How does Skyscanner determine the "best" itinerary order?

For a simple one-way search, our partners can provide hundreds of options. The result can be a very large list of itineraries for a given search which can be daunting for our travellers!

Skyscanner uses an AI-powered ranking model to present travellers with a ranked set of itineraries, with the "Best" itineraries at the top of the page:

The "Best" sorting order is the default display to our users when they first perform a search. The AI system leverages Skyscanner vast search and itinerary data to compare and learn the best trade-off between price and convenience for each flight search. This system compares thousands of itineraries for each search to surface the most relevant results higher up in the search results.

To understand the relevance of an itinerary Skyscanner factors in a comprehensive set of itinerary and search parameters. These include:

• Price: Price competitiveness is important to travellers.
• Duration: Travellers prefer shorter journeys to longer ones.
• Departure day, week and time: Travellers prefer to travel at the most convenient times
• Carriers: Travellers may have a preference for a specific carrier or number of carriers in the itinerary
• Origin & Destination Airport + City: Travellers may have a preference for different airports.
• Number of passengers (incl. children): may influence traveller preferences.

​⁠Partners' results that have a favourable balance between price and convenience factors such as outbound time, and duration for the traveller will be ranked higher as "Best".

It is worth noting that these parameters are of the itinerary itself and the specific search the traveller is making. Because of the complexity of the factors and the changing nature of flight searches, even similar searches can provide slightly different rankings. This is true for every search/partner/market. We would not be able to influence it for a specific partner, route, or market.