As full time travelers, we’re always searching for tools that help us save money. So you should know the day we found Skyscanner was absolutely life changing! The Skyscanner app has helped us save cash and time on airline tickets on countless occasions over the years. Let us show you how using the Skyscanner platform to book cheap flights and routes can make your life easier, too!
What Exactly is Skyscanner?
Skyscanner is the ultimate web searching tool to find affordable flights around the world. Once you know where you’d like to go, it filters through every available airline to that specific destination.
This flight search engine can be a way to get the best deals, or even discover new destinations you might not have even thought of.
Before diving in you’ll want to know exactly how book flights with Skyscanner to obtain the best search results. In this article, we’ll show you all our tips and tricks we’ve learned as avid Skyscanner app users to get great deals and save money.
→ Try Your First Flight Search on Skyscanner Now!
11 Tips to Book Flights With Skyscanner
1. Search By Everywhere
The first thing to know about Skyscanner is you don’t always have to know where you’re going. So often, we’ll be looking months ahead and trying to figure out where to go next. This is where you can use the “Search Everywhere” feature for Skyscanner airline tickets.
For example, say you’re searching from the famous city of Athens Greece on March 5th. Skyscanner flights will show you everywhere you can fly to in the world on that date! The drop-down menu will list the flights from the cheapest option to the most expensive.
This has helped us to not only find new and exotic destinations, but also shows the connecting flights to where we actually need to go. You won’t believe the deals you’ll find when using Skyscanner for flights!
For example, one time we were traveling from Bergen Norway and trying to get to Germany to visit family. We used the “everywhere” feature with our specific dates set and it showed a ridiculously inexpensive flight to Gdansk Poland.
We decided to change our plans because of the flight and spent two days exploring a new city before taking a bus to our final destination. Obviously, it worked out well because we had flexible travel dates.
2. Change to Entire Month View
One of the best ways to book flights with Skyscanner is by using in the whole month view feature. Instead of just searching for one specific day, it allows you to see the all travel dates over the month at once. You can even look around to find the cheapest month if you have no idea when you’re planning to leave.
This is one of the many reasons it helps to be flexible when you book flights with Skyscanner. If you have the ability to choose, the calendar view will show you the exact departure city and date that is the cheapest.
This is especially helpful as flight prices can be half the cost if you just wait a day or two to fly out. Also, it’s good to search all nearby airports when looking for Skyscanner airline tickets.
For instance, instead of putting London Gatwick to search, just try London. You might find a better price flying into one of the other airports in the capital of England.
3. Be Flexible to Find Flights with Skyscanner
This brings us to our next point! Having flexibility with your dates is the #1 tip to book flights with Skyscanner. The many features we discuss in this article will allow you to get the cheapest prices over different dates.
Even if you do have a specific time range to travel, you may find a better option one or two days later. By moving your travel plans around, you can jump on a flight on the most inexpensive day and save money! This definitely comes in handy when searching for the lowest ticket prices on expensive long haul routes.
Let’s say you’ve always dreamed about visiting the white sandy beaches of Thailand on holiday. The first step in the planning process should be to search for Skyscanner airline tickets.
If the time you can get off of work isn’t set to a certain date, then you’ll be able to plan your vacation around the cheapest dates for flights. You can then use the different options to compare flights throughout a three month period and find an amazing deal.
4. Round Trip Skyscanner Flights
When searching for round-trip flights you’ll notice there can be a price difference that pops up on the monthly screen. This is due to the fact that some airlines offer discounts for booking round-trip fares.
This isn’t necessarily always the case. However, it’s always worth taking a look into on Skyscanner by adding a return flight to your search!
For example, when we were searching Skyscanner for flights from Barcelona to Boston, the price was around $400 USD one way. Yet, when viewing round-trip tickets the cost significantly decreased to $575. If we booked two one-way tickets it would have been close to $800!
So why don’t we always book round-trip tickets? Well, it’s not guaranteed to always have better deals or flight options. Comparing the one way flight cost vs the round trip ticket price is as simple as doing a quick search for Skyscanner airline tickets.
It’s something that most people don’t think to do or forget. They just assume they are going on a week long holiday and need a round-trip flight. Always check if there is a separate price using two different airlines, or if the one-way flights have better times.
5. Search Skyscanner Flights Backwards For Your Route
Do you know where you’re going, but not sure how to get there? If you search on Skyscanner and there doesn’t seem to be flights that work, try going backwards!
How to do this is by taking your final destination and search everywhere. It will give you an idea of where that departure airport has direct flights to with the cost.
This is especially great when you’re comfortable having a layover or spending an extra few days in your transfer city. The technique has saved us hundreds of dollars, sometimes on just one single route.
When we were looking to book flights with Skyscanner from New York City to Athens we couldn’t find any within our budget. Nevertheless, by searching backwards (Athens to Everywhere) we found that there were cheap direct flights from Athens to Milan.
Flying to Milan first allowed us to spend a few days in a new place AND saved us money in the process. It may sound a little confusing, but it works!
This can be a great option if you have a flexible departure date. It’s also a fun way to explore a new city that you might have not thought about visiting.
6. Set a Price Alert with Skyscanner Flights
Not ready to commit to your Skyscanner airline tickets yet? Then sure to utilize their price alerts! Much like Google flights, you’re able to set an alert for a route you’re interested in. This means they’ll send you an email or message when the cost drops to your liking.
This is one of the best ways to put the trip of a lifetime on the back-burner until later. The prices of flights fluctuate so much that they can change on the daily.
Now this could obviously backfire, so tread lightly. You don’t want to miss your flights with Skyscanner and have the cost jump up. We also wouldn’t book hotels, activities, and tours unless you already have a flight set.
Still, it can be beneficial to set a price alert if you have a specific flight route in mind. This is especially smart for a future trip that you haven’t yet spent any money on yet.
7. Search Skyscanner Airline Tickets by Country
Another great tip for using Skyscanner for flights is to search by country. So often, we find ourselves looking for the cheapest flights into the major cities. However, this is where another Skyscanner tip will help you out.
If you’re not tied down to a particular city you can search by the entire country instead. This will work best in the smaller European nations with cities not so far from each other.
It may be cheaper to fly into Athens International Airport then to take a direct flight to Santorini. So much so, that you could get a cheap hopper flight from Athens to Santorini afterward and still pay a lower price!
This is exactly what we did on our last visit to Greece. Flights from New York to Santorini were showing as $850 USD one way. However, when we searched for flights to Athens, we found that the cost was only $300 with a quick layover in Munich.
From Athens to Santorini, we then booked a new 45 minute jumper flight for $60. That’s a savings of almost $400 per person for just 2 more hours of travel time!
→ How to Get From Athens to Santorini: 6 Helpful Tips
8. Rental Cars & Hotels with Skyscanner
After you’ve booked your flight with Skyscanner, know that you can also look into car hires and hotel options. Having this available within the same website is incredible. Here’s some more info below to help you after you get your Skyscanner airline tickets.
Hotels: On the hotel’s page you can put the date you are interested in traveling as well as the destination. Skyscanner Hotels is a booking site that compares different companies like Agoda, Hotels.com, Booking.com, and Expedia. and even booking directly to tell you what the best price is!
Car Rentals: Rental cars work the same way as flights and hotels on the Skyscanner app to find the cheapest fares. Personally for car hire, we use Discover Cars to sort through the different rental companies. We’ve gotten really amazing deals over the years so it’s naturally become our go-to.
9. Help! The Price Jumped Up
By now you can tell we love Skyscanner, but you should know that nothing is perfect. One thing to look out for is that the flights you are seeing are not only real, but the correct price.
This is only something we come across every once in and while. When you see a flight that feels too good to be true make sure to click through and verify.
Searching for flights with Skyscanner is great but they can change at a moments notice. This ranges from quick price increases to being completely sold out!
So before you tell everyone about an astonishing flight deal to Hawaii, click through to the airline page and make sure it’s real. We usually book directly on the airlines website and not with any third party websites to avoid any issues.
Sometimes the price might change slightly when you do this, or maybe there are no longer any seats available. Nevertheless, at least you’ll know exactly what you’re booking if you follow these simple steps.
10. Best, Cheapest & Fastest Flights with Skyscanner
When using Skyscanner for flights you’ll notice there are three different ways to filter your search. The good news is that automatically it will go to best one! This is always where you should start to book flights with Skyscanner.
After scanning the different options, click the “cheapest” tab. This tool will literally show you all the ways you can get somewhere even if it’s a wild route. You’ll want to be more than cautious when you book flights with Skyscanner that are on several different airlines with multiple layovers.
If you are considering booking with different airlines you most likely won’t have connection protection. This means if your first flight is delayed (and you miss your second) then you’re out of luck! You’ll then have to pay for a new flight out of pocket.
Sometimes we find the perfect flight, but it then says we have to change airports. This is something we try to avoid at all costs. In certain places it can take an hour or more to switch airports. Typically, when you factor in the cost of buses, taxis, etc… it isn’t worth the hassle.
You can also filter by the fastest route which will show you the most direct way possible to your destination. More often than not, the direct flights are also the most expensive. Really, it just depends on your personal budget and travel itinerary.
11. Book Your Ticket Directly With the Airline
Once you’ve found the right dates, departure times, and your destination airport, it’s time to book flights with Skyscanner! As we mentioned, we always go directly to the airliens website after completing our search.
It may be slightly cheaper to go through third-party sites. However, this is a good way to get screwed around and ruin your travel days.
Unfortunately, one of the first times we booked with Skyscanner this happened to us. We had found a good deal on a budget site we’d never heard of, but it turned out it was too good to be true.
When we arrived at the airport in Bangkok the ticket counter didn’t even have our seats! While we were able to get a refund, this caused us to have to book a completely new flight at the airport.
If we had gone directly through the airlines website we could’ve avoided this issue entirely. You’d think a situation like this would cause us to never use the Skyscanner for flights again. Yet, this was over six years ago now and they seem to do better job these days at filtering out scammy companies.
Booking directly with the airline has cut out so many headaches for us over the years. From rebooking cancelled flights to changing our itineraries, and much more. Just think about it! You have a way better chance at solving your problems with the actual airline than random budget website.
Should You Book Flights With Skyscanner?
Yes! Even if you’re not ready in the moment to plan your next trip, Skyscanner is a great tool to get an idea of the lowest prices. We honestly take a look at it every week or so just to see the cheapest deals available.
Over the years, we have picked up small tips to get the best flights with Skyscanner. Hopefully, you can use these to your advantage going forward, too! Make Skyscanner your first step on your search for plane tickets around the world.
→ Search For Your Next Fight on Skyscanner Here
Have any questions about this article or want to share your own tips for booking flights with Skyscanner? Leave us a comment below.
Safe Travels,
Brigitte & Jake
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Our first foray into Skyscanner was last year….on our first family trip to Greece, in fact! Turkish Airlines flight (via Istanbul) from California to ATH (on Biz) was the cheapest, however TK website was quoting something MUCH more than 3rd party, so we bit the bullet and went with a somewhat well-known 3rd party (trip.com) which turned out to be just fine, thankfully, despite my paranoia (as I’ve always always booked direct with airlines).
Every 3rd party and/or ticket consolidators (who do business with Skyscanner) have their quirks however. With trip.com, we were not able to change even my contact info (I had mistakenly typed in the wrong email address), but the company itself is solid (based in Singapore). With our upcoming trip back to Greece (see what you guys did to us?? LOL) we’re going with a Biz ticket consolidator (also thru Skyscanner) that charges $10 to pick a seat (a small price to pay so that the whole family can sit close together), as booking direct from the airline was a lot more cost-prohibitive.
I also try to check out each company (just Google them!) to make sure they’re legit. If you look at review sites like Trustpilot, most of these will have 1-2 stars, and you might find TripAdvisor pages where *almost* everyone complains – and at that point you’ll have to either go with the company that people complain the least, OR read those posts with a grain of salt. Yes, buying from 3rd party can be riskier; pray your flights do not get cancelled outright (see paragraph below), NO CHANGING DATES/FLIGHTS (make up your darn mind and get those travel dates set in stone with your job, kids school, etc) and do allow ample time for connection (3-4 hrs in busy hubs), as ANY snafu on your flight, you are on your own and the airline may not be able to help with rebooking, etc (yes, even if you buy Biz tickets). Many of the complainants simply were not clear on this concept, expecting red-carpet mom&pop travel agent treatment. (Yes, back in the olden days, travel agents DO give you white glove service).
I do check the airline website religiously for our bookings – all reservations through Skyscanner produce a PNR (Passenger Name Record) aka Reservation/Booking number, usually a 6 or 7-alphanumeric. You can then go to the airline website (or mobile app), immediately type them in, to check that: a) your flights exist, b) your reservation is NOT bogus, c) it is confirmed, with real e-ticket numbers, and d) if you’ve paid extra to pick seats, they are indicated correctly. Add your own frequent flyer numbers, passport info, etc to complete your booking (as far as the airline’s concerned). I plan to watch these like a hawk until travel day – as with Turkish last year, we did get moved around but was luckily able to get our old seats back. Maybe a quirk with 3rd parties, I dunno. And with this new consolidator (as it’s our first time using them), I will be even more vigilant and checking at least every couple of weeks to make sure flights schedule have not changed (or worst, cancelled without notice), and our seats intact.
To me that’s probably a small price to pay for getting something for less. Please tell me if I’m crazy (or just plain paranoid here :))
One word of advice about the Skyscanner email alert, while I find them helpful, I did make a mistake last year of setting price alerts for flights from Point A to Point B, instead of the EXACT flight(s) I want. If you’re super flexible, it’s OK doing Point A to Point B price alert, however you will get a somewhat ambiguous email daily saying your price is $xyz, but because you cannot set a filter/criteria (such as I don’t want to have 3-layovers to get there!), the (low) price alert you get will most likely require you to stop 2-3 times (instead of 1, which is what most people can tolerate). So you’ll get excited daily clicking on the email only to be disappointed that it will take you 37 hours to get to Greece. So these days, I pick out 3-4 specific flight options, set alert on each of them – so my price alert email would be more meaningful and not a whole lot of false alarm.
Author
All great points! Thanks for the detailed comment about your experiences. Appreciate the tips (-:
Thank you for the detailed report on how to use SkyScanner! I’d been told a few times I should be using the site but I was kind of lost and not using it properly. Great tips – and I booked my first flight and saved more than I thought I would! I’m hooked!
Author
You’re so welcome! Skyscanner is the best 🙌