How to use your points and miles: A guide to finding flight award availability with major airlines

Becoming a pro at award travel involves two main skills: earning points and miles, and redeeming them wisely. Master the first with the best travel rewards credit cards, but the real challenge often lies in redeeming them effectively.

At TPG, we show you how to maximize the value of your transferable Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Capital One miles, Wells Fargo Rewards points, and Bilt Rewards points. However, many travelers struggle to find available award space.

Unfortunately, there's no one-size-fits-all trick to make searching for award space easier. Each airline and award engine has its own strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes the flight you're looking for won't show up in the search results, so you may need to try a different program with a more advanced search tool and then book with your preferred points or miles.

Several external tools can assist you in searching for award availability across major loyalty programs.

Use apps or third-party tools to search for airline award availability

Various apps and websites now let you search across multiple airlines, alliances, and reward programs all at once, so you don’t have to worry about which loyalty program to search through.

If you're new to ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG’s parent company, Red Ventures), check out our beginner's guide to using ExpertFlyer for award searches to get familiar with the platform. ExpertFlyer lets you search for award seats across most major airlines in one place. You can search up to seven days at once and look for different cabin classes (like first and business class) in a single query.

Alternatively, Point.me is a paid online service that searches for award seats across more than 100 airlines. You can enter your desired route, travel dates, and number of passengers, and Point.me will present you with real-time award flight options. It also highlights which credit card points can be transferred to airline partners, and how many points you’ll need to book.

In our experience, the platform doesn't always deliver perfectly accurate information (for example, taxes and fees can be off, and award availability sometimes isn’t correct), but it’s still a solid tool to begin your search. If you need to plan a specific or urgent trip, you can purchase a 24-hour pass or opt for an annual subscription.

Bilt Rewards users can access a limited version of Point.me for free through the Bilt Rewards app. Similar to the full version, you can search for award flights, but the free version only displays results from Bilt’s transfer partners. If you want to transfer your Bilt Rewards points to an airline for booking tickets, this is a great way to try Point.me without any cost.

In a similar vein, American Express has teamed up with the award search app. Certain Amex cardholders can access a complimentary version of the service, which shows award flight availability available for booking with Membership Rewards transfer partners.

You may also want to explore platforms like Roame, Seats.aero, Awayz, and Pointhound, which provide all-in-one tools for searching and booking your next award travel.

Search for award availability with North American carriers

At first glance, you might notice that some well-known airlines are absent from this list. For instance, if you plan to use points with Southwest Airlines or Spirit Airlines, you'll need to book directly through their respective loyalty programs. This way, you can skip the need to search through partner airlines for award availability.

In addition to searching for award seats within a specific airline’s program, it’s wise to compare mileage costs on partner loyalty programs as well. Below are some of our recommended partner programs to check out for better redemption options.

U.S. legacy airlines are some of the easiest to work with, thanks to their well-developed and comprehensive search tools.

These programs are increasingly adopting dynamic pricing, meaning that if you're using United miles, it’s best to start your search directly with United before checking with any partners, as booking with a partner may incur higher surcharges.

One of the major drawbacks of dynamic pricing is the reduced availability of saver awards, which makes it harder to find good deals on partner award sites. If you're hoping to book United flights through a partner like Avianca LifeMiles or Aeroplan to get a better rate, it’s crucial to check availability directly with that partner program first.

Look up award availability for European airlines

European loyalty programs provide excellent flight deals, whether you're flying business class to Europe for as low as 34,000 credit card points or booking domestic flights within continental North America starting at just 11,000 points.

Here’s how you can find the best award availability:

How to book a first-class flight to Europe

Lufthansa's first-class service is arguably one of the finest ways to travel between the U.S. and Europe using points and miles, but be cautious when searching for award space and booking your flight. Lufthansa typically only releases first-class award space to its partners a few days before departure, so flexibility with your travel dates is essential.

Aeroplan charges just 90,000 points for a one-way flight from the East Coast to Europe in Lufthansa first class, or 100,000 points from the West Coast, with low taxes and fees of about $50. A major benefit of Aeroplan is that you can add a stopover for just 5,000 points on a one-way ticket. Lufthansa flights can be booked through Aeroplan’s online portal.

When booking business-class flights on other Star Alliance airlines (since Lufthansa is the only one that regularly releases first-class award space to its partners), compare redemption rates through Avianca LifeMiles and Air Canada Aeroplan to find the best pricing for your desired route. Award availability should be consistent across all partners, so whichever program you choose to book with will likely make it easier if you already have miles in that program.

Oneworld flights to Europe

In general, American AAdvantage will give you the best chances for booking Oneworld partner flights like American, British Airways, and Iberia to Europe. For the best rates, book Iberia flights with Iberia Plus Avios or British Airways Avios. Also, AAdvantage miles often offer better value for connecting flights compared to Avios, since British Airways charges per segment based on distance.

All Oneworld programs add significant fuel surcharges to British Airways flights, but you can minimize these costs by booking with Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. Asia Miles typically charges about half of the fuel surcharges compared to other Oneworld programs.

Search award availability for Asian airlines

Finding award space to Asia can be more challenging than booking domestic flights or routes to and from Europe, especially in premium cabins. Here are some of the top strategies to increase your chances of securing a seat.

How to score an excellent deal flying ANA to Japan

If you're looking to fly ANA, booking through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is usually the best option. Despite recent devaluations, business class awards with ANA start at just 105,000 points round-trip, offering great value. These tickets cannot be booked directly on the Virgin Atlantic website, so you’ll need to find saver award space on the ANA or United website first, then call Virgin Atlantic to confirm availability before transferring your points to make the booking.

Keep in mind that premium cabin availability on ANA is quite limited, and the ideal times to search are either far in advance or last minute.

Explore award availability with additional airlines

General tips for searching airline award redemptions

Now that you know where to look for award availability on your next journey, let's explore a few strategies to streamline the process.

Search by individual segments

A strange but common feature of many award search tools is that you may receive different results when searching for your entire itinerary versus searching one leg at a time.

If you find availability for individual segments, even if the whole trip appears in a single search result, you can likely call the airline and book it as one award without significant issues.

Consider connecting flights

In some cases, airlines may offer more award seats on connecting routes compared to direct ones. This happens because airlines assume passengers will be willing to pay more for nonstop flights, leading to fewer connecting flight bookings and potentially more available seats.

By applying the 'married segment' strategy in your next search, you might uncover long-haul premium cabin availability that you didn't realize was there. Try expanding your search to connect through cities like Amsterdam (AMS) to reach additional destinations with a comprehensive tool such as Seats.Aero.

You might find more available seats if you're open to flying to a slightly different destination than initially planned.

Prepare ahead and take notes

While many airline agents are helpful, you'll have better success if you take the time to do some research yourself before making the call.

Before calling to book an award flight, make sure you know the specific dates and flight numbers you want, and communicate this clearly at the start of your conversation.

Once you've told the agent your destination, say something like, 'I have the flight numbers ready whenever you are,' to save time and avoid them trying to search for options themselves.

If you've done the legwork to confirm award space and validate your route, these calls will be much smoother.

The takeaway

Finding and booking award flights, especially for premium cabin seats on long-haul flights, can be one of the most challenging aspects of award travel.

More third-party apps and websites are now available that can save you time by searching across multiple programs and airlines for a small monthly fee.

If you have a preferred airline, use the tables above to check for available award space and ensure you're aware of the lowest price before transferring any credit card points and finalizing your booking.