What This App Actually Does
Skyscanner is a travel search aggregator that compares flights, hotels, and rental cars across airlines and booking sites like Expedia, Kiwi.com, booking.com, and the airlines themselves. It’s built for anyone who wants to price-compare before booking rather than commit to a single airline’s site. With well over a hundred million installs, it’s clearly become a default first stop for a huge number of travelers, and the core pitch of no booking fees still holds appeal for budget-conscious flyers.
Where It Genuinely Shines
When it works, users describe it as one of the best travel apps out there. One reviewer who used it across trips to Greece, Georgia, Florida, and California called it ‘the best app I’ve ever used,’ pointing specifically to the ability to see all flight combinations within a time range and filter results effectively. The ‘Everywhere’ search for inspiration and the calendar view for spotting cheap travel dates are genuinely useful features when they’re functioning as intended, and the Price Alert tool for tracking fare changes is a nice touch for travelers who aren’t ready to book yet.
The Login and Verification Headache
A recurring and clearly frustrating problem is the login flow. One user, despite giving 4 stars overall, described getting stuck in an ‘infinite verification loop’ after switching phones, with the app timing out while waiting for an email verification code. This isn’t a one-off complaint pattern — it’s the kind of friction that undermines trust right at the moment someone is trying to book a trip.
Pricing Accuracy and the Redesign Backlash
The more serious complaints center on price reliability and a disliked redesign. Multiple reviewers say the app now surfaces cheap fares from obscure, poorly-reviewed booking agencies rather than the recognizable providers it once favored. Others report the classic bait-and-switch feeling: a fare shown at one price doubles or triples once you click through to book. One reviewer specifically called out a London-to-Corfu fare advertised at 55 pounds that changed once the round-trip search actually ran. On top of that, a chunk of long-time users are unhappy with a recent redesign, saying date-range search, one-way filtering, and clear pricing on the month view have all gotten worse or disappeared, replaced by unexplained colored dots.
Missing Search Flexibility
Beyond pricing gripes, there are functional gaps. One user pointed out that the ‘search anytime’ feature has no way to search specifically for one-day trips, and asked for the ability to exclude certain countries from destination searches — a small but telling sign that the flexible, power-user search filters some longtime fans loved have been scaled back or never quite finished.
Who Should Actually Download This
Skyscanner is still worth having on your phone for casual price-comparison and destination inspiration, especially if you’re flexible on dates and want a quick sense of what’s cheap right now. But go in knowing the displayed price is a starting point, not a guarantee, and be prepared for occasional login friction. If you’ve relied on it for years and loved the old filtering-heavy interface, the recent changes may frustrate you enough to look elsewhere or double-check fares directly with the airline before paying.
