Phenological mismatch has been highlighted as a reason why climate change is causing declines of migratory populations. The likelihood of declines due to phenological mismatch might depend on what cues trigger migration. Migrants that use environmental cues (e.g. temperature, resource availability) to trigger migration are often considered to be less vulnerable than migrants that use temporal information (e.g. photoperiod). We develop a model to investigate how migration cue type determines the effects of phenological change of habitat quality on fitness. We show that which cue type performs better depends on the strength of seasonality in the habitats used by a migrant. We use our results to identify scenarios that align and contrast with the prediction that migrants using temporal cues are more vulnerable. We also recommend that future empirical and theoretical work on phenological mismatch more clearly distinguish between the accuracy and efficacy of cues. Similarly, we recommend considering both how the benefits available from migrating and the benefits that are captured by migrants are changing with phenological change. This work improves our understanding of the role of cue in determining migratory populations’ trajectories as climate changes.