FlyerTalk member, ckpeter, has developed an online tool for searching award inventory on multiple Star Alliance and oneworld carriers. Available at www.awardnexus.com, site users can conduct real-time searches and view recent searches. The tool is a time-saver because it will search for awards across many airlines at once and you can search for awards a week at a time if your dates are flexible. We searched for a roundtrip award flight from Denver to Amsterdam in October and the tool came up with 16 possible routings. You can also use the Route Builder and search for awards segment by segment if a simple search does not pull up any availability.

The site is in beta form and you must be a member of FlyerTalk to check it out. The service is free but ckpeter requests that you send both positive and negative feedback to him and let him know whether the site is useful to you and if you have any suggestions. You can read the FlyerTalk discussion on awardnexus.com at http://insideflyerus.wpengine.com/link/?2763

Be sure to check out the “Tips for finding award” section for more information about how to successfully search for awards. The tool pulls information from the airlines’ Web sites, which don’t display all available awards, so calling the service center is still sometimes necessary.