How to Play SkyQ
The daily flight guessing game. Five guesses, real airline clues, one mystery flight to crack.
Play today's puzzle →The rules
Each day SkyQ gives you three mystery flights -- one easy, one medium, one hard. Your job is to guess both the departure and destination airports of each flight. You have five guesses per puzzle.
You start with two clues: the total flight duration, and the aircraft type. From there, each wrong guess unlocks a new clue in this order:
- Domestic or international — narrows the hemisphere immediately.
- Direction of travel — a compass heading that rules out half the globe.
- The operating airline — huge hint, since most carriers hub from specific airports.
- The full flight path — the exact great-circle line. If you can't guess after seeing this, it's over.
Guess feedback
Green — correct airport in the correct slot (departure or destination).
Yellow — correct airport but you swapped departure and destination.
Gray — wrong airport. The display shows how far off and in which direction.
Strategy tips
- Let the aircraft type do heavy lifting. Widebodies (777, 787, A350, A380) almost always signal long-haul or transcontinental. Narrowbodies (737, A320, A321) mean regional or mid-haul.
- Specific aircraft = specific clues. A380 only flies a small list of routes. 757s have a niche on transcontinental US + select Atlantic routes. 767s are the Delta workhorse for medium-haul.
- Duration is your floor. Under 2h is regional; 5-7h is transcontinental US or short-haul Europe; 10h+ is intercontinental.
- If the first clue reveals "domestic", eliminate every international airport from your guess list immediately.
- Once the airline clue appears, think about hubs. Emirates almost always departs or arrives at DXB. American hubs from DFW, CLT, ORD, MIA, JFK, LAX, PHL.
FAQ
How do you play SkyQ?
SkyQ is a daily flight guessing game. Each day you get three mystery flights -- easy, medium, and hard difficulty. You have five guesses per flight to identify both the departure and destination airports. After every wrong guess, a new clue unlocks to narrow it down.
What clues do you get in SkyQ?
Clues reveal in order: (1) Flight duration + aircraft type, (2) Domestic or international, (3) Direction of travel, (4) Operating airline, (5) Full flight path. You see the duration and aircraft from the start; the rest unlock one per wrong guess.
How do you win SkyQ?
You win by guessing both airports correctly within five tries. A correct airport in the right slot turns green; a correct airport in the wrong slot (e.g., you put SFO as departure but it's actually destination) turns yellow. Wrong airports give you distance and direction to the correct one.
What are the three SkyQ difficulties?
Easy features well-known routes between major hubs (JFK-LAX, LHR-CDG). Medium mixes in secondary hubs and less obvious city pairs. Hard is for experts -- regional routes, long-haul links between second-tier cities, or unusual city pairs that still operate daily.
When do new SkyQ puzzles drop?
Midnight Eastern Time, every day. You can play yesterday's puzzles in practice mode anytime.
Do I need an account to play SkyQ?
No. Every daily puzzle is playable immediately. Creating a free account only saves your streak across devices and lets you compete on leaderboards.
Is SkyQ free?
Yes. Every daily puzzle is free to play. Premium is optional and removes ads.
What's the best SkyQ strategy?
Use the duration clue first. A 1-hour flight rules out most international routes. An 11-hour flight rules out most domestic. The aircraft type is huge: widebodies (777, A350, 787) signal long-haul; narrowbodies (737, A320) signal shorter regional. Watch for specific aircraft tied to specific routes -- the A380 only flies on a short list of routes.