Pro Tool: ExpertFlyer Premium

It’s taken me a few years to finally buy into ExpertFlyer‘s Premium subscription but it paid off within the first couple of days. I signed up for their 5 day free trial of the Premium subscription to test out the SWU (Systemwide Upgrade) alerts for American Airlines. The email and text message alert stating there was upgrade space available (C Fare Class) in Business Class for my flight from LAX to SYD made my day. American Airlines didn’t automatically clear my upgrade so knowing more than what the phone agents know really helps.

I had used the Seat Alerts app with the free subscription and found value in knowing the seating chart of my flight. The premium subscription takes it one step further. It allows you to search for award/upgrade availability on more than 80 airlines as well as find flight availability for over 400 airlines with detailed information about the fare class codes. To utilize the most useful feature, be sure to set alerts if you don’t find availability of what you’re looking (upgrades, awards, standby fare class code, etc.) for as they will alert you right away if it becomes available.

The source of ExpertFlyer’s data is provide by two GDS services and is well worth the $99 per year subscription if you fly multiple times a year and are trying to redeem miles. It gives you the power of information that most travel agencies have access to so you’ll need to be an expert to use it.

I look forward to providing some more real life examples during 2017 when I can use it along with my American Airlines Executive Platinum status which I just qualified for this month.

Check it out!

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8 Responses

  1. January 31, 2017

    […] checkin! The alert for Business Class award seat availability came from my new favorite tool, ExpertFlyer. I had setup multiple alerts for +/- 2 days around my scheduled departure date. Virgin Australia […]

  2. April 3, 2017

    […] 10AM (T-36 before LAX-SYD AA73): I received a notification from ExpertFlyer stating there is upgrade space (C Class) to Business Class. In order to ensure my gifted SWU […]

  3. May 29, 2018

    […] the flight time than Abu Dhabi to Sydney. I searched for Etihad award ticket availability using ExpertFlyer and locked in a ticket using American Airlines miles which cost 62,500 miles plus $247 in taxes […]

  4. February 10, 2019

    […] Apartment Class from AUH to JFK using 110,000 miles one way. To find Etihad availability, I used ExpertFlyer and then called American’s Australian call center to book the […]

  5. May 28, 2019

    […] Business & First Class award seats. If the airline isn’t listed, you can always use ExpertFlyer which offers 7 days of availability in 1 […]

  6. May 30, 2020

    […] on miles/points. I was only able to secure 1 First Class seat at the time of booking, but I set an ExpertFlyer alert in case they opened up a seat closer to departure. Sure enough, 48 hours prior to the flight Cathay […]

  7. October 3, 2020

    […] on a First Class award to be available at the 40,000 miles level which is P Class if you are using ExpertFlyer. Hawaiian Airlines only offers lie-flat beds on their A330-200 […]

  8. November 11, 2023

    […] helping the Miles & Points community. Even though there is some overlap, I still maintain a ExpertFlyer Premium subscription as ExpertFlyer helps with other data such as seat maps and fare class […]

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