20 Best Airline Affiliate Programs To Make Money in 2023

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If you’re a travel blogger, you’ve probably at least thought about joining a few airline affiliate programs.

Which makes sense.

What you might not know, though, is that airlines pay pretty low commissions.

Especially when you compare them to programs like Saas or credit cards.

The bright side is that even though the commission percentages are low, the purchase amounts are high, so you can still come out with somewhat of a decent commission.

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If you’re in the travel niche and looking for the best airline affiliate programs, here are a few you should consider joining.

Best Airline Affiliate Programs in 2021

1. Hawaiin Airlines Affiliate Program
2. Travelocity Affiliate Program
3. Cheap Tickets Affiliate Program
4. Kayak Affiliate Program
5. CheapOAir.com Affiliate Program
6. Emirates US Airline Affiliate Program
7. Qatar Airways Affiliate Program
8. Southwest Vacations Affiliate Program
9. Etihad Airways Affiliate Program
10. British Airways Affiliate Program
11. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Affiliate Program
12. Dollar Flight Club Affiliate Program
13. JustFly Affiliate Program
14. Claim Compass Affiliate Program
15. Skyscanner
16. Air France Airline Affiliate Program
17. Omio Affiliate Program
18. Trip.com Affiliate Program
19. TripAdvisor
20. Expedia Affiliate Program

1. Hawaiin Airlines Affiliate Program

Hawaiin Airlines is the largest airline in Hawaii. They fly in and out of Hawaii, North America, Asia, and the South Pacific.

One neat perk of this airline is that they offer complimentary meals to coach class flying from the inland USA to Hawaii during meal times.

They have a rewards program called Hawaiin Miles that enables users to earn points for each mile they fly. In addition, Hawaiin Airlines has a credit card that gives users 70,000 bonus miles for successfully applying.

Commissions are 0.4% for a completed vacation and 1.2% for a complete flight sale.

• Commission: 0.4-1.2%
• Cookie Duration: 30 Days
• Sign Up Link: Hawaiin Airlines Affiliate Program

2. Travelocity Affiliate Program

Travelocity is an online travel agency. They compare flights, hotels, cruises, vacation packages, and car rentals so that their users can easily filter through and select what works best for them.

They also have a section with last-minute deals and featured getaways.

One feature that makes Travelocity a bit different from the other travel comparison tools is offering a price match guarantee. If their price check tool finds a lower price on a user’s scheduled itinerary, they will receive a credit for the difference.

The commission structure at Travelocity is all over the place. Airlines tickets are a very low $1.60, while vacation packages net you $24.

• Commission: $1.60 for Airline Tickets (Other commission amounts vary)
• Cookie Duration: 7 Day
• Sign Up Link: Travelocity Affiliate Program

3. Cheap Tickets Affiliate Program

CheapTickets.com is owned by Expedia and looks eerily similar to the Travelocity website. On Cheap Tickets, users can compare and book flights, hotels, cars, cruises, and vacation packages.

The commission amounts vary depending on the transaction. For flights, affiliates can earn $1.60 for successful referrals. As an affiliate, cruises will net you $24, and events will net you 4.8% of the sale amount.

• Commission: $1.60 per Flight
• Cookie Duration: 7 Days
• Sign Up Link: Cheap Tickets Affiliate Program

4. Kayak Affiliate Program

Kayak is a travel comparison site. However, it differentiates itself by offering valuable tools like Price Forecast, which can help users determine if the price of the flight they want is likely to change within the next seven days. 

They also have “Hacker Fare” that enables users to combine tickets from different airlines to save money.

What’s different about this program is that it’s pay-per-click. If you have decent traffic in the “research” stage of planning their trips, this program could be profitable.

• Commission: $0.05 mobile and $0.10 for flight click outs
• Cookie Duration: Session-Based
• Sign Up Link: Kayak Affiliate Program

5. CheapOAir.com Affiliate Program

CheapOAir.com is a booking and comparison site for flights, hotels, and rental cars. It allows its users to compare over 600 airlines.

Users can sort by price, location, and date. They also have categories like senior travel, student travel, and red-eye flights.

Their affiliate program has different commission amounts depending on the order. Flight insurance and car rentals will earn you $5, flights make you $8, hotel bookings are $15, and complete vacation packages will net you $25.

• Commission: $5 – $25
• Cookie Duration: 90 Days
• Sign Up Link: CheapOAir.com Affiliate Program

6. Emirates US Airline Affiliate Program

Emirates is a Dubai-based airline that travels to and from six different continents. This airline is often praised for having diverse staff and passengers.

In fact, they broke a Guinness world record by having 145 nationalities on one of their flights.

As far as locations go, Emirates has flights out of several popular cities, including New York, San Francisco, Orlando, and Seattle. They also have a loyalty program called Skywards that rewards members with free flights, upgrades, and other benefits.

I think it’s needless to say, but if you have an audience of globe-trotters, it’s a good idea to sign up for the Emirates affiliate program.

• Commission: 1.25%
• Cookie Duration: 30 Days
• Sign Up Link: Emirates US Airline Affiliate Program

7. Qatar Airways Affiliate Program

Qatar Airways is an award-winning airline that was founded in 1997 and has its hub in Qatar. This airline currently has flights to six continents and over 140 destinations. 

They have flights out of many popular US cities.

Qatar Airways has a rewards program for frequent flyers called Privilege Club. Privilege Club allows its members to earn “Qmiles,” which users can trade in for tickets and flight upgrades like baggage checking.

• Commission: 1.6%
• Cookie Duration: 30 Days
• Sign Up Link: Qatar Airways Affiliate Program

8. Southwest Vacations Affiliate Program

Southwest Vacations is a vacation package company with flights that run through Southwest Airlines. They have over 100 destinations and allow customers to customize their trips with hotels, car rentals, show tickets, and more.

The average order value is right around $1,300. What stinks is that even though the order value is high, the commission percentage is shockingly low…

As an affiliate with Southwest, you can expect to earn $6.50 per successful referral.

Ouch.

• Commission: 0.50% with opportunities to earn more
• Cookie Duration: 30 Days
• Sign Up Link: Southwest Vacations Affiliate Program

9. Etihad Airways Affiliate Program

Etihad Airways is based in Abu Dhabi and has flights that go to and from the Middle East, Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

They offer fresh meals made with seasonal ingredients on all of their flights and even have children’s meal options. 

Etihad Airways’ affiliate program is more generous than some others, offering a 2% commission. 

• Commission: 2%
• Cookie Duration: 30 Days
• Sign Up Link: Etihad Airways Affiliate Program

10. British Airways Affiliate Program

British Airways is a global airline offering flights in several different continents. From their website, users can book flights, cars, hotels, and experiences.

They offer their customers economy or first-class tickets, rescheduling flexibility, and onboard meals and drinks.

They also have a rewards loyalty program for their customers called Executive Club. The Executive Club is free to join and enables customers to earn rewards called Avios that members can redeem for flights, hotels, and car rentals.

• Commission: 2%
• Cookie Duration: Not Specified
• Sign Up Link: British Airways Affiliate Program

11. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Affiliate Program

KLM is a global airline that is more than 100 years old and is the oldest airline with its original name. The top destinations at this airline are Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Berlin.

This airline has a frequent flyer program called Flying Blue that allows members to earn miles that can be redeemed for flights.

The commission structure is 1% on regular flights and 1.5% on long-haul flights.

• Commission: 1-1.5%
• Cookie Duration: 30 Days
• Sign Up Link: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Affiliate Program

12. Dollar Flight Club Affiliate Program

Dollar Flight Club is a program that helps its users save money on their flights. Users sign up for free and then get alerted when Dollar Flight Club finds cheap flights for their destination. 

They also have a premium program where they share ALL of the good deals they find. They claim that if a customer books only one flight through them, they’ll still save 10x the annual membership price.

With a long cookie duration, you can earn money from referrals who take a while to jump from the free to the paid version.

This program is about as good as it gets when it comes to airline affiliates. At Dollar Flight Club, you’ll receive a 50% commission on sales. Their premium membership costs $69 per year and will net you a $35 commission.

What’s even better is that you’ll receive a commission every time one of your referrals renews their annual membership.

• Commission: Up to $50 per new customer (recurs annually)
• Cookie Duration: 90 Days
• Sign Up Link: Dollar Flight Affiliate Program

13. JustFly Affiliate Program

JustFly is an online comparison tool for flights, hotels, and cars. They have over 440 airlines in their system. They allow users to search for flights and also showcase their top daily deals.

JustFly works with all major airlines and displays the top deals of the day on their website. They are partnered with over 440 airlines and have a 24/7 customer support line. JustFly even has fare alerts users can sign up for to receive information on price drops.

They’re rated 4 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot.

Commissions are $8 for domestic flights and $16 for international flights.

• Commission: $8-$16
• Cookie Duration: 45 Days
• Sign Up Link: JustFly Affiliate Program

14. Claim Compass Affiliate Program

Claim Compass is a company that helps flyers get reimbursement if they’ve had a delayed flight. 

According to their website, millions of airline customers are entitled to compensation for flight delays, cancellations, missed connections and denied boarding. However, less than 2% of passengers ever receive that compensation.

Claim compass wants to make that different.

Users can sign up for free. All they need to do is enter their flight information, and Claim Compass will do the rest. They even have a handy chart on their website showing users how much they can expect to receive based on their flight details.

This is a unique program that can be beneficial to anyone who’s ever flown. To top it off, the commissions are pretty good too.

• Commission: €15
• Cookie Duration: 90 Days
• Sign Up Link: Claim Compass Affiliate Program

15. Skyscanner

Skyscanner is an online comparison tool for flights, hotels, and cars. Users can search for flights by country, city, and state—Skyscanner checks prices with over 1,200 travel companies.

Skyscanner gives affiliates 20% of the revenue it receives per referral transaction.

• Commission: 20% revenue share
• Cookie Duration: Not Specified
• Sign Up Link: Skyscanner Affiliate Program

16. Air France Airline Affiliate Program

Despite its name, Air France has dozens of departures from US cities and flies to many international locations.

Some of the benefits of flying with Air France include complimentary snacks and drinks on long-haul flights and their rewards program, Flying Blue. 

The Flying Blue program rewards members with miles for each Euro (or equivalent) that they spend. Members can use the miles to buy tickets, upgrade options, or donate them to charity.

• Commission: Not Specified
• Cookie Duration: Not Specified
• Sign Up Link: Air France Airline Affiliate Program

As of the original publish date of this blog post, the Air France affiliate program is only available in select countries. 

17. Omio Affiliate Program

Omio is an online travel agency that compares flights, buses, trains, and Ferries. They show listings for transportation internationally so that vacation planners can book tickets and rentals in advance.

Tickets are all contactless and able to be downloaded to the Omio app.

What’s great about this program is that they pay for leads and commissions on sales. This program is a good fit for an audience looking for unconventional ways to travel.

• Commission: 3.2% per sale and $0.24 per lead
• Cookie Duration: 30 Days
• Sign Up Link: Omio Affiliate Program

18. Trip.com Affiliate Program

Trip.com is an online travel agency with over 2 million individual flight routes to over 5,000 cities. Users can search for and compare these flights on Trip.com. 

They also have a rewards program called TripCoins that rewards users for booking with them. Members can redeem rewards for hotel stays.

Affiliate commissions for successful referrals can be as much as 7% depending on the volume of sales.

• Commission: Up to 7%
• Cookie Duration: 30 Days
• Sign Up Link: Trip.com Affiliate Program

19. TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor is an online travel agency and vacation planning tool that almost everyone has heard of.

On TripAdvisor, users can book flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises, and vacation packages.

While users can book flights on TripAdvisor, affiliates earn when their referrals click out to TripAdvisor’s partner hotels or make reservations at select hotels. 

You can still refer TripAdvisor to your audience to book flights, but you won’t receive commissions unless they’re booking or searching for a hotel room.

• Commission: Varies, 50% of Commission Split on Select Hotels
• Cookie Duration: 14 Days
• Sign Up Link: TripAdvisor Affiliate Program

20. Expedia Affiliate Program

Expedia is another well-known company that provides flight comparison and booking. They also compare the prices of hotels, rental cars, and vacation packages.

The commissions vary depending on what your referrals purchase. You can earn 1% on flights, 12% on activities, 6% on hotels, and 5.5% on rental cars.

• Commission: 1% on Flights
• Cookie Duration: 30 Days
• Sign Up Link: Expedia Affiliate Program

Creating Your Airline Affiliate Marketing Strategy

It’s easy to see that earning a high income from airline affiliate programs will be tricky without a great volume of traffic. That doesn’t mean you should avoid promoting these companies altogether.

Instead, think about your strategy as a whole and incorporate higher-earning programs too. 

Some programs you should consider adding to your strategy are other travel-related affiliate programs, credit cards with travel rewards, and event ticket programs.

In general, most of these pay much more than the couple of bucks you’ll get from selling flights as an affiliate.

Looking for high ticket affiliate programs? Check out my video below: