Best Airline Affiliate Programs
If you’re in the travel niche, you’ve probably had a little trouble monetizing your site or blog over the past one to two years. But things are looking up and people are now beginning to travel more, so in today’s article, we are tackling some of the best airline affiliate programs out there.
Depending on the one you pick, becoming an airline affiliate can be easier or more difficult, but we’ll include all the important information for each of these programs, such as the cookie duration and the commission percentage you can expect.
Best airline ticket affiliate programs
Etihad Airways
This program can be joined through Commission Junction, a network where you can visualize all of your statistics. Although Etihad Airways might be less known compared to other airline companies, they do have more than 40,000 routes currently available, so your readers can easily choose the best flight they need.
The commission is a fixed 2% for all reservations and the cookie lasts for a whole month, which isn’t too bad.
Qatar Airways
This is a pretty great airline affiliate program that you can promote, and while the commission rate isn’t necessarily something worth writing home about (2.8%), the cookie does last for 30 days, so at least there’s that.
But the most important detail that we’d like to note here is that since Qatar flights are more on the luxury side of things, the average order value is approximately $1,000.
Another reason to consider this program is that it can be joined through ShareASale, which makes checking out all of your stats super easy.
Travofy
If you’d rather promote a program where people can also book their accommodation, not just their flights, Travofy should be right up your alley. One of the most significant reasons to use Travofy is the 90-day cookie duration, which is far more generous than that of many of its competitors.
The commission is a fixed $20 for each sale, though, so you have to tell if it’s good enough for your needs or not.
Also, the Travofy program can be joined through ShareASale, where you will find heaps of promotional tools such as banners, coupons, links, or deals.
Flights Mojo
Similarly to the airline tickets affiliate program that we have just described, Flights Mojo offers its affiliates a standard and fixed commission of $12 on each booked flight. However, the cookie does last for 90 days.
Another factor we’d like to note about this option is that once you have referred 200 bookings, you’ll get a bonus of $200. From the info we gathered about the program, you might have to join it separately, not through a network like CJ.
CheapFlightsnow
For people who are constantly searching for the best deals in terms of airline tickets, CheapFlightsNow is a good program to look into. It works through Rakuten Marketing, where you’ll get access to a variety of promotional tools ranging from search boxes and text links to storefronts and banner ads.
As for the commission, its value varies from $9 to $11 depending on the value of the booking. The cookie lasts for 3 months, which automatically makes this program worth looking into.
Dollar Flight Club
This one is a little different than what you might already be used to, in that the company is actually an email newsletter that people can join to get cheap flight deals. We decided to showcase this program here because the commission value is outstanding, since you can earn as much as 50% of every booking.
Also, they offer recurring commissions on annual memberships, so you can make even more money. All new affiliates are paid $20 per new customer. As for the cookie, it lasts for 90 days, which is definitely not bad.
Southwest Airlines
If you live in the United States, this is an airline you might have heard of before. The best thing about the affiliate program is that you can join it through Commission Junction or Impact Radius, depending on whichever network you already utilize.
Also, your readers can not only book flights, but also rental cars and activities they want to complete during their vacations, so there are more opportunities for you to earn commissions. By the way, the standard commission is 2% of every order and the cookie lasts for 30 days.
JUSTFLY
Although not as well-known as some of the other companies we have described here, JUSTFLY is definitely fast-growing. The commissions you will earn differ depending on the types of flights that your readers will book, in that you can earn $16 for each international booking and just $8 for each domestic flight.
On top of that, the cookie lasts for 45 days, which isn’t all that bad. Additionally, JUSTFLY can be used through Commission Junction, so there’s no need to bother with joining the program separately.
United Airlines
The United airline affiliate program is another that you might have to consider simply because this is a company that has been around for a very long time, so your US-based blog readers will have probably heard about it.
The program can be joined through Impact Radius, a network that you might have already been using. The commission is a standard 2% for each booking, so that might be less impressive, but the cookie does last for a whole month.
There are over 400 different locations available on the site and the average value of every booking is high, so 2% might not look so bad after all.
JetUpFront
This company offers a myriad of great flights at discount prices, many of which are actually luxury bookings. The cookie lasts for three whole months and the value of the commissions you can earn varies between $18 and $21.
The program can be joined through Rakuten Marketing, and the platform will put a lot of promotional tools at your disposal, such as banners and graphics.
Travelocity
This online travel agency specializes in anything from flights and cruises to hotels and car rentals. There’s a wide variety of getaway deals on the website, too.
The commission is a fixed $1.60 for each airline ticket, but for all of the other experiences, you might have to do a bit of research yourself as the commission value might depend on each.
Perhaps the most significant drawback to joining this program is the 7-day cookie duration which can’t even compare to that of the other options we have described in today’s article.
Hawaiian Airlines
This is one of the largest operators of flights from any of the US states to Hawaii and back. They also have flights available to Asia and the South Pacific.
Although the affiliate program isn’t the worst in the world, you might have to see whether it makes sense to join it — and we say this because the commission value is just 0.4% to 1.2% on each booking and the cookie duration is just 30 days.
Emirates
This Dubai-based airline company has gained a lot of popularity in the past several years, mostly because they offer amazing customer support and the quality of their services is practically incomparable to what many other airlines can offer.
We couldn’t find any particular information on how long the cookie lasts, though, and the commission value varies from 1.25% to 2.5% depending on the type of ticket and how long the flight is (you can earn more on longer and more expensive bookings).
Although the Emirates affiliate program needs to be joined on their own site, they do have an affiliate management and support team available, so they can assist you in promoting their offers. There’s also a variety of promotional tools available on the platform.
CheapOAir.com
This website isn’t an airline in itself but rather a platform where people can compare the prices of flights, rental cars, as well as accommodation options depending on their preferences.
One of the things we particularly liked about this affiliate program is that the commission value depends on what your readers end up booking. For example, even though the commission value is a fixed one for all, you can earn $5 on car rentals and flight insurance, but booked flights can earn you $8 while for hotels, you can earn as much as $15 per reservation.
If you’re lucky enough to refer to a vacation package that someone purchases, you will earn $25. The cookie lasts for 90 days, too, so this is a pretty great airline affiliate program on the whole.
British Airways
Like KLM, which we will describe in one of the following sections, British Airways is the national airline of the United Kingdom. The site offers a wide variety of flights to a very broad range of locations.
While we couldn’t find exactly how long the cookie lasts, the commission is a flat 2%, so its value doesn’t vary depending on the types of tickets booked or the length of the flight.
KLM
This is the national airline in the Netherlands and they run frequent flyer miles programs along with other national airlines such as Air France, for example.
There’s not too much to add about this program other than the commission value, which varies from 1% to 1.5% depending on how long the flight booking is. The cookie lasts for 30 days, which isn’t that bad when put side by side with the cookie duration of other programs listed here.
Skyscanner
This is another fairly well-known website that people use not just for finding flights, but also comparing them against one another in terms of value and services offered.
While the cookie duration remains a mystery to date, the commission value is way up there with some of the best airline affiliate programs since you can earn as much as 20% of each referred booking.
TripAdvisor
If you haven’t heard of TripAdvisor up until now, we don’t know where you have been living. The platform is one of the largest online travel agencies in the world and it has a pretty good forum feature where folks can review their stays, the places they’ve eaten at, and lots of other vacation things they might have tried.
While the cookie lasts for just 14 days, so it’s not as worth writing home about, the commission value can get as high as 50% depending on the experiences that your readers book.
Trip.com
This travel agency is pretty popular with frequent flyers, too, but their affiliate program isn’t as good — so that’s why we’re showcasing it toward the end of the post.
The commission value varies largely depending on what the user books, and flights will earn you just 0.5%. Hotels will get you 7%, train bookings will earn you $1.5 for each ticket, while tours and other such offers will generate a commission of 5%.
The site also has a mobile app available and since so many people use it these days, we thought we’d note that the cookie duration varies between whether the booking is completed on the app or the site. For the first, it lasts for just 7 days, but the site has a 30-day cookie duration.
Expedia
This is one of the best-known travel sites in the world right now and they have a variety of services available, from flights and hotels to vacation packages.
The commission value varies depending on the services booked by your readers, but usually it ranges from 1% to 7%. The cookie lasts for 30 days, but probably the most notable thing about this program is that it can be joined through Commission Junction, which makes managing everything a lot easier.
Travel Payouts
We mentioned Travel Payouts in some of our other posts but the main difference between it and some of the other names we’ve dropped in the article is that this one is a network.
This means that you can find a variety of airline companies and many travel-related activities that you can refer to. The commission value varies from 1% to 5% and the cookie usually lasts for a whole month.
Best of all, you can manage everything using the same platform.
Conclusion
Since it’s never a good idea to put all of your eggs in one basket, we’d say that the best idea would be to join several different airline affiliate programs and recommend various services to your audience.
The right program or network also depends on your needs, the types of flights and vacations you want to suggest your readers to consider, and the value they offer.
Sometimes, it might make more sense to go for a lower commission option with a good cookie duration simply because that brand might be better known compared to a relatively new one.
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Craig Campbell
I am a Glasgow based SEO expert who has been doing SEO for 22 years.
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