How to Use Skyscanner to Find Cheap Flights
As a travel blogger, I’m always looking for the best flight deals, and Skyscanner is a must-use tool for finding cheap flights and saving money on travel. Here’s how to use Skyscanner to save yourself a lot of money on airfare.
Your flight can take up a huge chunk of your travel budget. And there are so many factors that play into the price of a flight: when you travel, where you go, where you depart from, if there’s a layover. It can all be so overwhelming!
I’ve used a lot of different search engines for finding cheap flights, and Skyscanner is always my go-to. It has all the information laid out so nicely, it’s easy to use, and it helps me make sense of what’s usually the beginning of my vacation-planning journey. So I’ve put together this step-by-step guide to how to use Skyscanner so that you can master the art of finding the cheapest flights to anywhere!
What is Skyscanner?
Skyscanner is a search engine that scans a bunch of websites to find flight, hotel, and car rental offers worldwide.
Even though Skyscanner can also help you find cheap hotels and car rentals, I really want to focus on how they can help you find cheap flights because that’s really what they’re best at.
They find these flights through direct partnerships with online travel agencies and airlines. They also have their own technology that can reliably search the web to find the best travel deals.
Why Skyscanner is the Best for Finding Cheap Flights
You can search with flexible dates.
Skyscanner‘s “whole month” option allows you to search for the cheapest month to travel from your departure to your destination. When you go to put in your travel dates, instead of selecting a specific date, choose the “Whole month” tab and compare prices across an entire month.
You can keep your travel plans flexible, which is one of the best ways to save money on travel. I love this feature because it helps me plan out the cheapest time of year to travel.
Find the cheapest airport to fly into.
Sometimes smaller airports have cheaper flights. And with Skyscanner, you can search for flights to and from an entire country or city rather than a specific airport.
You can keep your options open and fly into a cheaper airport or even city and save a lot of money on your vacation.
You can search for the cheapest flights anywhere.
Don’t have a destination in mind and just want to go anywhere cheap? Just put in your destination as “Everywhere” and you can find the cheapest flights to anywhere in the world on your given dates!
The Skyscanner Everywhere search is a lot of fun to play around with. I’ve found a lot of fun travel deals and future vacations with this feature!
Set up price alerts.
You can set up price alerts for set dates and destinations so that you can receive email notifications if the flight prices fluctuate.
A price alert is how we found a great deal on our flight to London. If you have a dream trip, I highly recommend setting up a price alert for it!
Never miss a deal with Drops.
Drops is Skyscanner’s feature, available only in the app, that shows you which flights from your home airport have dropped in price by at least 20% compared to the last 7 days.
Since prices fluctuate all the time, you’ll want to go ahead and jump on this deal if that’s a destination you’ve been wanting to visit! There’s no guarantee how long the low price will be around for.
How to Use Skyscanner
Skyscanner‘s flight search system is really easy to use. Here are three great ways to search for cheap flights.
How to Search For a Flight with Skyscanner
1. Enter your departure location and your destination. Fill out the dates, cabin class and number of travelers, and select either Roundtrip, One way, or Multi-city flights. You can select optional boxes like Add nearby airports or Direct flights only. Then click Search.
2. Within seconds, Skyscanner will pull up the best, cheapest, and fastest flights. The search is sorted by Best initially, which are flights that offer the best combination of price and speed, as well as flights with the fewest number of stops and least hassle. You can switch the sorting to Cheapest first, Fastest first, Outbound: Departure time, or Return: Departure time depending on your needs.
3. Narrow down your search as needed with the filters on the left of the screen. You can filter by number of stops, departure times, trip duration, airlines, airports in the area, and flight emissions.
4. The search results page lists the airline, departure and arrival times, how many deals they’ve found for that flight, and the lowest price they’ve found.
5. Once you’ve decided on a flight, click Select. You’ll be taken to a page listing websites providing that flight, their prices, and additional fare details like if checked baggage is included. You can see ratings on these providers that show how others have found their experience booking with this provider.
6. Decide which price and which provider you want to book with and click Select. This will take you to that airline or travel agency’s website so you can book the flight.
How to Search for Flexible Dates on Skyscanner
1. To search for flexible dates on Skyscanner, click in the date field and select Whole month. If you know what month you want to travel, you can search by the full month. If you have no idea when you want to travel, take a look through them all to see when the cheapest time to fly is. When you’re ready, click Search.
2. This brings up a calendar view. The prices shown are per leg, not roundtrip. They’re also based on other users’ searches and the cheapest flights that came up in those searches. There may be some gaps because a user has not searched for those dates recently, so Skyscanner has no data for it.
3. Prices in green are the cheapest, while prices in black are either average or more expensive. Select a price you like for your departure, and the return trip prices will usually update. Your total trip price will also be shown below for both flights combined. You can select a date with no data; Skyscanner will just have to check the prices for that date. Once you’ve selected your departure date and your return date, click Find flights.
4. You’ll be taken to a search results page for those dates. Follow steps 2-6 above just as you would when regularly searching flights.
How to Find the Cheapest Flights to Anywhere on Skyscanner
1. In the destination field, search for Everywhere. Fill out the rest of your travel details as well and click Search.
2. The search results page shows a list of countries sorted by cheapest flights available to that country. You can also adjust the sorting to be by Direct flights, Suggested for you, and other interesting categories like Underrated destinations and more. Just like with the Whole month feature, some destinations may not have prices because a user has not searched for those dates recently, so Skyscanner has no data for it. You can select a date with no data; Skyscanner will just have to check the prices for that date. Click on a country to see the cities with the cheapest flights.
3. Find a city and a price that you like and click to see the available flights.
4. You’ll be taken to a search results page that you’re well familiar with now. Follow steps 2-6 above just as you would when regularly searching flights.
Skyscanner FAQ
How do I use Skyscanner?
Skyscanner is a simple flight search engine where you plug in your travel dates and destinations, and then you’ll be presented with the most affordable options. You’ll select your flight and then be redirected to an airline or travel agent website to book directly there.
Can you book directly with Skyscanner?
No, you do not book directly with Skyscanner. Once you’ve found a flight you like and you hit Select, you’ll be taken directly to the airline or travel agency’s website to book with them.
How to pay on Skyscanner?
You do not pay on Skyscanner. Instead, you are taken to the airline or travel agency’s direct site to book with them and pay there. Each site’s payment process is different.
Is there a fee for Skyscanner?
Skyscanner is completely free to use! It’s just a search engine, so there are no fees.
More Budget Travel Tips
Save big on your next vacation with these helpful budget travel tips.
- Tips for Finding Cheap Flights for Your Next Vacation
- How to Use WayAway to Find Cheap Flights
- How to Get a New Passport Photo Without Leaving Home
- Tips for Finding Cheap Accommodation For Your Next Vacation
- How to Use Hotels.com to Save Money on Your Trip [Promo Codes Inside]
- How to Use Tripadvisor to Find Cheap Hotel Stays
- How to Use VRBO to Save Money on Vacation Rentals
- How to Use Booking.com to Save Money on Hotels
- How to Save Money on Your Next Road Trip
- Why You Should Use Viator to Book Tours for Your Next Vacation
- How to Use GetYourGuide to Book Tours for Your Next Vacation
- How the Atlanta CityPASS Can Save You Lots of Money
Ready to take a vacation? Plan your trip with these tips.
- Find cheap accommodation: Use my tips for finding cheap accommodation for travel every time.
- Book your flight: Find the cheapest flights using Skyscanner, my favorite flight search engine.
- Pack for your vacation: Make sure you’ve packed everything you need by checking out my packing list resources.
Cheers!
Paige
Have you used Skyscanner to book cheap flights? Let me know in the comments!
Skyscanner looks very promising.ty
It’s my favorite flight searcher!
I used to use SkyScanner a lot when I lived in Europe from 2011 – 2015. I really loved the ability to use a wild card in the destination. Now, though, when I type in “Everywhere” for a destination (with a specific departure airport and travel dates), SkyScanner just shows me prices for only about 3 cities. Then it list a bunch of other destinations without a price, replaced by the words “Get prices.” Not useful. What’s up with that?
That typically happens when they don’t have enough search data to fill in prices – Skyscanner’s “Everywhere” search uses other people’s searches to show you an estimate, same for the calendar view. The more searches people do for a given route, the more accurate the data Skyscanner can show. If not a lot of people are searching for your dates, it won’t be able to show you prices. You can still click “Get Prices” to have Skyscanner run a search for that destination.