This is our #1 most used tool.
A majority of our business class bookings start with seats.aero.
It’s basically a live library of all current award flight availability across a huge list of frequent flyer programs. We primarily use “Explore” and occasionally use “Search” and “Tools” if we are looking for very specific routes, dates or redemption options.
Some airlines’ award search engines are really clunky, And many only show their own flights (not including partner options) - seats.aero mostly solves that - as it shows all of the flights that can be booked with those points
How to Actually Use It:
ℹ️ 1. Explore by Program
With the explore feature, instead of searching for specific flights, you select a loyalty program (like Aeroplan or Alaska), and Seats.aero shows you every single flight currently available to book using points in that program - INCLUDING partner airlines.
- Narrow the search by typing in dates, origin, or destination
- Select multiple airports under “departs” and “arrives”
- Filter by airline
- Click “business” or “first” in the top right to filter for those cabins
If you have balances with a good program this is a must-use tool.
🔎 Example: Explore Aeroplan
ℹ️ 2. Search Function
This is the more traditional flight search experience.
- Enter your origin + destination airports
- Choose travel dates (+/- days for more results)
- Pick your cabin (economy, business, first)
- Then browse the results
This is perfect if your schedule is locked and you know exactly where you’re flying from and to - especially when you select multiple departure or arrival airports.
🔎 The results will be displayed by points program - this is not the airline. The logo and program you see on the left is the program that this flight is available on.
ℹ️ 3. Alliance Wide Searching - KEEP IN MIND:
seats.aero isn’t perfect for all programs, sometimes it doesn’t index the flights from a points program very well. So here are the best programs to use to search each alliance (in our experience) SkyTeam → Explore Delta Skymiles
StarAlliance → Explore Aeroplan & United Mileage Plus
OneWorld → Explore American Airlines & Alaska Atmos
Even if you’re booking with points from another member of the alliance, we often find availability on the “explore” programs we mentioned, and then check on the program we have points with, and find it available there too.
keep in mind there are no guarantees with this method, it’s just a good way to scan and look for indications.
⚠️ It’s not a perfect tool
Mistakes do occur and there are some quirks:
- last seen - if its too long ago theres a chance the flight is already booked
- full routes - it doesn’t always show full routes (only individual flights) - so keep this in mind if you know there’s a layover and its not appearing.
The free version works for bookings up to 60 days out. The Pro version unlocks 12 months of availability + powerful filters.