Cheapflights

Cheapflights is one of the best-known flight meta-search brands, helping travelers compare fares across airlines and online travel agencies to find the lowest prices on flights, hotels and car rentals. For affiliates, the important thing to understand is that Cheapflights is part of the KAYAK family of brands, and its affiliate opportunity is delivered through the KAYAK Affiliate Network — a meta-search affiliate network built specifically for travel content publishers.

About Cheapflights

Cheapflights operates as a travel search engine: rather than selling tickets directly, it aggregates deals from airlines and travel agencies and sends users out to book on partner sites. The brand runs regional sites such as Cheapflights.com and Cheapflights.co.uk, and its marketing emphasizes helping travelers "save and get the most out of your next escape" by searching the cheapest flights to airports worldwide. Because it is a meta-search product, monetization is driven by click-outs (a user clicking "view deal" to visit a partner) rather than by completed bookings on Cheapflights itself.

Note that there are unrelated third-party sites with similar names — for example, Cheapflightsfares.com, a separate online travel agency that runs its own per-passenger affiliate program on Commission Junction and Rakuten. That is a different company and should not be confused with the Cheapflights brand covered here, which sits under the KAYAK Affiliate Network.

How the Cheapflights affiliate program works

The Cheapflights affiliate program is a meta-search, cost-per-click-out model. According to the Webgains listing for the Cheapflights UK programme, affiliates are paid when a user clicks out on a search result (the "view deal" action) for flights, with a commission reported at approximately £0.25 per qualifying click-out. This is a one-time payment per click event rather than a recurring commission or a percentage of a booking.

Today, the primary route to work with the brand is the KAYAK Affiliate Network. The process there is application-based:

• Apply to join at affiliates.kayak.com, describing your business and how you plan to use KAYAK.
• Get approved and access the Affiliate Portal for account management, integrations and reporting.
• Choose products such as Deeplinks, search boxes, whitelabel solutions, or the KAYAK API.
• Integrate KAYAK-powered search into your website, content, apps and campaigns.
• Earn through clicks, bookings and ad revenue for flights, hotels, cars and packages.

The network states earnings come "through clicks, bookings and ad revenue," but the public pages do not publish a specific universal payout rate, cookie window, payout schedule or minimum threshold — those terms are confirmed after approval. The Cheapflights.co.uk program was also historically available through FlexOffers, whose listing describes a session-based cookie duration and, in that specific listing, a payout described as "80% of sales when a visitor clicks out to a partner site" distributed in USD. Because these figures vary by network and region, affiliates should verify exact terms during the application process.

Who should promote Cheapflights

This program suits travel-focused publishers who can drive high-intent flight search traffic. Good fits include:

• Travel blogs, deal sites and destination guides with readers actively planning trips.
• Comparison and "cheap flights" content sites that can embed search boxes or deeplinks.
• Developers who want to build travel experiences using the KAYAK API or whitelabel tools.
• Apps and newsletters where a search widget or deeplink converts on click-outs.

Because the model rewards click-outs, publishers with large volumes of engaged search traffic tend to benefit most — a single click-out payout is small, so scale matters.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Backed by KAYAK, a major meta-search operator with 6B+ annual travel searches and a dedicated affiliate network.
• Multiple integration options: Deeplinks, search boxes, whitelabel and API.
• Payment on click-out rather than on completed booking can convert more easily for high-traffic sites.
• Covers flights, hotels, cars and packages, giving flexibility across travel content.

Cons

• Per-click-out payouts are low (around £0.25 in the historical Webgains program), so meaningful income requires significant volume.
• Public pages don't disclose a standard commission rate, cookie duration, payout schedule or minimum — terms are only confirmed after approval.
• Application and approval are required; it is not an instant-join program.
• Terms differ across networks (Webgains, FlexOffers, KAYAK), which can be confusing.
• One-time, non-recurring earnings with no subscription-style residual income.

Overall, Cheapflights via the KAYAK Affiliate Network is a solid option for established travel publishers who can send volume, provided you go in understanding it's a click-out model with modest per-action payouts and terms confirmed at approval. If you want firm numbers before committing, submit an application at affiliates.kayak.com or contact the team directly.