How CovaSky works

One search, three ways to solve it. Here's everything you need to know to read the results like a pro.

Trip types vs solution modes

These are two different dials, and keeping them apart is the key to the whole tool:

• Trip type describes what your trip is: One way, Round trip, or Multi-city. You choose this when you search.
• Solution mode describes how we solve it: Flights, Stopovers, or Mixed. These appear as tabs on the results page — same trip, three different strategies.

A one-way trip can be solved with a direct flight, a stopover itinerary, or a flight-plus-bus combination. The trip doesn't change; the solution does.

Three steps, start to finish

• 1. Search — enter your origin, destination, dates, and trip type, exactly like any flight search.
• 2. Compare modes — flip between Flights, Stopovers, and Mixed tabs to see how each strategy solves your trip, with prices, times, and trade-offs side by side.
• 3. Verify on partner site — when a route looks right, follow the link to the partner website to check the final price and complete the booking there. We never handle the booking ourselves.

What is a deliberate stopover?

A deliberate stopover is a city stop of roughly 20 to 96 hours built into your itinerary on purpose — long enough to actually see the city, not just its airport. Two trips for the price of (roughly) one.

Some airlines actively encourage this with stopover programmes offering possible perks — discounted or complimentary hotels, city tours, or transit deals. We flag routes where perks are potential, but eligibility always depends on the airline's rules, your fare class, and how the ticket was booked. Always verify eligibility directly with the airline before counting on a perk.

What are Mixed routes?

Mixed routes combine a flight with ground transport via a nearby airport. Instead of flying directly into an expensive airport, you fly to a cheaper one close by and finish the journey by bus or train — think flying into Bratislava and taking a one-hour bus to Vienna. The savings can be dramatic.

The honest trade-off: these are self-transfer itineraries. The airline and the bus operator don't know about each other, so if your flight is late, no one is obliged to hold the bus or rebook you — missed connections are not covered by any airline. We show generous connection buffers and recommend building in slack, but the risk is yours to weigh. Ground transport prices are also partly estimated, since bus and train fares fluctuate — the partner site has the final number.

The open-jaw badge

In multi-city results you may see an "open jaw" badge. It means your itinerary flies into one city and out of another — for example, into Vienna and home from Budapest — leaving a gap you cover on the ground. It's not a separate search type, just a pattern we detect and label so you know the itinerary has a ground gap to plan for.

Why some prices are estimates

Flight routes come from known airline schedules and data sources. Prices shown are estimates — always verify current prices on partner sites before booking. Ground transport fares — buses, trains — often can't be queried in real time for every operator, so where we can't fetch a live fare we show a clearly labelled estimate based on typical prices for that segment. Estimates are for comparison; the final price is always the one on the partner site.

Coming up: Group trips (BETA)

Travelling from different cities and meeting somewhere in the middle? Our Group trip planner — currently in BETA — searches routes for several travellers at once and finds destinations where everyone arrives cheaply. It's early, it's experimental, and it's already fun to play with.

One last reminder

CovaSky finds and compares routes; partners sell them. Final prices, availability, baggage rules, visa requirements, and stopover perk eligibility are always verified on the partner site or with the airline. That division of labour is what keeps our results honest.