![Skyscanner's own brand lockup — the white sunrise mark and wordmark on Skyscanner blue — the travel search site whose published ranking rules this page reads]()
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📅 Update log:
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Skyscanner publishes a page explaining how it ranks what you see. Most people never read it. We did, on 4 November 2026 — the page is stamped "Last updated: January 2026" — and the single most useful thing in it is a sentence about money.
"Lowest Price results are always shown strictly by price, while Skyscanner's potential revenue may also influence the order of results shown under the other sorting options."
That is Skyscanner's own wording, about its accommodation product. The same idea appears in its car hire ranking. It does not appear in the flight ranking, and this page is careful to say so, because the difference is the practical takeaway.
Read this as a disclosure, not an accusation. Platforms that rank third-party offers are required under UK and EU transparency rules to publish their main ranking parameters, and this page is Skyscanner doing exactly that. Nothing here suggests Skyscanner hides anything or shows prices that are not real. The useful part is simply that most travellers have never read which sort option is purely price-ordered and which is not.
Where Skyscanner says its own revenue affects the order
The page sets out ranking factors product by product. We have put them side by side below, with Skyscanner's own phrasing, and marked whether a revenue term appears in the list it publishes for that product.
| Product and sort | Factors Skyscanner lists | Is Skyscanner's own revenue named? |
|---|
| Flights — default "best" | Price, speed, directness, airline, departure times, search criteria, the country you search from, and a diverse mix of carriers | No revenue term listed |
| Flights — providers for one itinerary | "We rank these providers in order of price, with the lowest price first" | No revenue term listed |
| Accommodation — default "recommended" | Price, star rating, popularity, number of reviews — and "our estimated potential revenue from each property" | Yes — named as a key factor |
| Accommodation — offers within one property | Popularity, number of partners, device, price relative to cheapest — and "the revenue potential for Skyscanner from each provider" | Yes |
| Car hire — default "Recommended" | Group, deal price, popularity, value for money, market, pickup location — and "the revenue potential for Skyscanner from each provider" | Yes |
| Car hire — offers for one car | "price, car popularity, and revenue potential for Skyscanner from each provider" | Yes |
| Package holidays — default "best" | Package price, hotel star rating, direct flights, board type | No revenue term listed |
| Any product — "Lowest Price" / "Cheapest" sort | "Lowest Price results are always shown strictly by price" | No — price only |
On accommodation, the revenue term is not buried — it is item (v) in the list of "several key factors that strongly influence the order of results", alongside price, star rating, popularity and review count. Skyscanner then explains why: the factors "balance the relevance of results for users and improving our revenue".
On flights, the eight factors listed for the default "best" sort contain no revenue term at all — they are price, journey speed, whether the flight is direct, the airline, departure times, your search criteria, the country you are searching from, and ensuring "a diverse mix of carriers and travel times". And once you pick an itinerary, the page is unambiguous: "We rank these providers in order of price, with the lowest price first."
So the honest summary is not "Skyscanner ranks by what it earns". It is narrower and more useful: on hotels and car hire its own revenue is a named input to the default sort, and on flights it is not.
The one-click fix, in Skyscanner's own words. If you want price order and nothing else on a hotel or car search, change the sort. "Lowest Price results are always shown strictly by price" for accommodation, and car hire can be reordered by "Cheapest". That single tap removes the revenue term from the ordering, according to the page itself.
Every default sort, and what you can change it to
| Product | What it is sorted by before you touch it | The alternatives Skyscanner lists |
|---|
| Flights | "best" | Cheapest first · Fastest first · Outbound departure time · Return departure time |
| Accommodation | "recommended" | Top reviews · Lowest Price · Most stars · Nearest first |
| Car hire | "Recommended" | Cheapest |
| Package holidays | "best" | Cheapest first |
| Hotel reviews | "Recommended" (recency, length, images) | Rating high to low · Rating low to high · Most recent |
Flights have one more wrinkle worth knowing: ties are broken at random. "In case of a tie in ranking between two or more different itineraries, we will randomly allocate the order of these itineraries." For providers quoting the same price on one itinerary, the tie-breaks run through itinerary type, provider type and Skyscanner's Quality Score — and if still tied, alphabetical order.
What Skyscanner says it is not
Two statements on the page matter more than any ranking detail, because they decide who you chase when something goes wrong.
"Skyscanner is not a travel agent and is not responsible for providing any of the travel options displayed on our website. When you click on a travel option, you will be redirected from our website and will then deal directly with the relevant travel provider." The page adds: "Please do check all the details with that provider before you make a booking."
"However, we do not compare all providers in the market, so our results are not exhaustive. The number of referenced sites or companies can vary depending on your search criteria." In plain terms: a Skyscanner search is a wide search, not a complete one, and how wide it is changes with what you type.
On how it is paid: "When you choose to book with a provider through our platform, that provider usually pays us a commission or referral fee. This commission structure allows us to offer our services to you for free and Skyscanner does not pass any of this cost on to you." It also earns from advertising on the site.
The "Recommended Provider" badge, and what it is not
If you have seen a badge beside an agent's name and wondered whether it was paid for, the page answers directly: "Recommended Provider Badges cannot be bought by our partners."
| What the badge rests on | Skyscanner's own description |
|---|
| Partner quality score | Post-redirect survey responses combined with feedback to Skyscanner's support team |
| Price accuracy | "we compare the price shown on an OTA's website once our users have redirected from Skyscanner, and measure how well they match" |
| Booking conversion | How many travellers actually book after being redirected to that provider |
| How they are weighted | "All of these factors are weighted evenly. This means that none are more important than another." |
| How a partner loses it | A threshold is set on all three; falling below on any one removes the badge |
| How often it is refreshed | Monthly |
| Who can receive it | Online travel agents only — "Airlines don't come in the scope of this" |
| Can it be paid for? | No — "Recommended Provider Badges cannot be bought by our partners" |
The price-accuracy factor is the interesting one for travellers, because it is Skyscanner measuring the exact thing that annoys people most — a fare that changes between the results page and the agent's site. The page describes comparing "the price shown on an OTA's website once our users have redirected" and measuring "how well they match". Note that the badge is never shown next to airlines, so its absence on an airline result means nothing at all.
Reviews, ratings and the AI answers
Skyscanner does not write or moderate the hotel reviews you read on it. "These reviews come from our trusted third-party partners, Trip.com, Hotels.com, Tripadvisor and Expedia and we do not control the content of consumer reviews. We do not moderate consumer reviews published on Skyscanner; they are managed and edited only by our partners."
The single star score is a blend, and it is deliberately pulled toward the mean for thinly-reviewed hotels: "Sources with more reviews and a consistent track record count more", and "For hotels with very few reviews, we gently nudge the score toward the overall average so that a single extreme review doesn't give the wrong impression." If Tripadvisor is the only source, Skyscanner shows that score directly.
On its AI features, Skyscanner disclaims reliance in its own words: "AI content is for guidance only. It may sometimes be incomplete, inaccurate, or out of date. Please check important details directly with airlines, hotels, or car hire providers." And: "Skyscanner isn't responsible for problems that arise if you rely only on AI content without confirming with the travel provider." Its Savvy Search feature is described as returning generative-AI answers.
Does Skyscanner favour its own group companies?
The page addresses this directly under a heading called Self-Preferencing, and the answer it gives is no:
"Other group companies of Skyscanner, such as our parent company Trip.com and our sister company Travix appear as suppliers on Skyscanner. Neither are subject to preferential ranking on our products, and in all cases, they are subject to the same criteria and policies as any third-party supplier."
Separately, where Skyscanner surfaces rail options it states these "will be provided by our partner, Trip.com, which is a Skyscanner group company" — so on trains the supplier relationship is disclosed on the page rather than being a ranking question. We have not tested any of this; it is reported here as Skyscanner's own published statement.
Why the price can move between the search and the booking
The page sets expectations on freshness rather than promising a locked price: "Our systems connect directly with providers and use automated processes to refresh data frequently throughout the day. However, prices and availability can change rapidly, so there may be instances where offers have changed between your search and booking."
That is the reason the price-accuracy measure exists in the badge criteria, and the reason the page tells you twice to confirm details with the provider you are redirected to. A metasearch result is a signpost, not a reservation.
What to actually do with this
On flights, the default sort is not revenue-weighted on Skyscanner's own account, and providers for your chosen itinerary are ordered cheapest first. You can largely trust what you are looking at to be price-led.
On hotels and car hire, switch the sort. Skyscanner states that its potential revenue may influence the default order and that "Lowest Price" is strictly price-ordered. That is a one-tap change.
Then check the price on the provider's own site before paying, because Skyscanner is not the seller, does not compare every provider, and says prices can move between search and booking. The Recommended Provider badge is a genuine signal on agents — it cannot be bought — but it is never shown on airlines.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Skyscanner rank results by how much money it makes?
On hotels and car hire it names its own revenue as a ranking factor. On flights it does not. Skyscanner's own "How Skyscanner works" page lists the accommodation default sort's key factors as price, star rating, popularity, number of reviews and "our estimated potential revenue from each property". Car hire's default includes "the revenue potential for Skyscanner from each provider". The flight default "best" sort lists eight factors and none of them is revenue, and for a chosen itinerary the page says providers are ranked "in order of price, with the lowest price first". The page also states that "Lowest Price results are always shown strictly by price", so switching the sort removes the revenue term. This is a disclosure Skyscanner publishes itself, as platform transparency rules require; nothing here alleges wrongdoing.
Does Skyscanner show every airline and travel agent?
No, and it says so plainly: "we do not compare all providers in the market, so our results are not exhaustive. The number of referenced sites or companies can vary depending on your search criteria." That is Skyscanner's own wording on its ranking disclosure page, read 4 November 2026. Practically, it means a Skyscanner search is a wide sweep rather than a complete one, and how wide it is can change depending on the route and dates you enter. It is worth checking an airline's own site directly for routes you fly often.
Is Skyscanner the company I book with?
No. "Skyscanner is not a travel agent and is not responsible for providing any of the travel options displayed on our website. When you click on a travel option, you will be redirected from our website and will then deal directly with the relevant travel provider." That matters when something goes wrong: cancellations, refunds, schedule changes and baggage disputes are between you and whoever actually sold you the ticket. The page advises checking all details with that provider before booking. Skyscanner is paid a commission or referral fee by providers when you book, and states it "does not pass any of this cost on to you".
Can travel agents pay Skyscanner for the Recommended Provider badge?
No. "Recommended Provider Badges cannot be bought by our partners", according to Skyscanner's own page. The badge rests on three equally weighted factors: a partner quality score from post-booking surveys and support feedback; price accuracy, measured by comparing the price on the agent's site after redirection with what Skyscanner showed; and booking conversion. A threshold is set on all three, and falling below on any one of them removes the badge. Skyscanner says it refreshes this monthly. One important limit: the badge is only ever shown next to online travel agents, never airlines, so its absence on an airline result tells you nothing.
Why did the price change after I clicked through from Skyscanner?
Skyscanner's own page anticipates this: "prices and availability can change rapidly, so there may be instances where offers have changed between your search and booking." It describes connecting directly to providers and refreshing data "frequently throughout the day", but makes no promise that a displayed price is held. This is also why price accuracy is one of the three badge criteria — Skyscanner measures how well agents' own sites match what it displayed. The practical step is to confirm the final total, including baggage and fees, on the provider's own checkout before paying.
Prices & codes last verified: November 4, 2026
Every rule, factor and sentence described, paraphrased or quoted on this page was read from Skyscanner's own "How Skyscanner works" page at skyscanner.co.in/media/how-skyscanner-works on 4 November 2026, logged out, from India, with nothing booked. The page itself is stamped "Last updated: January 2026" and may have changed since. This page is a plain-English reading of a published disclosure document. It is not travel advice, it is not a complete account of Skyscanner's terms, and it must not be relied on in place of the live page. Nothing here alleges wrongdoing by Skyscanner — platforms that rank third-party offers are required under UK and EU transparency rules to publish their main ranking parameters, and disclosing that estimated revenue is one input is Skyscanner complying with that obligation rather than concealing anything. Nothing here asserts that Skyscanner displays inaccurate prices, hides cheaper options, or gives preferential ranking to its group companies — on that last point the page states the opposite and we quote it directly. The distinction between the flight ranking, where no revenue term is listed, and the accommodation and car hire rankings, where one is, is central and is stated throughout. We have not tested, measured or audited any ranking output; everything here is what Skyscanner publishes about itself. Prices, availability and ranking rules change without notice.
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