How to use Skyscanner for complex trips without giving up your loyalty rewards

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I'm loyal to several airlines, alliances and loyalty programs when I book flights — and for good reason. It's how I earn the points and miles that can pay for my next trip and help me reach elite status to enjoy perks like complimentary checked baggage, priority boarding and even the occasional upgrade.

The problem is that no single airline, or even airline alliance, flies to every destination I want to reach. That used to leave me with a frustrating and confusing process of piecing together a trip myself across a string of airline websites and browser tabs, cross-referencing layover times and baggage policies before calculating the total costs.

These days, I start with Skyscanner, which pulls together results from more than 1,000 travel providers in a single search. From figuring out where to go in the first place to tracking prices to booking accommodations, cars and flights, it's the closest thing I've found to a tool that actually covers the full journey while keeping my loyalty benefits intact.

Here's how I use it.

Related: Save with 1 search: How Skyscanner simplifies trip planning

How Skyscanner works across your whole trip

ANGUS MORDANT/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES When you don't know where you want to go: Explore Everywhere

Sometimes I know I want to travel, but I haven't landed on a destination. That used to mean an hour of Googling flight prices to a dozen cities before I'd find something that made sense for my budget and schedule.

Skyscanner's Explore Everywhere feature significantly cuts that process. Search from your home airport without a destination, and it maps out options with prices across the calendar, letting you find where your budget takes you rather than forcing you to pick first and price-check second.

Flights, accommodations and cars all in one place

Once I know where I'm going, I want to see the real cost of the trip, not just the flight. Skyscanner lets you search accommodations and car rentals alongside flights, which sounds simple but changes how you plan. You're not piecing together numbers from three different platforms; you're comparing the full trip picture before you commit to any of it.

For loyalty travelers, using Skyscanner to find flights works the same as booking directly: since Skyscanner searches traditional revenue tickets from more than 1,000 travel providers and sends you to book with the supplier, you'll still earn miles and keep your status perks.

Price Alerts: stop refreshing, start booking

One habit I've mostly broken: compulsively rechecking flight prices after I find a route I like. Skyscanner's Price Alerts let you set a watch on a specific route and get notified when prices move, which means you can step away from the search and trust that you'll know when it's time to book. For trips I'm planning weeks or months out, this has saved me a lot of wasted refresh cycles.

Beyond the booking: planning tools that actually help

JAROMIR/GETTY IMAGES Skyscanner's utility doesn't stop at search. Flexible Date Search is helpful when your dates are flexible, and you want to find the cheapest travel window. Flight Tracker is useful closer to departure, where you can track your flight to stay on top of delays, departure and arrival gates, check-in desks and even which belt your checked baggage will be delivered to.

There's also a data side worth knowing about. Skyscanner publishes travel insights, including its Smarter Summer Report and ongoing Travel Trends, which track where people are going, when prices tend to shift, and where value is emerging. For anyone who likes to plan with a little more information than gut instinct, it's a useful resource.

Multicity and self-transfer fares: what they are and why your loyalty is safe

Not everyone's travel is a simple round-trip with one airline. My travels have taken me across the globe from Finland to Fiji, and I'm often searching for complex itineraries that one airline, alliance or partnership might not be able to offer. Skyscanner has come to the rescue many times with neat multicity search results (on specific dates, or flexible ones), allowing me to fly into one city on one airline and out of another city on a different airline.

If you're planning a trip to Europe, it can be a huge time-saver not to have to backtrack to the city you flew in on just to fly back home.

Not everyone knows this, but Skyscanner also displays self-transfer fares right alongside regular results. These itineraries stitch together two or more flights, usually combining airlines that don't sell tickets together or aren't even partners — and because no single airline site will show you a route that relies on a carrier outside its network, Skyscanner is often the only place they appear. It clearly labels these fares and tells you in advance whether you'll need to switch airports, which is handy in cities like London, New York or Tokyo.

The loyalty question also comes up a lot, and the answer is better than most people expect. Unlike booking a flight directly through a third-party travel platform , Skyscanner helps you find the flight where you can still book directly with the airline, so you'll receive all perks and mileage earning as usual.

Bottom line

The best travel planning tool reduces chaos throughout the process, and Skyscanner does just that with destination discovery, flight and hotel and car comparison, price tracking and broader planning tools all in one place.

Plus, the destinations that don't show up on a single airline's website are often exactly the ones that Skyscanner's clever self-transfer fares can unlock.

By finding and combining flights from airlines that don't normally sell tickets together into one booking, I can reach places a single carrier can't get me to, keep my loyalty on the legs where it makes sense and earn points and miles on both flights when both are full-service airlines.

Whether you're a points maximizer or a flexible traveler chasing value, Skyscanner's worth making it your first stop.

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.