Review: Seats.aero
Loading article…
Seats.aero searches award seats in 26 airline programs at once, and its free version already covers the next 60 days of availability. It works with Aeroplan points, with Membership Rewards points earned with one of the best credit cards in Canada, and with miles from a foreign program. Seats.aero shows you where those points can take you before you transfer anything. In this review, I go through its features, compare it with its competitors and explain when the Pro plan is worth its $9.99 USD a month.
Even with the right tool, you will run into a quirk the tool alone does not explain: a seat that stays closed on a single segment but opens inside a longer itinerary. Our guide to married segments explains what to do when a search behaves this way.
What Is Seats.aero?
Several award search platforms exist, and Seats.aero stands apart from them in a few clear ways. Here is how it compares with two popular competitors: Point.me and AwardLogic.
Point.me gives you a broad overview of available award seats, but it can lack the depth of Seats.aero. Seats.aero digs into each mileage program and pulls data from the main airline and from every partner flight that program can book. You get a longer, more detailed list of flight options.
AwardLogic also offers a detailed search, but Seats.aero has the easier interface and more search settings you can adjust. With Seats.aero, you can use codes like "USA" for major US airports or "EUR" for major European airports to widen your search. Here are its main features:
- Dynamic pricing: dynamically priced awards are shown only when the price is reasonable.
- Continuous alerts: alerts stay active and notify you of every new seat, with filters by airline, points cost and departure or arrival time.
- Multi-city codes: codes like TYO, LON or EUR search several airports at once.
- Mixed cabins: itineraries that are only partly in a premium cabin are filtered out.
- Booking links: a direct link to the booking page of each program, plus estimated options for programs the tool does not track yet.
- AI assistant: ask it about availability or a program's rules, or let it create an alert for you.
- Mobile apps: iOS and Android apps, plus a Discord community for deal alerts.
- Fresh results: results refresh with recent airline data as you search.
A Closer Look at Seats.aero's Features
How Seats.aero Works
At its core, Seats.aero gives you a quick, detailed way to find award seats across many loyalty programs. Rather than searching only the main airline, it looks at every partner flight a given mileage program can book. You get a wider view, so you are less likely to miss an option.
From the home page, Seats.aero lets you start a search for a specific airline right away and sort the options, including business class, although availability varies.
Seats.aero goes beyond simple searches. Its advanced Search tool covers every loyalty program at once, without you having to pick one.
Free or Pro: Which One Fits You?
The two versions serve different needs. The free version covers search, the Explore tool and alerts for flights departing within the next 60 days, with no account required. The Pro plan costs $9.99 USD a month or $99.99 USD a year. It extends all of that to a full year of availability. It also adds live search, advanced filters, SMS and push alerts, seat maps and cardholder pricing.
Getting Around the Free Version
The free version of Seats.aero is a good starting point for occasional travellers and anyone new to booking with points. It gives you the same airline programs and the same search engine as Pro. Its "Create Alerts" feature watches specific departure or arrival airports for flights within the next 60 days.
That feature brings travel ideas straight to your inbox, especially early in your trip planning. The simple interface and the wide searches you can run are a bonus.
Investing in Pro: Features, Price and Value
The Pro version of Seats.aero adds a set of advanced features for people who book awards often:
- Up to a year of availability on every route, instead of 60 days.
- Live search: the tool queries the airline in real time instead of showing cached results.
- Advanced search and alert filters, plus SMS and push notifications.
- Seat maps, fare class availability and other GDS data.
- Cardholder and elite pricing for United and Delta.
The most useful of these is the longer alert window: you can set alerts up to 12 months ahead. That extra lead time matters most if you want seats on busy routes, especially during peak periods.
The subscription is billed in US dollars. To save the 2.5% foreign transaction fee on it, pay with a credit card that doesn't charge foreign exchange fees, such as the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite +* Card.
Mileage Programs Supported
One of Seats.aero's strengths is the number of loyalty programs it searches. That helps frequent flyers who collect points with several airlines, or who like to book partner airlines with their points. It is also very useful for deciding where to transfer your Membership Rewards points before you book.
The Programs at Your Fingertips
Here are the 26 airline programs Seats.aero supports, plus Livelo in beta. Each one is searched together with its partner flights:
| Supported program | Alliance | What it's good for |
|---|---|---|
| Aeromexico Club Premier | SkyTeam | Aeromexico and SkyTeam partner awards. |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Star Alliance | The go-to for Canadians: Air Canada and Star Alliance partner award space, with eUpgrade inventory in the Tools tab. |
| Air France/KLM Flying Blue | SkyTeam | Air France and KLM flights first, then SkyTeam partners; strong for Virgin Atlantic business class between New York and London. |
| Alaska Atmos Rewards | oneworld | Formerly Alaska Mileage Plan. Great for oneworld finds on Japan Airlines, Qatar Airways and Aer Lingus. |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | oneworld | oneworld award space, with a knack for Qatar Airways Qsuites. |
| Avianca LifeMiles | Star Alliance | Avianca and Star Alliance partner flights; LifeMiles+ subscribers can display their discounted prices. |
| Azul Fidelidade | None | Azul's Brazilian domestic network and long-haul flights. |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | oneworld | Nonstop flights operated by Cathay Pacific, in all four cabins. |
| Delta SkyMiles | SkyTeam | Delta and SkyTeam partner flights; cardholder pricing for Pro members. |
| Emirates Skywards | None | Emirates flights, with an Emirates upgrade finder for Pro members. |
| Ethiopian ShebaMiles | Star Alliance | Ethiopian Airlines and Star Alliance partners, useful for Africa. |
| Etihad Guest | None | Etihad awards. Note that Etihad Guest is no longer an Amex Membership Rewards transfer partner in Canada. |
| Finnair Plus | oneworld | An Avios program: Finnair and oneworld partners out of Helsinki. |
| Frontier Airlines | None | Frontier's US domestic network. |
| GOL Smiles | None | GOL flights in Brazil and partners. |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | None | JetBlue flights, with a Move to Mint upgrade finder. |
| Lufthansa Miles & More | Star Alliance | Lufthansa Group flights, with a Lufthansa First Class finder. |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | oneworld | Qantas and oneworld partner flights. |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | oneworld | An Avios program: the direct route to Qsuites space, with a dedicated Qsuites finder. |
| SAS EuroBonus | SkyTeam | SAS flights in Scandinavia and SkyTeam partners. |
| Saudia AlFursan | SkyTeam | Saudia and SkyTeam partner flights. |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | Star Alliance | Singapore Airlines and Star Alliance partners, with a Singapore Advantage finder for Pro members. Handy since KrisFlyer requires a minimum balance to search on its own site. |
| Turkish Miles&Smiles | Star Alliance | Turkish Airlines via Istanbul and Star Alliance partners. |
| United MileagePlus | Star Alliance | Star Alliance awards, including cardholder-only inventory for Pro members. |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | SkyTeam | A top choice for SkyTeam economy awards, especially on Delta and Korean Air. |
| Virgin Australia Velocity | None | Virgin Australia and partner flights. |
| Livelo (beta) | Not an airline program | Brazilian bank points: flights booked through Livelo's travel portal, plus some of its airline transfer partners. See the section below. |
Partner Flights Broaden the Search
The platform's main strength is that it brings all of these programs together in one interface. You don't need to go from one airline website to another, or juggle several tools, to look for available award seats.
With Seats.aero, you can search a flight from North America to Europe and instantly see results on Delta, Air France, Air Canada and Lufthansa.
That single view saves time and gives you a wider picture, so you can decide based on award availability across several airlines.
Seats.aero's search also works differently from many other platforms: you don't have to pick a program before you search. That suits travellers who aren't tied to one airline, or who want to compare availability across programs.
When you search, you can use codes like "USA" or "EUR" for the main airports, which makes the process even simpler.
The Seats.aero Search Tool
How the Search Works
In award searches, the tool you use often decides whether the process is quick or frustrating. Seats.aero keeps its search simple: it finds the routes you want and connects with many loyalty programs and their partner flights.
Enter a destination and your travel dates, and you get options from a long list of loyalty programs. The system keeps checking availability in the background, so results come back right away.
For example, I searched for the best award price from Montreal to Nice for late September, with Aeroplan as the source, and got these results:
You can then sort the results by points cost, source, date and more.
Clicking the information box on the right shows more details on the prices, including the itinerary options.
On September 21, the AC814 nonstop shows at 30.5k points plus $80.41 CAD in taxes and fees, with 9 seats in X award class. The Booking Options button lists every program that can book the same seat, and the icons at the top show which bank points transfer to Aeroplan.
When I signed in, the same flight dropped slightly, because I get preferred pricing as an Aeroplan credit card holder. You can also expect a discount with Aeroplan Elite Status.
You can also widen the search to a range of dates: the calendar offers ±1 to ±180 days around your date, so a single search can cover a whole month.
Broad Search Criteria
One of Seats.aero's main strengths is how wide you can search. Instead of being limited to specific city airports, you can use broader terms such as "USA" for major US airports or "EUR" for major European destinations.
That is very handy when you want to find a cheap weekend getaway from your home airport.
For example, Miami is a good option for a quick escape in mid-September, at 11,100 points one way in economy:
Or when you want the cheapest way across the Atlantic: Montreal–Paris nonstop shows at 30,600 points in economy on several dates, the low end of Aeroplan's chart.
You can also simply "Explore" award availability by choosing one of the programs Seats.aero supports. Here, Qantas Frequent Flyer from Europe to anywhere, with Barcelona–Amsterdam in business class at 31,500 points:
This widens your search and turns up options you might have missed. The site also shows the points cost, taxes and fees for each seat, so you can judge the real value of a redemption before you commit your points.
Finding Hard-to-Get Award Seats
Seats.aero is especially good at finding award seats that are hard to spot, such as the R space available for Air Canada eUpgrades. This Pro finder is under the Tools tab. Choose your origin and destination, and all available inventory appears. From there, you can search specific airports and sort by date. The inventory badge shows how many seats are open for an eUpgrade.
Under the same tab, the Qsuites finder lists Qatar Airways Qsuites availability by route. Since Qatar Airways Privilege Club is now a supported program, you see the price in Avios directly, and you can compare it with the same seat priced in Atmos Rewards points or AAdvantage miles.
The finder tells an individual Qsuite apart from other lie-flat seats, and Pro members can display a full year of availability:
The same seat can be booked with Atmos Rewards points, and it can be worth buying some during one of their recurring sales to fly for a fraction of the price.
If partner award space is available, you can also book directly with Qatar Airways using Avios, which are much easier to earn with a good credit card strategy.
With the "Create Alerts" feature, you get notified as soon as a route you want opens up, so you don't miss those hard-to-find award seats.
Setting Up Custom Alerts
With "Create Alerts", you get notified as soon as a route you want becomes available. Seats.aero can complement ExpertFlyer so you know the best time to book your award seats.
You can set up and manage two very useful types of alerts:
A one-off alert emails you the first time a flight matches your criteria, then expires. It is free and unlimited. A continuous alert, for Pro members only, keeps watching and notifies you again when seats open up or the price drops, until you delete it.
In both cases, you choose one or more departure airports, destinations, a date range, and the programs and cabins to watch. I think it's a great tool for families looking for the best award prices to get to Disney World during spring break, for example.
You can even filter alerts by nonstop flights, number of seats, maximum points cost and the airline you want to fly.
The free edition of Seats.aero lets you create alerts for flights within the next 60 days, while Pro extends alerts to 12 months and adds SMS and push notifications. That can give you an edge on the cheap award seats everyone wants. Since you'll be billed in US dollars, pay with a credit card that doesn't charge foreign exchange fees, such as the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite +* Card.
Browser Extension for Google Flights
Since July 2026, Seats.aero has its own browser extension. Once installed, it shows the points price right under the cash price when you look at results on Google Flights, Amex Travel or Chase Travel, with the cost per point and other carrier options for the same program. A Firefox add-on has been available since August 12, 2026.
Redesigned Search Experience
Since July 30, 2026, every user has the new search tables. You pick the level of detail: Quick Compare, Routes Breakdown or Individual Flights. The new tools include:
- Cabin-aware sorting, including "Cheapest by Date" and "Cheapest Nonstop".
- Filters for connecting airports, aircraft type, departure and arrival times, fare codes and flight duration.
- Detailed flight information: connecting partner previews, historical price charts and one-click price drop alerts.
- Customizable results: hide cabin columns, prioritize certain airports and switch between city names and airport codes. Your display and sort preferences are saved.
A fourth view, Calendar, shows you the lowest points price for each day over two months, across every program.
To see what it finds on Montreal–Paris, read our test of the Seats.aero Calendar view.
Other Tools Worth Knowing
Beyond search and alerts, Seats.aero has added a set of tools since 2025 that save time when you plan a trip with points:
- AI assistant: ask about availability or a program's rules in plain language, and let it create your alerts.
- Award release dates: the date each airline opens its award space, so you can book the day the schedule opens.
- Premium cabin finders: ANA, JAL and Lufthansa First, Delta One, Etihad First, Qatar Qsuites and JetBlue Move to Mint, plus the Cathay Pacific, Singapore Advantage, United cardmember and Air Canada eUpgrade finders for Pro members.
- Fare class viewer and alerts (Pro): see how many seats remain in a fare class and get notified when that number changes.
- Points or cash calculator: check whether an award beats paying cash for the same seat.
- Timatic: the visa and entry requirements database airlines use, built into the Tools menu.
- CSV export (Pro) of any Search or Explore result.
Cardholder Pricing
The "Preferred Rates" option is available to all Pro members for United MileagePlus and Delta SkyMiles, and you turn it on in your profile settings. Once it's on, Seats.aero shows the discounted award prices available to eligible cardholders. For United, this also includes extra cardholder-only award inventory, which highlights the flights you're more likely to be able to book. LifeMiles+ subscribers can switch on their own discounted prices in the same place.
Livelo Points for Brazil
Since September 2026, Seats.aero shows flights you can book directly through Livelo, the points program of Brazil's large banks. Its Explore Livelo page lists routes mainly to Brazil, and the search tool also identifies some of Livelo's airline transfer partners, so you can compare the portal price with a transfer.
For a Canadian reader, this is useful if you hold Livelo points through a Brazilian bank account, or if you're planning a multi-city trip in Brazil. No Canadian credit card transfers points to Livelo, so from Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver, Aeroplan and Flying Blue searches remain your best way into South America.
Hotels with rooms.aero
Seats.aero also runs rooms.aero, a free search engine for hotel nights on points. It covers seven programs: Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, World of Hyatt, IHG One Rewards, Wyndham Rewards, Choice Privileges and I Prefer. You can explore an entire region, search a city over a date range, or open a map that shows every tracked hotel with its lowest points price.
Alerts work for a specific hotel or for every hotel in a city, and the tool handles multi-night stays, where hidden availability usually sits. rooms.aero also has a Marriott certificate finder that spots rooms you can book with a free night certificate. Search, exploring and alerts are free for the full year with no account, and a Seats.aero Pro subscription includes rooms.aero.
Bottom Line
The wide program coverage of Seats.aero changes how you can use the points you've collected. By bringing 26 airline programs into one interface, it saves hours of searching site by site.
The 2026 redesign closed most of the gap with Point.me and AwardLogic on looks, and the results remain useful and accurate. Since so many features work without a subscription, it keeps an edge over the other tools available.
To follow new points deals and card offers, sign up for our newsletter.
- Annual fee
- $150
- Our valuationMilesopedia first-year estimate First-year valueWelcome bonus$350Total$350Rewards on your spending are not included. The calculator that adds them from your own profile is on the card's page.
- $350
- Welcome offerAfter $2,000 in 3 months
- Up to 35,000 points
- Ends Nov 1, 2026
Apply Now
on Scotiabank's website
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Seats.aero free?
Yes, for flights within the next 60 days: search, the Explore tool and alerts work without an account. The Pro plan costs $9.99 USD a month or $99.99 USD a year and extends everything to a full year of availability, with live search, SMS alerts and seat maps.
Which airline programs does Seats.aero search?
Twenty-six programs, including Aeroplan, Flying Blue, United MileagePlus, Delta SkyMiles, American AAdvantage, Atmos Rewards, Avianca LifeMiles, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Singapore KrisFlyer and Lufthansa Miles & More, plus Livelo in beta. Each search includes the partner flights that program can book.
Does Seats.aero search Aeroplan award space?
Yes. Aeroplan is one of its core programs, with Air Canada and Star Alliance partner flights. The Tools tab also has an Air Canada eUpgrade finder for Pro members that shows R class inventory for upgrades.
Why can't I find a Seats.aero seat on Aeroplan?
It's often "phantom availability": the seat shows up in search but is gone when you try to book. As of October 2026, Seats.aero explains that most of its results are cached, that some airlines take minutes or hours to sync their inventory, and that some programs wrongly show partner space. Check the Last Seen time, then confirm the seat on Aeroplan's own site before you transfer any points. A program agent can often verify availability by phone and hold the seat while you transfer.
Can you search Avios awards on Seats.aero?
Yes, through two Avios programs: Qatar Airways Privilege Club and Finnair Plus. British Airways Club isn't on the list, but partner award space priced in Avios is the same from one program to the other, so a Qatar Airways search shows what you could book with Avios earned with a Canadian credit card.
Does Seats.aero search Avianca LifeMiles?
Yes. Seats.aero added Avianca LifeMiles back on September 25, 2026, with Avianca and Star Alliance partner flights. LifeMiles+ subscribers can turn on their discounted prices under Cardholder Pricing in their settings.
How do Seats.aero alerts work?
You choose an origin, a destination or both, a date range, a cabin and optional filters such as nonstop only or a maximum points price. Free alerts cover the next 60 days and arrive by email; Pro alerts cover 12 months, can stay active continuously and can be sent by SMS or push notification.
Does the Seats.aero extension work on Google Flights?
Yes. The Chrome extension and the Firefox add-on show the points price under the cash price on Google Flights, Amex Travel and Chase Travel. Users without a subscription see cached prices for the next 60 days; Pro users get live results.
What is Livelo on Seats.aero?
Livelo is the points program of Brazil's large banks. Since September 2026, Seats.aero shows flights you can book directly through Livelo's travel portal and some of its airline transfer partners. It's useful if you hold Livelo points; no Canadian credit card transfers to Livelo.
Does Seats.aero also search hotels on points?
Yes, through rooms.aero, its sister site. It covers Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, World of Hyatt, IHG One Rewards, Wyndham Rewards, Choice Privileges and I Prefer, with region-wide exploring, a map, multi-night searches and free alerts. A Seats.aero Pro account includes it.
For your next Hilton stay, see the Hilton Honors American Express® Card available in Canada and the terms of its current offer.