How to Use seats.aero to Find Award Flights

By Bryce Casson, Founder · Cardocrat · Updated June 2026
The short answer: seats.aero scans real-time award seat availability across more than 20 airline programs at once, so a single search shows which program has space on your route and what it costs in miles. The workflow is search first, match the space to points you hold, transfer, then book directly with the airline.

What the tool does

seats.aero is an award search engine that checks availability across all the major airline loyalty programs at the same time. Rather than logging into United, Aeroplan, ANA, and a dozen others one by one, you enter a route, dates, and cabin, and it returns every program that has an open award seat along with the miles each charges. That collapses the hardest part of award travel, finding the seat, into one lookup. Basic searching is free, with a paid Pro tier for heavy users.

Running a search

Enter your origin and destination, your dates or a flexible range, and the cabin you want. The results show each flight that has award space, the program that can book it, and the mileage price, so you can compare options side by side. Lean on the flexibility filters: widening the date range or adding nearby airports surfaces far more availability, which matters most in business and first class where seats are scarce.

From a result to a booked seat

The tool finds the space, but you book with the airline. When you spot an award, check that you hold or can transfer points to the program that can book it, transfer just enough, then complete the booking on that airline site or by phone. Confirm the seat is still there before you transfer, since transfers are one-way. See finding award space, transferable points, and booking a flight with points. The same team built rooms.aero for hotel awards.

Frequently asked questions

Is seats.aero free to use?
The basic award search is free. A paid Pro subscription adds more programs, more results, saved searches, and availability alerts, which frequent bookers and people hunting hard routes tend to want.
Does seats.aero book the flight for me?
No. It finds award space across programs; you then transfer points to the program that can book it and complete the booking on the airline website or by phone. Always confirm the seat before transferring, since transfers are one-way.

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Bryce Casson

Bryce Casson, Founder of Cardocrat. Every card is ranked by what it actually returns, with all points valued at a flat 1 cent and offers verified against issuer sources. About the author.