Skyscanner cookie policy

What are cookies and similar technologies?

A cookie is a small text file which is placed on your device (e.g. computer or smartphone), via your web browser, at the request of the websites you visit or applications you use and which stores information on your device for a limited period of time. Cookies allow Skyscanner to recognise you and your device each time you visit Skyscanner.

Some of the cookies we use are removed as soon as you leave our Website or App, because we do not need to store this information between visits. By contrast, 'persistent' cookies enable our services or tags to recognise you when you make return visits to us, and automatically expire when they reach a specified expiry date unless you delete them earlier. Persistent cookies placed on your device by Skyscanner will never be stored for longer than 2 years from the date of your last visit. There are tools available to check the expiry date on cookies, and this functionality may be provided by your browser.

We may also use similar technologies referred to as 'tags', 'tracking pixels', 'code snippets', 'tracking URLs', 'local storage', 'session storage', 'IndexedDB' and 'scripts' as well as 'software development kits' ('SDKs') and 'device identifiers' in our apps. These technologies are implemented on our services and may be used together with text cookies to enable information to be stored on, or transmitted to and from, the device you use to access Skyscanner.

In this policy we collectively refer to all of these app and web technologies as 'cookies and similar technologies'.

We may from time to time add, remove or update the cookies and web technologies we use across our services.

You can view the main cookies and similar technologies we use at the date of this Policy in the What cookies and similar technologies do we use and how can you opt out of them? section of this Policy.

Purpose of essential cookies or similar technologies

These cookies and similar technologies collect essential data in order to ensure that the Website and App function properly. You cannot opt out of these Cookies, because without them Skyscanner would not work. Skyscanner uses these for the following purposes:

• to recognise whether you are a first-time visitor or a return visitor to our Website and to tailor the presentation of our services, such as by recalling your language and currency preferences or your most recent searches;
• to record whether or not you complete a booking with a Travel Provider that you have been redirected to via our Platforms, and to identify, investigate and rectify problems or errors in those journeys;
• to provide functionality such as trip planning based on bookings on Skyscanner and our Travel Providers' sites;
• to remember information that is essential to determining how your search results are displayed, such as your language and currency preferences, your recent search criteria, and the product features we make available to you based on factors such as the device you are using or your city or country level geographic location;
• to remember your search criteria such as routes, dates and the number of travellers as you move between pages, to pass this information to the travel suppliers that you redirect to from Skyscanner, and to support redirects and bookings working properly;
• to support infrastructure functions such as request routing, rate limiting and maintaining service reliability;
• to ensure our services are secure from automated agents, bots, scraping, fraudulent activity, abuse and misuse; and
• to provide login functionality, account functionality and customer support services.

Some of these essential cookies and similar technologies will be provided by a third party. For more information on these essential technologies maintained by Skyscanner and third parties please see the 'Skyscanner Essential Cookies and Similar Technologies' and 'Third-Party Essential Cookies and Similar Technologies' sections of this Policy.

Purpose of improved experience (analytics) cookies or similar technologies

Skyscanner uses analytics cookies and similar technologies to collect information about how individuals engage with our Platforms. This information is used for reporting to assist us in improving the Skyscanner service, to analyse and measure product and feature performance, to understand how travellers use search and redirect journeys, to run and evaluate experiments, and to guide our product development teams based on your activities.

Your data is stored or accessed via cookies and similar technologies that are used to optimise your experience of our Platforms. Without them, our Platforms would feel a lot less easy to use and you would not benefit from the best experience.

These cookies and similar technologies help improve your experience by allowing us to:

• recognise you when you access our Platforms from different devices, to provide you with a better experience; and
• monitor, test and understand more about how our services are discovered, used and accessed, how features and journeys are performing, and whether product changes and experiments are working as intended.

These Cookies help us to make decisions about how best to develop or deliver our product to meet your needs. You can opt out of the use of these Cookies on your device by following the instructions in the How can I withdraw my consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies? section of this Policy.

Purpose of personalised adverts (including third party ad solutions) cookies or similar technologies

When you are opted-in to ads or offers personalisation we may also use information we collect via cookies and similar technologies to show you personalised ads, marketing, offers and promotions on Skyscanner, or to send you electronic direct marketing communications where you have opted in to receive these. For example, where you book a hotel using our Website or App or redirect from our Website or App to make a booking with a Travel Provider, we may use the information we collect via cookies and similar technologies to personalise the ads we show you or to send you personalised marketing communications relevant to your booking based on information like your destination, the time you are travelling, the services you've selected or which travel supplier you are travelling with. We may also use this information to provide you with relevant information about the destination you are travelling to such as destination information, up-to-date weather information or to request reviews and recommendations about the places you have visited.

These cookies and similar technologies help Skyscanner and our marketing service providers to improve and measure the success of some advertising campaigns to ensure that you are only shown ads which are relevant to you and to avoid showing you ads you have already seen.

You can opt-out of your information being used by Skyscanner for ads and offers personalisation by following the steps set out in the How can I withdraw my consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies? section of this Policy below.

When you opt out, we'll stop using these cookies to learn more about you, so you won't see as personalised ads, offers or marketing while you are on the Website or the App when you opt out. However, you'll continue to see advertising or offers when you're on the Website or the App based on contextual information on the page or screen you are viewing. For example, if you have searched for a flight to London then you may be shown an advert relating to a hotel in London within that webpage.

You can find out more about the advertising on Skyscanner in the How is your information used for advertising? section of the Policy.

We use technologies to personalise ads in certain platforms. When you are opted-in to ads personalisation on these platforms, we transfer information such as the travel you have searched for or purchased using Skyscanner, the dates you want to travel and the features you have interacted with to providers such as Facebook, Google and TikTok (“Third Party Ad Solutions”) for the purpose of customising, optimising and improving the relevance of the advertisements you see across the web via the Third Party Ad Solution's advertising network.

When we transfer information to Third Party Ad Solution providers like Facebook, Google and TikTok we do so using the tools they provide. They may in addition use that information to personalise features and content (including advertisements and recommendations) you see on their networks, to optimise delivery of advertisements and for research and development purposes in accordance with their policies (see for example the Facebook Privacy Policy, and TikTok Privacy Policy).

The majority of these adverts will be personalised to make them relevant to you and will fall into two different categories. Firstly, adverts that are personalised for you based on information collected by us or by Third Party Ad Solutions whilst you use our services, such as your general location (by city or country) and your Skyscanner searches or booking history (“Skyscanner-related Information”). So, for example, if you've booked a flight to Rome, you'll see adverts about hotels in Rome, rather than hotels in Paris (Paris is lovely, but this could be a bit annoying!). Skyscanner-related Information will never include your name, contact details or other information that would enable you to be identified in the offline world. Secondly, adverts that are personalised for you based on information that we have no visibility or control over, and which is instead collected from you by non-Skyscanner Platforms when you have been using other non-Skyscanner websites or platforms. (“non-Skyscanner Platforms”). Collectively, we refer to these as “interest-based” advertisements.

The information required to deliver these interest-based advertisements will be stored by non-Skyscanner Platforms alongside your IP address and/or a cookie ID, so that you can be served the adverts without the non-Skyscanner Platforms needing to store any information that would enable you to be identified in the offline world, like your name or address.

When you are opted-in to ads personalisation we may also use information we collect via cookies and similar technologies to show you personalised ads, marketing and promotions on Skyscanner, or to send you communications where you have opted in to receive these. For example, where you book a flight using Skyscanner or redirect from Skyscanner to make a booking on one of our partner sites, we may use the information we collect via cookies and similar technologies to personalise the ads we show you or to send you personalised marketing communications relevant to your booking based on information like your destination, the time you are travelling, the services you've selected or which travel supplier you are travelling with.

You can opt-out of your information being used for ads personalisation by non-Skyscanner Platforms by following the steps set out in the How can I withdraw my consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies? section of this Policy below.

When you opt out of ads personalisation, this will stop your information being used for advertising purposes by any of the Third Party Ad Solutions we use. You will not receive personalised advertisements from those non-Skyscanner Platforms on the Skyscanner Website or App, or elsewhere as you move around the web. You will still receive advertisements, which will not be customised to your interests. Please note that any such opt-out of interest-based adverts will take some time to reflect within your browsing sessions, as Skyscanner will need to facilitate such a request.

Who controls these cookies and similar technologies?

The cookies and similar technologies on our services are controlled either by us directly or by third parties acting on our behalf. There are also some cookies and similar technologies which we've implemented for advertising purposes that are controlled by independent third parties. You can find out more about these third parties and how to opt-out of their cookies in the What Cookies and similar technologies do we use and how can you opt out of them? section of this Policy.

Adverts you might see while using non-Skyscanner Platforms

You might see personalised adverts for Skyscanner or selected Skyscanner partners once you've left the Skyscanner Website or App and are using non-Skyscanner platforms. These adverts may be personalised and served to you based on the information Skyscanner and non-Skyscanner Platforms have collected about you. For example, if you have searched for a flight from Edinburgh to London on Skyscanner or another non-Skyscanner Platform, and we have asked non-Skyscanner Platforms to show our advert to individuals that have expressed an interest in travelling to London, the non-Skyscanner Platforms may categorise you within that group and serve you our advert. Sometimes personal data like your email address or phone number is shared with non-Skyscanner Platforms to enable your data to be linked with other information they collect, to create custom audiences or deliver targeted ads.

You can opt-out of your information being used for ads personalisation on non-Skyscanner Platforms by following the steps set out in the How can I withdraw my consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies? section of this Policy below.

Essential cookies and similar technologies

The following tables set out the Skyscanner and third-party essential cookies in use at the date of this Policy. The cookies in use will vary depending on the device and services you are using.

Third party essential cookies and similar technologies

Improved experience (analytics) cookies and similar technologies

The following table sets out the cookies used at the date of this Policy to improve your experience, including cookies used to support experimentation and related reporting on Website and App usage. The cookies used will vary depending on the device and/or service you are using. Where available, we have included a link to opt out of the use of third-party cookies and similar technologies on an individual level. You can do that by visiting the link in the table on each device you use to access Skyscanner.

Personalised Advertising cookies and similar technologies

The following table sets out the cookies and similar technologies used at the date of this Policy to personalise your ads. Where available, we have also included a link to opt out of the use of third-party cookies and similar technologies on an individual level. You can do that by visiting the link in the table on each device you use to access Skyscanner.

Skyscanner may also collaborate with other selected brands to understand more about our travellers' interests, for example, by identifying which Skyscanner travellers engage with particular third-party brands.

Opt-out via Skyscanner privacy setting in app or on web

The most effective way to manage Cookies and similar technologies on Skyscanner is to use the privacy controls we provide in our product.

You can control the non-essential Cookies and similar technologies that are used on your device by visiting https://www.skyscanner.net/privacy-settings on web or via the Privacy Settings menu in the Skyscanner App. These settings enable you to opt-out or opt-in to our use of the non-essential Cookies and similar technologies we use to improve your experience or to those that we use to personalise the offers or the advertisements you see.

Browser or device settings

Another way to opt out of Cookies and similar technologies is via the settings of the browser or device you are using to access our services. Internet browsers such as Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera and Edge have settings that allow you to control the way your information is collected and shared. Typically, these browsers allow you to view all the Cookies they are storing on your device, delete your cache of cookies, and adjust your preferences for future collection. Guides on how to access and use such functionality are available at https://www.aboutcookies.org.

The downside of using browser or device settings to withdraw your consent is that it will have the effect of disabling many of the Cookies and similar technologies that are essential to enabling our services to function – the impact of this is that some or all of the features and functionality we offer may stop working. Because of this, we would recommend taking a more targeted approach to withdrawing your consent. For example, if you wanted stop Cookies and similar technologies being used for the purposes of serving you interest-based advertisements, then instead of blocking all Cookies, you could instead opt-out of these via the Privacy Settings in Skyscanner referred to above.

Many browsers and other third parties provide specialised ad-blocking software, 'extensions' or tools that enable you to block the use of all cookies for advertising purposes. If you access our services from an iOS or Android device, you can also control how your information is used for certain purposes such as tracking and advertising via your device settings.

You can also find helpful information about how to manage and limit your exposure to online interest-based advertising more generally across the web at http://optout.aboutads.info, http://optout.networkadvertising.org and http://youronlinechoices.eu. You can use these services to opt-out of the majority of interest-based advertising used by us as well as other websites.