Skyscanner Affiliate Program (2024)
Skyscanner is a well-known brand in the travel industry. It offers an extensive search engine for flights, hotels, and also cars.
You can become a Skyscanner affiliate and earn commission promoting Skyscanner offers.Â
In this review, you will learn everything about the Skyscanner affiliate program.
Travel affiliate programs for big brands are very popular and attract many affiliates. It’s not any different with Skyscanner.
Nevertheless, not all travel affiliate programs are as good as, for example, the Booking.com affiliate program.
Read more to discover if the Skyscanner affiliate program is worth your time.Â
Skyscanner Affiliate Program Overview
Commission: 20%
Cookie Duration: 30 days
Where to Join: Impact
Payment Options: PayPal, Electronic Funds Transfer
Skyscanner Affiliate Program
The Skyscanner affiliate program can be joined through the Impact Radius affiliate network.
The program also used to be hosted on CJ Affiliates, but currently, it is only on Impact.
Skyscanner affiliates get a 30-days cookie duration.Â
Since the program is hosted on Impact, you can easily create deep links to any offers.
Skyscanner started as a flight fare aggregator website for just European flights, but that’s no longer true. Now people can buy tickets to destinations all over the world.
Moreover, Skyscanner is no longer just a flight fare aggregator. People can also book hotels or cars, and you can earn a commission on all these bookings.
Nevertheless, I recommend always checking the program’s terms on Impact, as they can change. I saw in the past on Impact that Skyscanner was paying a commission just for flight bookings.Â
What are the requirements to join the Skyscanner affiliate program?
You cannot find the requirements on Impact, but they are inside a FAQ section on the Skyscanner affiliate landing page.Â
I will copy the requirements below:
- A website that is complete and with links that are working
- The website has HTTPS Status
- The website has up to date travel content
- The website had a good user experience
- The website does not book tickets on behalf of their customers
- Influencer criteria - has more than 1000 followers and up to date content related to travel
- Blogs should have updated content related to travelÂ
- Affiliates are not Coupon/ Discount/ Network/ Sub-network/ Marketing Performance agencies and Technology partners
As you can see, the program is open not just to website owners but also to influencers with social media accounts.Â
Nevertheless, I highly recommend having a website.Â
Once you join the program, you can access banners of various sizes and can use travel search widgets.
Skyscanner also allows connecting to their flights API. You could integrate their flight search technology into your website / mobile application using their API.Â
However, you must apply for access.
You will be denied unless you are an established business with a large audience.Â
Skyscanner Affiliate Program Commission
The Skyscanner affiliate program commission is 20%.
However, it is important to note that this is not a percentage of the sale.Â
If your referral buys a ticket worth $1.000, you will not receive $200.Â
That would be sweet, but you only receive 20% from the Skyscanner cut.Â
It is unknown how much exactly advertisers pay Skyscanner, but it is a small amount, as Skyscanner affiliates earn only around $0.40 to $1.00 per sale.
So the affiliate commission is low and nothing to be excited about.Â
Don't join the Skyscanner affiliate program if you plan to promote hotel bookings or car rentals.Â
You will get better commission and earn more with other travel affiliate programs.Â
For example, if you promote hotel booking through Booking.com or Expedia, you will earn a lot more.Â
However, if you plan to promote flight tickets, you will not find a significantly higher commission with other affiliate programs.Â
Commissions for flight tickets are, in general, very low.Â
Can You Make $1.000 a Month as a Skyscanner Affiliate?
The Skyscanner affiliate commission is extremely low, so to earn a decent affiliate income with their program, you would need to generate a larger number of sales.Â
Even if we were optimistic and assumed that you would be earning $1 from each sale, you would need to generate 1.000 sales to earn $1.000.
That’s a lot of sales.
If your content had a 1% conversion rate, your website would need 100.000 monthly traffic to generate $1.000 monthly.
If you had a travel website with 100k traffic, you would earn more even with display ads.Â
How to Promote Skyscanner
Promoting flight tickets is not an easy task.
Most people who are ready to purchase a ticket go directly to Skyscanner or another flight fare aggregator. Some people buy their tickets directly from official airline websites.Â
But who buys flight tickets from travel blogs or travel websites?Â
The approach to promoting flight tickets is similar to promoting accommodation or car rentals.Â
Most travel bloggers write about their trips and mention where they stayed, where they rented their car, and where they found the best flight ticket deals.Â
Your recommendation for hotel bookings will have higher click-through rates than for flights.Â
Everyone knows they can book accommodation on Booking.com, but people are curious about the specific recommendation. They want to be accommodated in the same hotel with a fantastic beach view and delicious breakfast.Â
With flight tickets, it is different. It is all about price.Â
You could only stimulate interest by mentioning lower prices, but prices for flight tickets constantly change based on demand and season. People are aware of that.
However, for example, you could point out price differences between seasons and link to a page with already pre-applied time filters for the specific destination.Â
You don’t have to link to a Skyscanner homepage but can create a deep link for specific flights on specific dates.Â
This can ignite curiosity to click on your links and compare the pricing.Â
You can’t expect many people to read your travel itinerary, click on your Skyscanner affiliate link and immediately buy the ticket. That’s very unlikely.Â
When you promote flight tickets through travel articles, the main goal is for your readers to at least click on your links.Â
Skyscanner has a 30-day cookie duration which is not that long, but it is not too short either.Â
I don’t recommend building your Skyscanner affiliate campaign around the Skyscanner travel widget.
Many starting affiliates are very excited about the possibility of having their own search widget on their website. Even though it might look cool, trust me, it will not generate many sales.Â
If people wanted to search for flights, they would visit Skyscanner, not your website.Â
Summary: Pros & Cons
Here is a brief overview of the main advantages and disadvantages of the Skyscanner affiliate program.
Pros
- The joining requirements are not strictÂ
- 30 days cookie duration
- Trusted brand with lots of monthly buyers
Cons
- Extremely low affiliate commission
- High competition. The travel niche is very saturatedÂ
Should You Become a Skyscanner Affiliate?
The Skyscanner affiliate program does not have a high earning potential.
Earning less than a dollar per sale is not much. You would need a travel website with a lot of traffic to earn any bigger amounts.
If you really want to promote flight tickets, then you can give the Skyscanner affiliate program a try. Affiliate commission is always low for flight tickets. For example, with the Expedia affiliate program, you can earn up to $2 per sale. It is more than Skyscanner, but still not much.Â
If you want to promote hotel bookings or car rentals, try a different affiliate program, as many have much higher commissions.Â
Completely agree with this, the earnings are very low. But it makes sense considering Skyscanner is a third party booking website. I got really excited when i say the 20% and then not so much when i started seeing the earnings haha!
Indeed. Earnings are very low. You would need to have a website with a lot of traffic to make any decent affiliate income.