Case study · Interline & metasearch
Island routes. Connected journeys.
Growing a low-cost carrier’s virtual interline business from a low base, by making connecting itineraries visible and bookable in Google Flights.
Contract · DohopLow-cost airline distributionAsia-Pacific
The challenge
Strong leisure routes.
Few onward connections.
A low-cost carrier based in Thailand had a strong domestic and regional network, but its interline business was starting from a low base. Many of its routes served leisure islands, while other flights served secondary cities. A traveller who wanted to go from one to the other usually had to piece the journey together alone.
Virtual interlining changes that. A technology partner combines flights into a single connecting itinerary and sells it as one journey. Ross worked on this on contract to Dohop, a European virtual interlining company.
The opportunity was clear. Connect islands such as Phuket and Samui, and Phu Quoc in Vietnam, through Bangkok to northern Thailand and other ASEAN markets. Then make those journeys visible where travellers actually search.
The approach
Find the journeys.
Make them bookable.
Virtual interlining only creates value when travellers can find the connection, trust it and book it in the channel they already use.
Map the connecting demand.
Identify which leisure airports and secondary cities could be joined through the airline’s main hub, and where travellers were already searching for those journeys.
Build the itineraries.
Work with the airline and the virtual interlining platform to make self-connecting and protected connections available as single bookable itineraries, with sensible minimum connection times.
Put them where travellers search.
Distribute the connecting itineraries through Google Flights so that a search between two places with no direct flight returned a credible option on the airline.
Measure and refine.
Track which city pairs converted, adjust the offer and widen the network to further regional markets as results came in.
What changed
More of the network, sold as journeys.
The airline’s existing flights became the building blocks for connecting trips it had not been selling before.
Connections from the islands
Phuket, Samui and Phu Quoc linked through Bangkok to northern Thailand and onward regional markets.
Visible in Google Flights
Connecting itineraries surfaced in the metasearch channel where travellers compare options.
A repeatable model
The same approach could be extended to further ASEAN markets as demand was proven.
Figures describe the interline programme during Ross’s contract. Results belonged to the airline and its technology partner; this page describes Ross’s contribution.
Ross’s role
Contract · Dohop
On contract to Dohop, a virtual interlining technology company, Ross worked on the commercial side of the airline partnership: identifying connecting markets, working with the airline and distribution partners, and tracking how itineraries performed in metasearch.
Published October 2026 · By Ross Brannigan
A potential collaboration
Sell your network as journeys.
For airlines with strong point-to-point routes and untapped connecting demand, and for distribution partners working with them.
- A connecting-market analysis of your route network.
- A metasearch and interline distribution plan.
- Measurement for connecting bookings by city pair.
Related case studies
More from the work.
- Fewer failed payments. More completed journeys.Improving how interline bookings were paid for across a low-cost airline group’s partner network, so more connecting journeys reached a confirmed ticket.Read the case study
- New partners. New connecting markets.Growing a European travel technology company’s interline business with two large Asian low-cost carriers, from onboarding to connecting sales across markets.Read the case study
- More partners. More bookings.Growing an airline’s sales through metasearch partners such as Kayak, by improving fare feeds, landing pages and how partner traffic was measured.Read the case study