AI Flight Search: Google Flights vs Kayak vs Skyscanner

Here's the uncomfortable truth about flight search: no single site has the cheapest fare. Metasearch engines like Kayak miss airlines that refuse syndication. Airline sites hide the comparison. Skyscanner might win on Tuesday and lose on Thursday. To actually find the lowest price you'd need to search Google Flights, Kayak, Skyscanner, Southwest, United and American simultaneously — which no human does, which is precisely why most travellers overpay.

Seven AI flight-search skills on aiskill.market fix this by driving each engine for you. The most installed, the Google Flights Cheapest-Itinerary Search, has been added 306 times. They split into two camps — metasearch engines that scan many airlines at once, and airline-direct skills that pull fares the aggregators can't see — plus one live-tracking skill for the day you actually fly. This guide explains when to reach for each.

Key Takeaways

• Metasearch is your starting point: Google Flights (306 installs), Kayak (152) and Skyscanner (59) scan dozens of airlines in one query.
• Airline-direct skills catch what metasearch misses — Southwest refuses to syndicate fares to any OTA, so southwest.com is the only place to find them.
• Skyscanner returns a 7-day price strip, letting you shift your travel day by a date or two to unlock a materially cheaper fare.
• Kayak adds a CO2 emissions badge and Best score, so you optimise for more than price alone.
• FlightAware tracking (67 installs) closes the loop on flight day with live status, estimated times, aircraft and a live-map link.

Metasearch vs Airline-Direct

Before the skills, understand the two models. Metasearch engines (Google Flights, Kayak, Skyscanner) crawl hundreds of airlines and online travel agencies, then show you the cheapest aggregated result with a deep-link to book. They are unbeatable for breadth — one query, the whole market. Their weakness is the airlines that opt out of syndication, most famously Southwest.

Airline-direct skills (Southwest, United, American) query a single carrier's own site. You lose breadth but gain the fares, fare brands, loyalty pricing and seat inventory that the carrier withholds from third parties. For travellers tied to a specific airline programme, or hunting fares that simply aren't on Kayak, these are essential.

The Seven Flight Skills Compared

The Metasearch Skills in Detail

Google Flights — the default first query

The Google Flights Cheapest-Itinerary Search is the most-installed travel skill on the marketplace for good reason: it's the fastest path to a credible cheapest fare. It constructs a Google Flights tfs deep-link from your two airports and dates, runs the search read-only, and returns the cheapest one-way or round-trip options with airline, total duration, number of stops, departure and arrival times, and a direct booking link. It's the skill to run first on almost any route.

Kayak — when you need to filter hard

The Kayak Flight Comparison skill exposes the entire Kayak left-rail: stops, airlines, alliance, time windows, duration caps, layover limits, booking sites, cabin amenities, bag allowances and sort order. It returns each itinerary with per-leg detail, Kayak's own Best score (which balances price against duration and convenience) and a CO2 emissions badge. Reach for it when "cheapest" isn't your only constraint — when you need a morning departure, no red-eyes, or the lowest-carbon option.

Skyscanner — built for flexible travellers

The Skyscanner Cheapest Flight Search finds the lowest one-way fare between two cities on a given date, but its standout feature is the 7-day nearby-date price strip. If you can move your departure by a day or two, Skyscanner shows you exactly how much that flexibility saves. It also flags self-transfer itineraries (where you re-check bags between unconnected flights) and returns a canonical config-URL deep-link that surfaces the underlying OTA and airline booking options.

The Airline-Direct Skills

Southwest — the fares nobody else has

Southwest is the textbook case for airline-direct search. The carrier refuses to syndicate its fares to any online travel agency, so they never appear on Google Flights, Kayak or Skyscanner. The Southwest Airlines Flight Search skill is the only automated way to see them. It returns Southwest's distinctive four-bucket fare structure — Wanna Get Away, Plus, Anytime, Business Select — in either dollars or Rapid Rewards points. If your route touches a Southwest hub, skipping this skill means flying blind to a whole airline.

United and American — loyalty and fare-brand depth

The United Airlines Flight Search and American Airlines Flight Search skills pull richer fare-brand and cabin detail than metasearch typically surfaces. United returns times, duration, stops, flight numbers, cabin and fare brand with exact pricing; American returns flight numbers, times, duration, stop count, the operating carrier (important when a regional partner flies the segment) and fare-class prices. For travellers earning status or burning miles, going direct is the only way to see the loyalty-priced inventory.

Tracking Your Flight on the Day

Once you've booked, the search skills go quiet — but the FlightAware Live Flight Tracking skill takes over. Feed it an airline plus flight number (or a tail number) and an optional date, and it returns live status: flight state, origin and destination, scheduled, estimated and actual times, aircraft type, route, en-route position, delay, and a link to the live map on FlightAware. It's the difference between guessing whether to leave for the airport and knowing.

A Practical Flight-Search Workflow

The smart play is to run them in sequence. Start with Google Flights for a fast baseline price. Run Skyscanner to see whether shifting your dates beats it. If your route involves Southwest, run the Southwest skill — it may undercut everything. Use Kayak when you need to filter on time or carbon. Because every skill is read-only and returns structured JSON, an agent can run all of them from one prompt and hand you a ranked shortlist.

Flight is only the first leg of a trip. Once you've locked dates, see AI Hotel Booking Skills: Booking.com and Airbnb Search for the stay, and Compare Travel Deals with AI: Expedia and Priceline when you'd rather bundle flight and hotel together. For the full lineup of every travel skill, start with 26 AI Travel Skills to Book Flights, Hotels & Trains.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between metasearch and airline-direct flight skills?

Metasearch skills (Google Flights, Kayak, Skyscanner) scan many airlines and travel agencies at once for the broadest price comparison. Airline-direct skills (Southwest, United, American) query a single carrier's own site to surface fares, fare brands and loyalty pricing that the airline withholds from third parties. Use metasearch first, then go direct for airlines like Southwest that don't syndicate.

Why do I need a separate skill for Southwest Airlines?

Southwest does not share its fares with any online travel agency, so they never show up on Google Flights, Kayak or Skyscanner. The Southwest Airlines Flight Search skill drives southwest.com directly, making it the only automated way to compare Wanna Get Away, Plus, Anytime and Business Select fares.

Can AI flight skills find cheaper fares by changing my travel dates?

Yes. The Skyscanner Cheapest Flight Search skill returns a 7-day nearby-date price strip, showing how the fare changes if you depart a day or two earlier or later — often the single biggest lever for cutting the price.

Do these flight-search skills book the ticket for me?

No. All seven are read-only — they search and return the cheapest options with a deep-link, then stop. You complete the booking yourself on the airline or agency site, which keeps you in control of payment and seat selection.

How do I track a flight after booking?

Use the FlightAware Live Flight Tracking skill. Give it the airline and flight number and it returns live status, scheduled versus estimated and actual times, aircraft, route, any delay, and a live-map link — ideal for deciding when to leave for the airport or whether to meet someone on arrival.

Explore production-ready AI skills at aiskill.market/browse or submit your own skill to the marketplace.