arrival times, and hotel addresses.
• Dates of travel. The specific check-in, check-out, departure, and arrival dates for each leg of the journey.
• Total cost and payment status. Some itineraries include a summary of the fare, taxes, and fees, depending on the source, its intent, and how it’s generated.

These details together confirm a traveler’s intended movement, validate reservations, and serve as official proof of their plans.

An example of a travel itinerary (only flight confirmation) for illustrative purposes only

Why are travel itineraries important?

Travel itineraries are used across industries to confirm the legitimacy of a traveler’s plans. A valid itinerary can confirm that flights were booked, hotels were reserved, and transportation was planned, all of which help verify a person’s whereabouts, intent, or financial claims. 

Here's how travel itineraries are used for document verification across specific industries:

• Insurance: Travel insurance companies require a valid itinerary to process claims for trip cancellations, interruptions, or medical emergencies that occur during a confirmed travel period.
• Immigration & border control. Consulates and embassies may require confirmed flight and hotel itineraries for visa applications to prevent immigration fraud. The U.S. Department of State outlines that applicants may need to provide evidence of their travel purpose and arrangements, making a legitimate itinerary essential.
• Corporate Finance & HR. Finance departments use itineraries to verify business travel before approving and reimbursing employee expense reports, preventing fraudulent claims for trips never taken.
• Financial Services: During Customer Due Diligence (CDD), banks may use an itinerary as supporting evidence for a large international transaction or to verify a customer’s claims about their business activities and travel patterns.

Because it contains verifiable, third-party-issued data, the travel itinerary is often a highly trusted document for critical decision-making.

If you’d like to know how fraudsters are creating all these fake travel itineraries, check out our “Types of fraud” blog to learn more about their tactics.

Threat intel: Template data about fake travel itineraries

Our Threat Intelligence Unit collects data about template farms which make and distribute fake document templates for fraudulent purposes.

Below, you'll find an infographic containing data about fake travel itinerary templates templates, their availability, their distributors, and how much it costs to buy one

Travel itineraries belong to our "travel documents" data set which also contains documents like flight tickets and hotel confirmations from companies like Booking.com and Airbnb. 

5 signs of a forged or fake travel itinerary

Detecting a fake travel itinerary manually requires a sharp eye and familiarity with real-world red flags. While certain fraud techniques can be undetectable to the human eye, some fraudsters make subtle mistakes that can be clear giveaways for fraud. 

We recommend always using an AI-powered, automated document fraud detection software. However, if you’re still doing reviews manually, here’s what to watch for:

1. Inconsistent formatting

A professionally issued document from a global distribution system (GDS) or major booking platform has a consistent, clean layout. Scammers using basic editing software often miss these details.

• Pixelated or low-quality images. Airline or hotel logos, country’s flags, even photos of the hotels themselves, appear blurry, stretched, or discolored.
• Misaligned, missing or obscure text. Columns don't line up, and there are awkward gaps, smudges, or overlapping text in any field (i.e., flight numbers, travel details, airline reservation code, “important information,” hotel policies) — not just the most important fields like name and date. 
• Generic Templates: The layout looks overly simplistic and lacks the specific branding, fine print, or complex data fields of a real airline or OTA document. Or looks overly designed/generic like it was made from a template in an image editing software like Canva.
• Header and Footer Errors: The information in the header or footer is missing, incomplete, or doesn't match the issuing company.

2. Incorrect or misleading information

Fraudsters can invent details, but they are often logically flawed or easily disproven with a quick search.

• Invalid booking reference (PNR). The PNR is fake, in the wrong format (e.g., too short/long), or doesn't work when checked on the airline's official website.
• Nonexistent flight numbers. The flight number provided (e.g., "AA123") does not correspond to the specified route or date of travel.
• Incorrect airport codes. Using generic city codes (e.g., NYC) instead of specific IATA airport codes (JFK, LGA) or mismatched codes for the airline's hub.
• Fake hotel details. The hotel address is nonexistent, or the phone number is out of service or leads to a personal number.
• Traveler name mismatch. The name on the itinerary has misspellings or does not exactly match the name on the applicant's passport or ID.

3. Bad math and uncharacteristic figures

The financial details of a forged itinerary often don't add up correctly, as fraudsters may not understand complex fare calculations.

• Incorrect fare calculation. The sum of the base fare, taxes, and fees does not equal the listed total price.
• Unusual tax amounts. Taxes and fees are listed as round numbers (e.g., $50.00) instead of the specific, irregular amounts seen on real tickets, or they don’t match rates in the region of travel.
• Prices "too good to be true.” An international, multi-leg flight is listed at an impossibly low price for the season or booking class.
• Currency inconsistencies. The currency symbol changes throughout the document or is wrong for the point of sale.
• Missing fare basis code. When you click “View eTicket Receipt” or check your emailed itinerary, the fare-basis code will always appear there, a key element which is often missing on fakes.

4. Document inconsistencies

Differing information within the itinerary itself that a real booking system would not allow.

• Illogical routing. The airline listed does not operate the specified route (e.g., a ticket for Southwest Airlines flying from New York to London).
• Incorrect time zones. Departure and arrival times are listed without specifying the local time zones (e.g., "+1" for the next day), or the travel time calculated is impossible.
• Impossible timelines. The ticket issue date is after the date of travel.
• Conflicting information. The itinerary details conflict with other documents provided by the applicant, like a visa application form or a cover letter. Or, data within the document, such as stating two different dates for the same event within the itinerary.
• Vague "confirmed" status. The document says "Confirmed" but lacks an official ticket number, which is typically issued only after payment.

5. Metadata discrepancies

The digital fingerprint of a file can reveal more than its contents. Scammers often use common software, leaving a trail.

• Suspicious Author: The "Author" field in the document's metadata is a person's name instead of the travel company.
• Recent modification dates: The file has been modified very recently (unusual for trips that occurred in the past), suggesting last-minute edits rather than a system-generated, static document.
• File Size Anomalies: An unusually small file size may indicate a lack of embedded high-resolution logos and font data found in authentic documents.

Disclaimer: As fraud evolves from simple image editing to programmatic document generation, relying on manual fraud detection alone is no longer a viable defense. Scammers can now create itinerary forgeries that look perfect at scale, making it impossible to manually verify every data point without exposing your organization to risk.

How to verify a travel itinerary

Compliance officers, visa agents, or onboarding teams can verify travel itineraries through manual research and third-party validation. But not all verification methods are created equal. The alternative is to begin to verify your travel itineraries automatically. 

While manual verification methods are slow and prone to human error, automated document verification (especially when powered by AI) reduces evaluation time while decreasing false positives and successful fraud attempts. 

That being said, many fraud professionals are still relying on manual verification in 2025. If you’re one of those businesses, we highly recommend an upgrade. Still, here’s some tips to keep in mind for all you manual reviewers! 

Manual verification of a travel itinerary

Start by comparing your document against the red flags we mentioned above, then turn to these resources for help with verification: 

• Contact the issuer. Call the airline, hotel, or travel agency directly. Ask them to check the booking reference number, traveler's name, or any other relevant information.
• Online PNR check. Use the "Manage My Booking" feature on the airline's official website to try and pull up the reservation with the provided PNR and last name.
• IATA (International Air Transport Association) code database. The IATA website and lookup tools allow you to confirm the legitimacy of airline codes, airport codes, and ticket numbers to spot obvious mismatches or invented details.
• Flight Data Cross-Reference: Use a public flight tracker (like Google Flights or FlightAware) to confirm that the flight number listed actually operates on the specified route and date.

Keep in mind: These manual methods are extremely time-consuming and don't scale. Calling an airline for every travel insurance claim is operationally impossible. Institutions turn to other options, like sampling (using a smaller, representative data set to assess fraud at scale) or turning to other signals, however these also have limitations and can’t compete with the comprehensive benefits of AI detection. 

Using AI and machine learning to spot fake travel itineraries

Fraudsters use GenAI and advanced editing tools to generate convincing fakes at scale. Using AI to fight itinerary fraud is the only way to stay ahead. Solutions like ours at Resistant AI boost operational efficiency and are incredibly adaptable to your unique risk appetite. 

Benefits of AI in spotting travel itinerary scams include:

• Structural analysis over surface reading. Inspect the construction and layout of each itinerary, not just the words on the page, to catch even the most sophisticated forgeries.
• Document-agnostic protection. Whether it’s a PDF, screenshot, email confirmation, or booking portal export, our platform flags suspicious patterns regardless of template, airline, or language.
• Detects GenAI fakes. GenAI detector ensembles recognize synthetic textures and structure patterns from the latest generative models, preparing you for an onslaught of fakes from their 1 billion+ users.
• Adaptive risk controls. Configure your fraud detection workflow to match your organization’s risk appetite and business requirements.

Automation vs. AI

While automation and AI are often talked about in the same breath, they aren’t always the equal in the itinerary fraud detection space. Many businesses still rely on stale, inflexible, rules-based automations that only address part of the problem. 

Automation is a step, but it isn't the solution. An automated script could be programmed to check if the "PNR" field is filled, but it can't determine if the PNR is logically valid or if it matches the traveler's name. It can flag if a date is in the past but can’t tell you that the specified airline doesn't even own the type of plane required for that trans-oceanic route.

AI, however, can analyze millions of documents to understand context. It recognizes the distinct layout of a genuine American Airlines itinerary versus a fraudulent one. AI can cross-reference multiple data points simultaneously, flagging that while the PNR format is correct, it doesn't align with the flight number and travel date provided. It adapts as fraudsters create new forgery templates, providing a defense that evolves with the threat.

Conclusion

As travel itinerary fraud becomes more advanced, organizations can no longer afford the risk of manual-only reviews.

A single missed fake travel itinerary in a visa or claims process can lead to severe compliance penalties and financial losses. 

The only scalable and reliable path forward is leveraging artificial intelligence. Resistant AI can learn from your dataset, adapt to your most dangerous threats and internal risk appetites, working with any genuine travel documents from around the world. 

Secure your travel verifications from document fraud.

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Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Hungry for more fake travel itinerary content? Here are some of the most frequently asked fake travel itinerary questions from around the web.

Can a fake travel document be used for a visa?

While some applicants attempt to use a fake travel itinerary or ticket for a visa, it is considered fraud and is a common reason for visa denial. Consulates are increasingly using advanced tools and checks to verify the authenticity of submitted documents.

How do you prove onward travel without buying a ticket?

Some airlines and specialized travel services offer ticket rental services, where you can pay a small fee to hold a reservation for 24-48 hours. This generates a valid PNR and itinerary that can be used for visa or immigration purposes, and the booking is canceled automatically. This is a legitimate alternative to creating a fraudulent document.

How do you spot a fake travel itinerary with AI?

AI analyzes a fake travel itinerary on multiple levels. It uses computer vision to detect pixel inconsistencies and formatting errors, performs cross-field validation to check for logical contradictions (like invalid flight routes), and inspects file metadata for signs of digital tampering. It compares the document's layout against a massive library of authentic templates to spot deviations.

What’s the difference between a travel itinerary, an e-ticket, and a boarding pass?

These documents represent different stages of the travel process.

Travel Itinerary: Official document or summary that outlines a traveler’s planned trip detail

• Issued by: Travel Agency, Booking Website (e.g., Expedia), or Airline.
• Characteristics: 
  • A plan of reservations.
  • Shows confirmed bookings.
  • Not the actual travel document itself. 
  • It may not have a ticket number if it’s just a reservation hold.

E-Ticket (electronic ticket): Digital record issued by an airline or travel provider that confirms a passenger’s reservation and entitles them to travel on a specific flight or route.

• Issued by: Airline.
• Characteristics: 
  • Digital receipt and confirmation of payment. 
  • Contains a unique 13-digit ticket number.
  • Official proof that you have purchased a seat on the flight.

Boarding Pass: Grants a passenger permission to enter the secured area of an airport and board their assigned flight.

• Issued by: Airline (issued at check-in).
• Characteristics: 
  • Grants permission to board the aircraft. 
  • Issued only after check-in (online or at the airport). 
  • Includes the traveler's seat number, gate information, and a QR code/barcode for scanning.

Is there software to detect a fake travel itinerary?

Yes. Specialized document fraud detection software from vendors like Resistant AI is designed to automatically analyze and verify travel itineraries and other documents at scale, providing a real-time assessment of their authenticity.

Who needs to check for a fake travel itinerary?

Screening travel itineraries for authenticity is critical in several industries and roles where fraud or regulatory risk is high. Here are five key professionals who regularly need to verify travel itineraries:

• Insurance claims adjusters. They verify travel documentation when assessing trip cancellation or interruption claims to prevent payouts on fabricated journeys.
• Compliance officers. They ensure travel documents submitted for KYC (Know Your Customer) or AML (Anti-Money Laundering) purposes are genuine and meet regulatory requirements.
• Visa and immigration agents. They validate itineraries to confirm applicants’ travel intentions and prevent visa abuse or illegal entry.
• Corporate travel managers. They check employee-submitted itineraries to detect expense fraud or unauthorized business travel claims.
• Leasing and real estate agents. They may review travel documents as proof of relocation or residency for tenancy applications, especially in high-demand markets.

Is making a fake travel itinerary illegal?

Yes. Creating and knowingly using a fake travel itinerary to deceive an organization or government entity is illegal. Depending on the context, it can constitute visa fraud, wire fraud, or insurance fraud. In the United States, for example, visa fraud is a federal crime that can result in hefty fines, imprisonment, and a permanent ban on entering the country.