Best Airline Award Ticket Search Tool?
Got points? Here’s a few tips on booking flights
One of the potential difficulties in earning a ton of miles and points via rewards credit cards, especially with constantly changing programs and devaluations, is figuring out how to redeem them. With some flexibility, it can be easy enough, but if you have a very restrictive set of dates, it can get tough to redeem.
Enter award search tools: the likes of ExpertFlyer.com, KVStool.com, and AwardNexus.com, all are designed to make finding award inventory a breeze. As with anything, each of these sites has plusses and minuses, and they all vary quite a bit in terms of the airlines they cover. Let’s take a look at each of them, and hopefully you can decide which one is best for your needs!
ExpertFlyer.com
ExpertFlyer results page
The cost: $9.99/month for Pro, $4.99/month for Basic, Free 5-day trial
The site: www.expertflyer.com
The airlines: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Aer Lingus, Aeroflot, Aerolineas Argentinas, Aeromexico, Air Canada, Air China International, Air Europa Lineas Aereas, Air France, Air India, Air Malta, Air New Zealand, Air Seychelles, Air Tahiti Nui, Alaska Airlines, Alitalia, All Nippon Airways, American Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, AVIANCA, Avianca Brazil, Avianca Costa Rica, Azul, Bangkok Airways, Brussels Airlines, Canadian North, China Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, COPA, Croatia Airlines, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta, Egyptair, El Al, Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Fiji Airways, Finnair, Gol Transportes Aereos, Gulf Air, Hainan Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Hong Kong Express, Iberia, Icelandair, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean Air, LOT, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, Martinair, Philippine Airlines, Qantas Airways, SAS, Saudia, Shanghai Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Siberia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Sri Lankan Airlines, SWISS, TACA, TAP-Air Portugal, Tarom, Thai Airways International, Transaero Airlines, Turkish Airlines, United, VLM Airlines, Xiamen Airlines.
The details: Topping out at 77 airlines currently in their system, ExpertFlyer has been around since 2004, and is a go-to resource for many points people. Other useful tools include time-saving automated alerts (Pro only), seat availability maps, and seat availability alerts. You’ll need the Pro level account for award and upgrade search functionality, which itself offers a +/- three days window — that is a big help when searching for award tickets!
KVS Tool
KVS Tool running in VMware Fusion
The cost: $25/year Gold, $60 Platinum, $75 Diamond.
The site: www.kvstool.com
The airlines: Platinum: Aegean Airlines, Aeroflot, Aeromexico, Air Berlin, Air China, Air Europa, Air France, Air India, Air New Zealand, Alitalia, American Airlines, ANA – All Nippon Airways, AnadoluJet, Asiana Airlines, Avianca, Avianca Brasil, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, COPA, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta Airlines, Egyptair, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, Finnair, Garuda Indonesia, Iberia, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean Air, LACSA, LAN, Lan Argentina, Lan Ecuador, Lan Peru, Middle East Airlines, NIKI, SAS Scandanavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, South African Airways, Sri Lankan Airlines, TACA, TAM, TAP Portugal, Tarom, Thai Airways, Vietnam Airlines.
Diamond: All of the above, PLUS Adria Airways, Aer Lingus, Aerolineas Argentinas, Air Calin, Air Calin, Air Canada, Air Corsica, Air Malta, Air Niugini, Air Seychelles, Air Tahiti Nui, Air Vanuatu, Alaska Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Azul, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Condor, Croatia Airlines, Dragonair, El Al Israel Airlines, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Fiji Airways, Flybe, Frontier, Gulf Air, Hainan Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Hong Kong Express Airways, Icelandair, Island Air, JAL Japan Airlines, Jetstar, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Luxair, Malaysia Airlines, Martinair Cargo, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines, Saudia Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, SilkAir, Singapore Airlines, Swiss International Airlines, Transaero, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia, VLM Airlines, VRG Linhas Aereas, Xiamen Airlines.
The details: KVS Tool is a piece of Windows desktop software – the only one of the bunch that lives on your desktop – that offers three tiers of membership, but only the highest tiers (Platinum and Diamond) have award and upgrade availability search enabled. To that end, pick the tier that covers your required airlines and you’ll be all set. Because it’s Windows-only, Mac users will have to download something like VMware Fusion, which can be inconvenient. But, at the Diamond tier, users have the ability to do a 30-day availability search, which is awesome, and makes KVS a very worthwhile tool if they cover your airlines, and they probably do…
AwardNexus
AwardNexus search builder
The cost: Approximately $0.06/search with current sign-up bonus; free (but limited) accounts available for Flyertalk and InsideFlyer account holders.
The site: www.awardnexus.com
The airlines: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Aeroflot, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Aeromexico, Air Canada, Air China, Air Europa, Air France, Air India, Air New Zealand, airberlin, Airline member requirements, Alitalia, American Airlines, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Avianca, Avianca in Brazil, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, Finnair, Future SkyTeam members, Garuda Indonesia, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean Air, LAN, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, Mexicana, Middle East Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines, Saudia, Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SriLankan Airlines, SWISS, TAM, TAP Portugal, TAROM, THAI, Turkish Airlines, United, Vietnam Airlines, XiamenAir.
The details: AwardNexus feels a lot like it’s designed for power users, but also works and is flexible for beginners. With a unique points-based system, you basically buy points and use them for searches (e.g., 1 point = 1 search on 1 airline in 1 cabin on 1 day; the same search for a 7 day window is 7 points, and so on…), which is really great if you don’t need to search for awards all the time, but rather every several months — you don’t get stuck paying for a subscription that you’re not actively using. Even better is if you have a Flyertalk or InsideFlyer account, you get 100 free credits every 90 days! They cover the three big alliances, so will work for pretty much anyone, too.
In summary…
There isn’t a clear winner here, as they each have their +/-, and a lot of it will come down to your individual use and the number of airlines and destinations you need to book awards for. We have accounts with all of these tools and use them regularly, and given that some tickets we’ve redeemed have approached $20,000 for one way as a revenue fare (Emirates first class award at 155,000 points! Thanks to Amex Membership Rewards), paying a few bucks/month to make securing that ticket for pennies on the dollar really, really worthwhile.
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