New Seats.Aero feature: Find the cheapest mileage programme to redeem with

Every mileage programme has its own set of partners, rules and award pricing, which means that for a given destination, one programme could offer significantly better value than another.

For example, a one-way Business Class award between Singapore and Europe would cost 103,500 miles if redeemed via KrisFlyer, but 75,000 miles through EVA Infinity MileageLands. Since Citi credit card points transfer at the same ratio to both programmes, redeeming through EVA gives you much better value.

But I don’t know each and every mileage programmes’ pricing at the back of my hand— could there be an even cheaper way of flying to Europe?

If you’ve found yourself wondering the same thing, you’re really going to like Seats.Aero’s latest feature…

Seats.Aero’s new “lowest cost” feature

Seats.Aero sign-up

Seats.Aero has added a new feature that shows alternative booking options for award flights, potentially flagging even cheaper ways of booking the same award.

Ever wondered if there was a better way to book the award you just found? With our new Book 🏷️ button next to each flight, you can easily view confirmed and estimated prices across 50+ mileage programs for that specific flight.

For mileage programs we don’t support directly, we can estimate the price and availability based on that program’s award chart. Now you can view pricing for LifeMiles, British Airways Avios, JAL Mileage Bank and ANA Mileage Club, EVA Infinity MileageLands, Cathay Asia Miles, and more!

-Seats.Aero

For example, suppose I want to fly from Singapore to London in Business Class. Seats.Aero shows me that there’s award space on British Airways via Qatar Privilege Club, for 110,000 miles.

But is this the cheapest way of booking this flight? By clicking on “Book”, I can see alternative booking options (I think the button would be better labelled as “Alternatives” actually, since “Book” might make people think they can book the flights via Seats.Aero).

This shows me that I could book the same seat via Cathay Pacific Asia Miles instead for 89,000 miles, or JAL Mileage Bank for 80,000 miles. And indeed, I can!

What’s nice about this feature is that it shows prices from 50+ mileage programmes, not just the 23 supported by Seats.Aero (e.g. Seats.Aero doesn’t support Asia Miles, but it could still tell me that this seat would cost less via Asia Miles).

The main limitation is that it doesn’t show the absolute cheapest option for this route (e.g. SIN-LHR). Instead, it shows the cheapest option for this particular flight (e.g. British Airways from SIN-LHR). But if Seats.Aero already knows the pricing via various programmes, such a feature shouldn’t be difficult to implement.

Do note that this feature is currently only available for Pro users, and for direct flights. For example, it doesn’t show cheaper ways of booking this Sri Lankan Airlines flight that routes from SIN-CMB-LHR, because there’s a connection involved.

However, Seats.Aero says that it will soon be available for free users and connecting options, so that’s something to look forward to.

What programmes does Seats.Aero support?

At the time of writing, Seats.Aero shows award space for a total of 23 frequent flyer programmes.

This offers extensive coverage of all three major alliances, as well as programme-specific partners (e.g. FlyDubai with Aeroplan).

Seats.Aero now supports KrisFlyer as well– at least in theory. The engine has been down for weeks now, with no ETA for resolution (you can still find Singapore Airlines award seats though, to the extent that they’re released to partners like Aeroplan and Alaska Mileage Plan). 

How do I use Seats.Aero?

Seats.Aero is an incredible award search tool, and has saved me countless hours of searching. 

While there is a free version you can test drive, the Pro version is much more useful. This costs US$9.99 a month or US$99.99 a year (there was a 30% off sale during Black Friday in 2024), but it’s money well spent in my opinion.

For a detailed guide to using Seats.Aero, refer to my post below.

Seats.Aero guide: Find award seats, the fast and painless way

Conclusion

Seats.Aero’s latest feature helps you find the cheapest mileage programme for booking a particular itinerary, potentially saving thousands of miles.

At the moment, it’s limited to Pro users and direct flights, but will be rolled out to free users and connecting flights in due course. I also hope they’ll add the ability to find the cheapest option for a given route, as opposed to a specific flight— the kind of functionality that AwardHacker used to offer before the site was abandoned.