Skip deduction

[u/GBpilot]

I flew this mission from start up to shut down but still got hit for "skip"? What am I missing?

[u/KrazyKorean108]

I just started playing MSFS so im not sure, but ive noticed that some airports have broken markers which may cause you to fail certain airline procedures.

I took off from a small airfield in Italy and as soon as i released the parking brake to begin taxiing, i got hit with a penalty for going past the hold short line.

Another time, i approached the hold short line, but as i got close to it, the holdshort line disappeared and appeared on the opposite end of the taxiway. Same thing again, got dinged for missing the hold short and not asking for takeoff clearance.

That may be whats causing the skip cost for you.

Other times i completely skip taxiing and i wont get any skip cost. It really makes no sense.

I wish i did some more research into msfs24 before i bought it because the sim is a buggy mess.

[u/GottaWigAtDaWigStore]

The game is a bugfest.

[u/Frederf220]

It can skip without user input if it can't figure out certain things.

[u/alphagusta]

Did you speed up sim rate?

[u/GBpilot → u/alphagusta]

Not even sure how to do that so I'll say no lol

[u/hairway2steven]

I am getting the same mystery skip cost. I just got my multi engine cert and had such a miserable time getting there, I realized career mode is making me hate flight sims. So I had to quit.

But the mystery skip cost was the last straw. I sped up cruise 2x which I thought was ok, but flew all stages and did all ATC etc and still got a big penalty.

[u/Thumper45]

The system changed with Sim Update 6 (August 2026), so some older advice about the “No Skip Bonus” is now outdated. Microsoft replaced it with a “Skip Cost” and changed the payout calculation.

In Career Mode, the things that can count as an actual skip include:

• Skip Preflight / Startup — using the mission skip prompt to jump past the walkaround, boarding/loading, startup, etc.
• Skip to Taxi — can count as skipping the preflight portion.
• Skip Taxi to Runway — jumping directly to the runway/takeoff position.
• Skip Cruise / Flight — the big one. Using Skip to Descent or otherwise jumping over the en-route portion can produce a substantial deduction.
• Skip Taxi After Landing — jumping from landing/rollout to the parking area can count.
• Skip Parking / Shutdown / Mission Completion steps — depending on the mission, skipping the final ground phase can also be registered.

Microsoft's own Career-mode documentation confirms that there are distinct skip transitions for preflight → taxi and taxi → runway, so ground-phase skips are real skips in the underlying mission system.

Things that should NOT be a "skip"

Importantly, these aren't normally the same thing as pressing the game's Skip button:

Increasing Sim Rate should not itself count as a skip. You're still flying the mission; you're just accelerating simulation time. This is why many Career players use increased sim rate during cruise instead of selecting Skip to Descent.

Likewise, manually flying a shortcut, descending early, using autopilot, changing the flight plan, or flying direct-to a waypoint isn't inherently a "skip." Those actions can potentially hurt mission/aviator performance for other reasons, but they're different from the Skip Cost.

There's currently a problem, though

Since SU6, there appear to be bugs/inconsistencies in the Skip Cost calculation.

Players are currently reporting deductions even when they claim they didn't press Skip at all. One report from August 15 describes doing the entire flight from preflight through shutdown and still receiving roughly a 10,000-credit skip reduction.

There's even a report today (September 1) describing the same problem: the player flew startup-to-shutdown and still received a Skip deduction.

The Microsoft Flight Simulator forums are also discussing inconsistent post-SU6 payout behavior, including missions where “Skip Cost” appears as a positive amount despite nothing being skipped, and payout math that doesn't consistently match the briefing.

[u/Zhartek911]

If you increase sim rate over 4x, the game will not “keep up” and you can incur a skip cost

[u/Ambitious_Enigma]

I've heard that everytime you hit enter and have the game do an action for you (i.e. start up engines, skip taxi to take off, set squakcodes or switch to the next ATC frequency) that counts as a skip and they all add up.

Not sure if it's true or not but I like to tell myself it is when I get a bad skip deduction.