ExpertFlyer: your secret weapon for finding frequent flyer award flights

By Chris C., January 4 2018
ExpertFlyer: your secret weapon for finding frequent flyer award flights

Over the Christmas / New Year break, Australian Business Traveller will be revisiting some of our most popular articles of 2017. We’re still around to report on any breaking news during this time, otherwise our regular publishing schedule will resume on Monday January 8, 2018.

Scouring an airline’s website to find and book reward flights using your frequent flyer points can be a tedious process – especially when those options can be limited – but what if there was a faster and simpler way to locate those reward flights?

That's just one of the many features of ExpertFlyer – software which is considered the 'secret weapon' of frequent travellers.

ExpertFlyer is a paid service starting at US$4.99/month (A$6.60), and while it lacks a smartphone app or slick interface, this Web-based app has plenty of tricks up its sleeve.

In addition to locating available points-based award seats on any given day, you can also set alerts to notify you when a reward flight becomes available on the dates you need to travel.

This works with many major airlines including Qantas, Virgin Australia, Emirates, British Airways, Delta, Malaysia Airlines and United.

Here's how to use ExpertFlyer to plan and book a Qantas business class frequent flyer award ticket from Sydney to Los Angeles, which is one of the hardest-to-find reward options across the airline’s entire network.

Searching for Qantas flights with ExpertFlyer

ExpertFlyer subscribers can search for Qantas reward flights by logging in to their ExpertFlyer account and clicking the ‘Awards & Upgrades’ button.

Then, just plug in the route, airline and reward type you’re looking for (such as business class or first class), and click ‘search’:

Also checked was the ‘+/- 3 days’ option to search across an entire week rather than a single day, with the next screen revealing exactly what’s available during that period:

[You can click on the image above to enlarge it.]

Among the results, we can see that no business class reward flights were available on May 22 2017, but that a Boeing 747 reward flight could be booked using points on May 23 and that an Airbus A380 service could also be secured on May 24 when using frequent flyer points.

Armed with this information, we can head straight to the Qantas website and book our reward flight.

(While ExpertFlyer can search for available frequent flyer reward flights, you still need to make the actual booking directly with Qantas.)

Booking your Qantas reward flight

Not only does ExpertFlyer make it quick and easy to find reward flights, it also cuts out much of the ‘blind searching’ you’d normally need to do via Qantas’ own site.

That’s because Qantas’ website will present all available options across a number of airlines – they won’t necessarily be on the airline of your choice or non-stop, nor will they always be in the class that you’re searching for.

For example, we searched for reward flights on similar dates via Qantas’ own website, and at first glance there appeared to be plenty of availability:

But let’s take a look at Thursday May 25. The ‘seat’ icons above suggest that business class will be available on that date (in addition to premium economy and economy), but when we click through, only economy reward seats are available on Qantas:

(It’s only when you get to the very bottom of the page that you’ll find a business class option from Sydney to LA via Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific, adding at least 10 extra hours to an already-long journey and requiring more points than flying non-stop with Qantas.)

However, armed with the information we have from our ExpertFlyer search, we no longer need to open every date and keep our fingers crossed for something to pop up: we can instead simply click on May 24 when we know a business class award will be available on QF11 to LAX:

Be alerted when reward flights become available

Planning a trip with your partner but can’t find two reward options on the same flight?

Then create an ExpertFlyer ‘flight alert’, which will email you as soon as something comes up.

On the ExpertFlyer search results page (shown above), just click the small exclamation mark next to your desired flight, choose the type of reward you’re hunting for (in this case, business class), and how many of those rewards need to become available to trigger your alert:

Alerts are created on a flight-by-flight basis, so you might consider setting alerts on a number of suitable flights or across several days to maximise your chances if the trip is a little flexible.

As soon as that alert hits your inbox, you’ll be able to jump onto Qantas.com, key in your dream date and book your flight using points, without the usual rigmarole – and if nothing opens up, it’ll still save you time in not having to search every day or week in the lead up to your trip.

ExpertFlyer subscription pricing

ExpertFlyer offers two types of paid subscriptions that enable reward searching, among other things: 'Pro Basic' for US$4.99/month (A$6.60) and 'Pro Premium' for US$9.99/month (A$13.25) or US$99/year (A$131.20).

New customers are also treated to a free five-day trial of Pro Premium, and if you find the software useful, we'd suggest you take a look at the paid Premium option over the discounted Basic plan.

That's because Pro Basic doesn't allow you to search for awards week-by-week as we've done above (instead, only day-by-day), nor can you set flight alerts.

There's also a limit to how many searches you can perform every month under Basic, but no limit under Premium – so especially if you're planning several trips, you may find Pro Premium the best option.

Also read: How to get Qantas Gold frequent flyer perks in a single trip

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.

Could not agree more. The annual fee of USD 99.99 is worth every cent. The transparency it provides to the airline reservation system, not only of award inventory but other things like flight availability, ticket prices, fare rule information, seating information, airport MCT etc is immeasurable. 

More importantly Expertflyer Is a stepping stone to learn more about the airline reservations and booking systems. After all the market only works well when there isn't asymmetry in information between buyers and sellers.

14 Aug 2014

Total posts 17

reward or award?

24 Apr 2012

Total posts 2432

Both are one and the same, so we've included both as some readers will be more familiar with one and others with the other.

For many years, Qantas also referred to its frequent flyer seats as 'awards', but now tends to use the term 'rewards' – both mean the same thing.

Emirates Airlines - Skywards

07 Sep 2012

Total posts 146

Have been a subscriber to EF for about 4 years now and as The RealBabushka said, it's well worth the money for the level of information you have access to. Since subscribing, in all those 4 years I've only once missed an upgrade to J that I was really looking for.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

04 Oct 2015

Total posts 5

The seat alert function is great. You can specify individual seats on a specific flight and get an email if any becomes available. You can also regularly check the entire seat map and capacity, simply by using the edit function for a saved alert - rather than having to log into your QFF (or aother) account and go through the whole seat selection process for each flight in a multi city booking. 

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

28 Dec 2015

Total posts 4

Thanks Chris. I presume expert flyer will show award availability for everyone (ie seats that are available to bronze ff members?) is there any way of searching on expert flyer seats that are available to higher tier ff members? 

Emirates Airlines - Skywards

07 Sep 2012

Total posts 146

No - EF is 'Status Neutral'. It tells you seat inventory (and a myriad of other things) based on the airlines own seat class codes, but it couldn't care less what your personal FF status actually is.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

13 May 2016

Total posts 14

Quick question about expertflyer.  I am a member and I am confouded as to why I Cathay Pacific isn't in the list of searchable arlines for Award and Upgrade seats, but is searchable for regular seat availability.  Is this because they have a different system for allocating reward seats - like not a separate bucket?  I'm hoping that there is a there a letter code for business reward that I can look for in the search results in the regular availabilty section for the flight I'm searching?  I totally agree - the QF website is tedious - I hate the whole "your flight from Sydney to Hong Kong will be in economy"... Then don't say there's business avaiable on that date!!!!! Thanks 

24 Apr 2012

Total posts 2432

Hi Dan, Cathay Pacific's business class reward bucket is 'U', but it's my understanding that ExpertFlyer doesn't have access to search CX U inventory (so you likely won't see it pop up via the regular Flight Availability search). As to why, you'd have to ask ExpertFlyer.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

13 May 2016

Total posts 14

Thanks Chris

Emirates Airlines - Skywards

07 Sep 2012

Total posts 146

syd_dan - I had the same problem with JAL. Their Business upgrade code does not appear in the EF search engine, BUT a neat trick to get around this problem is to make yourself a member of BA's Executive Club and then use the search engine inside that portal to look  for upgrade possibilities on the Cathay flight you're interested in, It works perfectly for me with JAL and as Cathay is OW as well it may work for them too.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

13 May 2016

Total posts 14

Thanks for the tip Brian - I'll give it a go.

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

21 Aug 2013

Total posts 138

Etihad, Virgin Australia & Virgin Atlantic award searches (in other words, full functionality searches that include awards, seat maps et al) have now been made available on Expert Flyer.

QFF

19 Sep 2013

Total posts 205

I have seen CX award seats when searching BA awards on EF, so is there any advantage to join BA FF?  Agree with other posters - EF is great when looking for award flights.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

09 Sep 2013

Total posts 188

I believe so Grov - I have used them many times to find award/reward seats on OW airlines.  Some users state that they cant join the BA Club as a UK address is needed, however I have my home address in Perth listed and havealways been able to search wothout a problem.

Emirates Airlines - Skywards

07 Sep 2012

Total posts 146

Yep, BA wants a UK address but I just dug out the address of the Golders Green youth hostel from my younger travelling days, and it worked like a charm. Any legit UK address will work.

gsx
gsx

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

14 Aug 2015

Total posts 34

Does EF show you seat availability without having a booking ? like you can do on the AA website shows the available seats in any cabin class as part of the timetable search.

Emirates Airlines - Skywards

07 Sep 2012

Total posts 146

It certainly does Colin - that's one of the main uses of it. The ability to research seat availability in order to maximise your chances of getting an instantaneous upgrade, assuming you have the miles in hand.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

25 Jan 2013

Total posts 240

Expert Flyer looks like a great tool. Would it still work with alliances and code shares? 


That is, say if I spend SQ points on an LX flight or VA points to NZ?

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

21 Aug 2013

Total posts 138

Yes, it does. It has specific searches available for codeshares and/or alliances. For the latter part of your question, yes also; however, you must search for an award seat to be available with the carrier whose metal you will be flying on e.g. a Virgin Velocity award redemption for a flight on Etihad metal (an actual Etihad plane) entails a requirement to search for ETIHAD award availability in the relevant class (First, Business etc); NOT Virgin.

12 Dec 2017

Total posts 1

Do you have to have the points available for the flight requested.I transfer Amex points to the account once I find a flight.

Emirates Airlines - Skywards

07 Sep 2012

Total posts 146

No BarryC - you can make any search you like regardless of whether or not you currently have the points in your account to cover your upgrade. I'm the same as you with my Amex points. I only transfer them across when I find the seat I want, and if I don't already have enough 'native' points for that airline.

04 Jan 2018

Total posts 4

Does this include Singapore Airlines too? I'm thinking not, but wanted to double check... trying to secure reward J for 2 people to Europe (Rome) with VFF points in July/August this year.

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

21 Aug 2013

Total posts 138

Yes, @JD2018, SQ & almost all inventory for almost all major carriers is available on ExpertFlyer; not 100%, but as close as most people would ever need, anyway! A complete list is listed in this URL: https://www.expertflyer.com/sessionlessClassList.do

04 Jan 2018

Total posts 4

Thanks so much @nathanjordan for your response - sounds like a worthy investment then!

24 Apr 2012

Total posts 2432

JD: Note that while ExpertFlyer has a search option for Singapore Airlines awards, it only returns awards which are available to all of its airline partners (e.g. when using United miles). Velocity has access to more awards on SQ than ExpertFlyer will show (Velocity points can be used to book SQ A380 and Boeing 777-300ER flights which won't show as available through ExpertFlyer), and members of SQ's own KrisFlyer scheme can sometimes book even more rewards than are open to Velocity members - so if you're using points from either of those programs, you're best to just search through the appropriate website (Velocity for VFF, KrisFlyer website for KrisFlyer miles).

05 Jan 2018

Total posts 56

ExpertFlyer shows AAnytime Awards availability in J but Qantas says no.
Hi- wonder if any of the bloggers and commentators here can help.
We’re looking at booking some flights back from the US for Q3 this year and when I search EF, it shows plenty of J availability in the AAnytime Business Awards bucket with both connections and date flexibility and the number of seats we needed. It even shows availability on CX via SFO on the nice new A350 that CX are now flying.
Excited I call QF Premium desk and the very helpful operator does heaps of searching and whot-not and declares there are no AA flights with availability on those dates.
Am confused how this is the case. What am I missing here? I am booking Qantas Classic Rewards in Business.

24 Apr 2012

Total posts 2432

You need to search for MileSAAver awards which are the most restrictive reward type. AAnytime is only relevant when spending AA miles.


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