What Is Skyscanner?
Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Edinburgh, Skyscanner has grown into one of the world’s leading travel metasearch engines. Over 100 million people use it monthly to find flights, hotels, and rental cars.
The platform aggregates real-time pricing from airlines and travel agents, making it simple to compare options. You search once, and Skyscanner shows you prices from dozens of sources.
Their technology has won multiple awards for streamlining travel planning. But for affiliates, what matters most is their massive user base and high booking intent.
How the Skyscanner Affiliate Program Actually Works
Here’s where most guides get vague. Let me give you the specifics.
When someone clicks your affiliate link and books travel through one of Skyscanner’s partner companies, you earn a commission. But you’re not getting a cut of the flight price—you’re getting a percentage of what Skyscanner earns from their partners.
The math: Skyscanner charges partners a referral fee. You get up to 20% of that fee. In practice, this translates to €0.40 to €1.00 per completed booking.
Sound low? It is compared to direct product commissions. But here’s the pattern we see with successful Skyscanner affiliates: they focus on volume over margin. High-traffic travel sites that send thousands of searches can make this work. Lifestyle bloggers with modest traffic usually struggle.
The program offers a 30-day cookie window, meaning if someone clicks your link today and books within 30 days, you still get credited. Payment threshold is just £10, and they pay via PayPal or bank transfer.
What You’ll Actually Earn (Real Numbers)
Let’s be honest about both sides here.
The upside: That 20% commission rate sounds impressive on paper. You’ll also get access to banners, widgets, and destination guides to promote. Skyscanner handles all the tech, so you just focus on driving traffic.
The reality check: €0.40 to €1.00 per sale means you need serious volume to hit meaningful income. Want to make £1,000 per month? You’ll need roughly 1,000 to 2,500 bookings depending on your average commission.
From working with travel affiliates, here’s the pattern that emerges: sites with 50,000+ monthly visitors in travel niches can build this into a solid supplemental income stream. Sites with under 10,000 monthly visitors typically earn £50-200/month—not nothing, but not life-changing either.
The cookie duration helps. That 30-day window means you’re not penalized if someone needs time to decide.
Who Actually Succeeds With This Program?
Not everyone should join Skyscanner’s affiliate program. Pattern recognition here matters.
This works for:
- Travel deal sites that publish daily flight deals
- Destination-focused blogs with engaged, booking-ready audiences
- Social media accounts with 15K+ followers in travel niches
- Cashback and rewards sites where users expect aggregated deals
This struggles for:
- General lifestyle blogs where travel is occasional content
- New sites without established traffic (need volume for this model)
- Influencers without consistent engagement (followers ≠ bookers)
The difference? Intent and volume. You need both.
How to Join (5 Simple Steps)
The application process takes less than 10 minutes. Here’s exactly what to do:
Step 1: Visit Skyscanner’s affiliate program page at their site.
Step 2: Click through to create your free Impact account. Impact is the affiliate network Skyscanner uses to manage partners.
Step 3: Fill out the application with details about your website, traffic, and promotional methods. Be specific here—generic applications get rejected.
Step 4: Wait 1-2 business days for approval. Skyscanner reviews applications to ensure you meet their guidelines and won’t use spammy tactics.
Step 5: Once approved, grab your affiliate links, banners, and widgets from your Impact dashboard. Start promoting.
One critical rule: Don’t bid on Skyscanner’s trademarked terms in paid ads. That’s an instant ban. Check their terms for the full list of prohibited promotional methods.
Smart Promotion Strategies That Actually Work
Most affiliates waste time with generic “book your flights here” links. Here’s what actually drives conversions:
Track new route launches. When airlines add new routes—especially budget carriers entering competitive markets—jump on it fast. Tweet it, post it, email it. New routes = deal hunters = high booking intent.
Create comparison content. Don’t just link to Skyscanner. Show side-by-side comparisons for specific routes or dates. Update these weekly. Fresh, timely content ranks better and converts higher.
Use email strategically. If you have a travel newsletter, feature Skyscanner’s top deals with clear CTAs. Tease the best deals on your site to drive email signups.
Try retargeting. Set up simple retargeting ads through Facebook or Google. Target visitors who viewed your travel content but didn’t click through. Show them Skyscanner deals with urgency messaging.
My take: The affiliates making real money with Skyscanner treat it like a media business. They publish daily, they track trends, they optimize aggressively. Passive promotion doesn’t work here.
Better Alternatives Worth Considering
Let’s talk about whether Skyscanner is actually your best option. (Spoiler: sometimes it’s not.)
KAYAK pays 50% revenue share on clicks and bookings—significantly better than Skyscanner’s model. They also offer 30-day cookies and provide APIs plus customizable widgets. If you’re building a travel comparison site, KAYAK’s structure often makes more sense financially.
Booking.com offers 15-34% commission on actual booking values (not their cut). Cookie duration is 1 day for hotels but 1 month for other products. The commission-on-booking-value model can significantly outperform Skyscanner’s structure if you’re promoting hotels.
Expedia pushes commissions up to 50% and pays twice monthly. They provide dedicated account managers and real-time reporting. Their 7-day cookie window is shorter, but the commission structure often compensates.
Key insight: Don’t assume one program fits all content. Many successful travel affiliates run multiple programs simultaneously and A/B test which converts best for different audience segments.
The Real Question: Should You Join?
Here’s my honest assessment.
If you have a travel-focused site with meaningful traffic (20K+ monthly visitors) and can commit to publishing frequently, Skyscanner makes sense as part of a diversified affiliate strategy. The brand recognition and high booking intent help conversions.
But if you’re running a lifestyle blog where travel is occasional content, or you’re just starting out with minimal traffic, I’d skip it. The commission structure requires volume you likely don’t have yet.
Pattern we see repeatedly: New affiliates join Skyscanner first because of the brand name, then get discouraged by low earnings. Smart affiliates join Skyscanner after they’ve built traffic and proven they can drive bookings through other programs.
Start with higher-commission programs first. Build your traffic. Then add Skyscanner to diversify.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Skyscanner have an affiliate program?
Yes. They offer up to 20% commission on bookings made through their platform via their Impact-based affiliate network.
What is the highest paying travel affiliate program?
Expedia and KAYAK typically offer the highest percentages, with rates up to 50%. But “highest paying” depends on your traffic type—hotel-focused sites often earn more with Booking.com despite lower percentages because of the commission-on-booking-value structure.
Can You Make $1000 a Month as a Skyscanner Affiliate?
Yes, but you’ll need approximately 1,000-2,500 bookings monthly (depending on your €0.40-€1.00 average). That typically requires 30K-100K+ monthly visitors with high travel intent. Possible but not easy.
How Does the Skyscanner Affiliate Program Work?
You get a unique affiliate link through Impact. When someone clicks it and books travel within 30 days through Skyscanner’s partners, you earn a portion of Skyscanner’s referral fee—not the ticket price.
What is the best free traffic for affiliate marketing?
SEO-optimized blog content, Pinterest for visual niches, YouTube for destination guides, and engaged social media followings. All require consistent effort but no ad spend.
What are the best Skyscanner affiliate program alternatives?
KAYAK Affiliate Program: This program allows partners to earn commissions by offering a comprehensive meta-search for flights, hotels, and car rentals. Affiliates benefit from a revenue-share model on clicks and bookings, leveraging the KAYAK network’s popular travel brands like Cheapflights and Momondo for wide-ranging monetization potential.
Expedia Group Affiliate Program: As a massive online travel agency, the Expedia program offers access to a huge inventory of flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacation packages. Affiliates can earn a commission on various booking types, utilizing tools like the Creator Toolbox to generate links and widgets for a well-known, trusted brand.
Booking.com Partner Program: Primarily focused on accommodations, this global platform offers a tiered commission structure on hotel bookings, with rates increasing based on the volume of confirmed stays. Although mainly for hotels, its massive inventory and brand recognition provide affiliates with high conversion rates and dedicated tools.
Tripadvisor Affiliate Program: This unique program allows affiliates to earn a commission based on qualified clicks to Tripadvisor’s hotel partners, meaning a completed booking is not always necessary for a payout. It leverages the platform’s extensive reviews and travel planning content, offering a strong revenue share on hotel traffic.
Travelpayouts Partnership Platform: This is an affiliate network that aggregates over 100 travel brands, including flights, hotels, and car rentals, into one dashboard. It provides access to tools and programs from companies like Booking.com and Viator, allowing affiliates to diversify their income streams from a single platform.
