AwardTool: Another Feature-packed Award Search Tool Worth Exploring

Award search tools have exploded in the last few years. We went from having no options to now having almost too many options. One option for flight award searches that’s been on my radar for a while is AwardTool, and in this article, I explore it in more detail to help you decide if it’s right for you. 

What is AwardTool?

Like our beloved Seats.aero, AwardTool is a search engine designed for travellers looking to redeem points or miles for award flights and hotel stays. It allows users to search across multiple frequent-flyer programs and dates simultaneously, which identifies the most efficient way to use their points currencies. This is as opposed to the archaic method of manually visiting each airline or hotel website and using their (typically day-by-day) search display. 

In practical terms, with AwardTool you enter parameters such as origin, destination, date(s), cabin class (for flights) or hotel-stay parameters (for hotels). The tool then displays award flight availability, required points/miles, and in many cases the equivalent cash cost, making it easier to assess value. 

For flights, you can filter by loyalty program, transferable points currency, number of stops, aircraft type, maximum taxes, maximum number of points, and numerous other criteria. For hotels, you can view both the award-rate and cash-rate side-by-side, which helps compare the value of using points versus paying cash.

Let’s go through all of AwardTool’s features and quirks to help you decide if it’s a tool worth adding to your repertoire. 

Note: In this review, we will focus on flight-related features and not dive too deep into the tool’s hotel features.

Plans and Pricing (Get 30% Off Until Dec 5!)

AwardTool operates on a ‘Freemium’ model, offering a Free version and a PRO version of its application (available exclusively on desktop). The free version provides access to a wide range of features, but is mostly limited in terms of time frames and the number of real-time searches you can perform.

The ‘PRO’ version comes at a cost of just $9.99 USD per month or $94.99 USD per year, offering a modest savings if you opt for the annual plan. There is no trial available, but at $9.99 USD, signing up for one month is not a big commitment. You could also consider teaming up with a few friends in the points and miles community to share the cost of a subscription.

Discount for Frugal Flyer Readers

We recommend AwardTool as one of the fullest featured search tools available. If you end up committing to AwardTool for the longer term by signing up for the annual membership, we are pleased to collaborate with the founder in offering a $20 USD discount 30% discount until Dec 5, 2025. Simply enter the code “FRUGAL30” at checkout to get your discount.

Note that this discount is not in perpetuity – the annual fee will revert to the public rate after the first year. 

To enter the code, complete the following steps:

• Sign up for the free version using our affiliate link: AwardTool
• Click the “Pro” button at the top of the AwardTool page and select the annual plan
• On the check-out screen, click on “Add promotion code” and enter: FRUGAL30

Feature Comparison – AwardTool PRO vs Free Version

Features

Real-time Search with Multiple Airports and Dates

AwardTool’s standout feature is its flexible real-time search capability. Unlike many competitors that restrict you to searching a single origin and destination at a time, AwardTool allows you to search multiple airports and multiple dates simultaneously.

The system operates on what AwardTool calls an “entry” system. Free users get 32 entries over a 15-day advance period, while PRO users get 32 entries valid for 365 days. Think of entries as search combinations – the number of origin airports multiplied by destination airports multiplied by dates must not exceed 32.

Examples of how you can use your 32 entries:

• 1 origin, 1 destination, 32 dates
• 4 origins, 2 destinations, 4 dates
• 8 origins, 4 destinations, 1 date
• 2 origins, 4 destinations, 4 dates

This flexibility is particularly valuable when you’re willing to position yourself to a nearby airport, or when you have multiple potential destinations in mind. For instance, if you’re based in Edmonton but willing to fly from Calgary or Vancouver, you can search all three origins simultaneously against multiple European destinations across several days – all in one search.

The results display in a clean table format that you can customize to view by cabin class in columns or rows, making it easy to compare options at a glance.

Panorama: Discovery Search for Broader Flexibility

When you’re not locked into specific airports or dates, AwardTool’s Panorama feature becomes incredibly useful. This is a cached (not real-time) search that lets you explore award availability across entire regions, countries, or continents.

With Panorama, you can search from broad regions like “North America” to specific countries or airports. Free users can search up to 90 days in advance with a 30-day range, while PRO users get access to a full year of data with a 90-day range.

One particularly nice touch is the ability to filter destinations by vacation type – beach, city, family, honeymoon, foodie, skiing, scuba diving, and more. This makes Panorama excellent for inspiration when you know you want to use your points but haven’t settled on a specific destination.

The downside to Panorama is that results may be several days old by the time you see them. You’ll need to verify availability with a real-time search before getting too excited about any particular result.

Mega Search: Maximum Coverage for Award Hunters

AwardTool’s Mega search takes the standard search and amplifies it, allowing up to 35 simultaneous searches (instead of the standard 32). This could be 35 different dates, 35 different airports, or any combination that multiplies to 35.

The limitation with Mega search is that you can only select up to 6 loyalty programs to search at once (free users are limited to 1-2 programs). While this is a restriction compared to the standard search, the ability to search 35 combinations still makes Mega incredibly powerful for comprehensive award hunting.

Free users get three Mega searches per day, which is reasonably generous for occasional searches. PRO users get unlimited Mega searches, making it practical to use this feature regularly.

You can access Mega Search from the main menu under the  “Tools” dropdown.

Filtering and Sorting: Finding Your Ideal Award

Once you’ve run a search, AwardTool provides advanced filters to narrow down results. You can filter by:

• Loyalty program: Select specific airline programs
• Transfer partners: Filter by which credit card points transfer to the program (Chase, Amex, Citi, etc.)
• Number of stops: Nonstop, one stop, or any
• Airlines: Include or exclude specific carriers
• Maximum points: Set a ceiling on how many points you’re willing to spend
• Premium cabin percentage: Crucial when searching business/first – ensures a minimum percentage of your journey is in premium cabins
• Maximum taxes and fees: Avoid those surprise $500+ surcharge routes
• Flight duration: Set maximum total travel time
• Departure/arrival times: Filter out red-eyes or early morning departures
• Connection time: Set maximum layover duration
• Aircraft type: Search for specific planes (useful for finding lie-flat seats or avoiding certain configurations)

Results can be sorted by lowest points, quickest flights, lowest taxes/fees, departure time, or arrival time. This level of control means you can quickly zero in on awards that meet your specific criteria.

Alert System: Track Your Desired Routes

AwardTool’s alert functionality uses the same entry system as searches. Free users get 3 alert entries, meaning you could set one alert for a single route across 3 dates, or 3 separate single-date alerts. PRO users get 70 alert entries, offering significantly more flexibility.

Alerts can be configured with the same filters available in search results – maximum points, specific flight numbers, excluded airlines, tax limits, and time windows. PRO users also get access to “infinite mode,” which keeps the alert active even after it fires, rather than deleting itself after the first notification.

While the alert system is functional, the entry-based limitation means you can’t set as many wide-ranging alerts as you might with Seats.aero (which offers unlimited alerts in the PRO version). However, AwardTool’s alerts do support real-time searches, which is an advantage over tools that only create alerts based on cached data.

Route Data and Historical Tracking

AwardTool maintains a Routes section that displays cached award availability for specific routes over time. This feature is useful for identifying patterns – for instance, seeing when airlines typically release award space for popular routes, or spotting the best times of year for award availability to your desired destination.

Free users can access 90 days of route data, while PRO users get a full year. This historical perspective can inform your booking strategy, helping you decide whether to book now or wait for better availability.

Supported Loyalty Programs

AwardTool currently searches 26 airline loyalty programs, covering all three major alliances and several independent carriers:

• AeroMexico Club Premier
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards
• American Airlines AAdvantage
• Avianca Lifemiles
• Azul TudoAzul
• British Airways Executive Club
• Copa ConnectMiles
• Delta SkyMiles
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• Finnair Plus
• GOL Smiles
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Lufthansa Miles & More
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• SAS EuroBonus
• Singapore KrisFlyer
• Spirit
• TAP Miles & Go
• Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• Virgin Australia Velocity

This coverage is solid, though it doesn’t match Point.me’s 30+ programs. Some notable absences include ANA Mileage Club and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.

Hotel Search Functionality

While not the focus of this review, it’s worth noting that AwardTool includes hotel search capabilities for Hilton Honors, Hyatt World of Hyatt, IHG One Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy. There aren’t many limitations to the hotel search tool within AwardTool, except that free users can only view a specific hotel’s yearly calendar of availability 3x per day, while PRO users get unlimited access. This is relatively inconsequential in my view, and if that is the type of searching you’re looking for, MaxMyPoint offers the exact same functionality.

The hotel interface shows both cash and award rates side-by-side, making it easy to calculate the value of using points versus paying cash. You can also set award alerts for hotel availability, though these draw from your overall alert entry pool.

Limitations

No award search tool is perfect, and AwardTool has several notable limitations worth understanding before you become a dedicated user.

Bugs and Reliability Issues

Multiple reviewers and users have reported encountering bugs with AwardTool. The development team pushes out new features frequently, but this sometimes comes at the expense of stability. Users have reported error messages during searches, phantom availability (showing seats that don’t actually exist), and occasional discrepancies in pricing compared to airline websites. I also noticed that newer hotels would sometimes not show any availability on the hotel search, when I knew they did in fact have rooms available from checking directly on hotel websites.

While the team appears responsive to bug reports and works to fix issues, the frequency of problems means you shouldn’t rely exclusively on AwardTool. Cross-checking important results with airline websites or other search tools is advisable, and this goes for any 3rd party search tool.

The Entry System Can Be Confusing

While the entry system provides flexibility, it’s not immediately intuitive. Figuring out how to allocate your 32 entries across airports and dates requires some mental math, and it’s easy to hit the limit when you thought you had more searches available.

For users coming from Seats.aero, which allows essentially unlimited airport and date combinations (within reason), the entry-based limitation can feel restrictive. The Panorama feature helps offset this for discovery searches, but it’s still a constraint for real-time searching.

Desktop Only

AwardTool is currently only available as a desktop application. There’s no mobile app or mobile-optimized website, which limits on-the-go searching. For travellers who like to hunt for awards during downtime throughout the day, this is a significant drawback compared to mobile-friendly competitors or competitors with a dedicated mobile application.

Limited Free Version for Discovery Searches

While AwardTool’s free version is generous for real-time searches (32 entries valid for 15 days), the Panorama discovery feature is quite limited for free users. With only 90-day advance access and a 30-day search range, free users may find themselves frustrated when trying to plan trips further out.

Competitors like PointsYeah offer their full discovery tool (60-day range, 365 days out) to free users, making them more generous in this regard.

Some Programs Show Inconsistent Results

As with all award search tools, AwardTool doesn’t always capture every available award, and occasionally shows phantom availability. It’s been frequently noted that Delta SkyMiles results sometimes show incorrect pricing. As always, it’s important to verify availability directly with the airline before getting too excited about a specific award.

Comparison with Other Award Tools

I previously wrote a comprehensive comparison article evaluating numerous award search tools, covering AwardTool alongside PointsYeah, Seats.aero, Roame, and Point.me. Rather than repeat all of that analysis here, I encourage you to check out the article: Award Flight Search Tools Compared.

TLDR: AwardTool stands out for its flexible multi-airport, multi-date real-time searches, making it particularly valuable for travellers with positioning flexibility. However, it faces stiff competition from PointsYeah (similar features with a more polished interface) and Seats.aero (more powerful for discovery searches, unlimited award alerts). The best tool for you depends on your specific search needs and willingness to manage multiple subscriptions.

For free users, we recommend using both AwardTool and PointsYeah in tandem – they complement each other well and give you access to more search entries and alert slots.For paid users, AwardTool’s $94.99 annual price (or $74.99 with our FRUGAL20 code) makes it one of the more affordable PRO options, and the 32-entry real-time search is genuinely powerful for those who value airport flexibility.

Conclusion

AwardTool is a capable, feature-rich award search tool that brings real value to both free and paid users. Its ability to search multiple airports and dates simultaneously in real-time sets it apart from several competitors, and the Mega Search feature provides impressive coverage when you need to cast a wide net.

Like Seats.aero, the tool works best for intermediate to advanced award travellers who understand loyalty programs and are comfortable with a less polished, more technical interface. If you’re looking to position yourself to different airports or have flexibility in your travel dates, as is recommended for award travel booking, AwardTool’s search capabilities can save you significant time.

However, AwardTool isn’t without some frustrations. The bugs and reliability issues mean you shouldn’t treat it as your sole source of truth. The entry-based system, while flexible, adds a layer of complexity that some users may find too complex. And the desktop-only availability limits its usefulness for mobile award hunting if that’s your thing. 

My recommendation:

• Free users: Absolutely sign up for the free version. With 32 real-time search entries and 3 Mega searches per day, there’s no downside to having AwardTool in your toolkit. Pair it with PointsYeah’s free version for maximum coverage.
• Paid users: If you frequently search for awards with positioning flexibility (multiple origin airports) or you like to compare many destinations at once, AwardTool PRO at $74.99/year (with code FRUGAL20) offers good value. However, if you primarily use discovery searches or value unlimited alerts, Seats.aero PRO might be a better fit at $99.99/year.

Award search tools continue to evolve rapidly, and AwardTool is actively adding features and programs. While it has room for improvement in stability and user experience, it’s already earned its place among the best award search tools available to Canadian points and miles enthusiasts.

Have you used AwardTool? What’s been your experience? Share your thoughts in the comments below.