Long-time readers of InsideFlyer know that I have a real soft spot for tools and ‘hacks’ that genuinely make the points/miles game easier. If you’re a fellow Avios enthusiast, you’ll also probably be far too familiar with a common frustration: finding the British Airways reward space you really need is often difficult and time-consuming.

Even if you eventually find a date that shows availability, that’s not the end of the story. Maybe it’s a morning flight when you need the evening one, or perhaps it’s from an airport that’s a pain to get to. Whatever the specific issue, searching can be a slog, and for years, even the best tools had a painful limitation: they only showed day-to-day availability.

Well, that frustration is finally over. Reward Flight Finder recently rolled out a flight-by-flight availability tool. This isn’t just a minor update, it’s the difference between settling for a reward seat and booking the perfect one.

So, What Is Reward Flight Finder’s New Tool (And Why Should I Care)?

The new flight-by-flight tool gives you a level of control that simply wasn’t possible before. You can now pinpoint (and set alerts for!) Avios reward space on the exact flight you want, not just the day.

Here are just a few examples of why that matters:

• Fly from the Airport That Works for You. British Airways flies to New York from both London Heathrow and London Gatwick. If you live south of the city, now you can simply filter your search to only track reward flights from Gatwick.
• Get the Exact Flight Time You Want. Thinking of a BA reward flight to Cape Town? They fly three times a day. If you prefer to have dinner in the city and get a proper night’s sleep on the plane, you can now limit your search to only the late-night flight. The tool won’t waste your time showing you times you don’t want.
• Find Your Dream Aircraft. Are you an A380 enthusiast who loves the Upper Deck seat? You don’t have to settle for the Boeing 777 flights. You can track that specific flight number and bag the aircraft you actually want. This also applies to finding planes with the new British Airways Club Suite, like the A350s and 787-10s.
• Don’t Travel Alone. Have your friends already booked their seats, leaving you to desperately refresh your browser? Not anymore. You can now set an alert for the specific flight number and date your friends are on, and the tool will let you know the moment a seat opens up.
• Pick the flight you’ve already booked and grab an easy upgrade. Use your points to move up to the next cabin on a flight you’ve already booked. The trick is to be ready. Just set an alert for your specific flight and you’ll be notified when a seat becomes available.

Searching for flight availability and setting alerts is nice and simple. You can even set the search to show only off-peak availability, as well as choose the specific date(s)/time(s) etc that you want:

What’s the Downside?

Right now, flight-by-flight search and alerts are only available to Reward Flight Finder Gold members, which costs £7.99 a month (~$11), or £79.99 (~$110) a year (a 20% discount on the monthly price).

The good news is that there is a 7 day free trial available, so you can try out Reward Flight Finder Gold for yourself. If you don’t like it, cancelling is easy.

Obviously, free Gold membership forever would be ideal – but if you frequently book flights using Avios, or are trying to confirm something particular, that £7.99 could save you a significant amount of time and hassle. It’s not a lot of money if the alternative is hours of clicking and trawling through the BA website. Not to mention the cash savings you can enjoy from the reward seat bookings you manage to get thanks to the tool, for less than you’re likely to spend on takeaway coffee each month.

Gold membership also includes all the following features too:

Unlimited reward seat searches – look for reward seats as often as you like, with no limits.

Instant reward seat Alerts – we’ll notify you as soon as your preferred reward seats are released so you can get ahead of the crowd and get them booked.

Access to our Worldwide Map tool – we’ll show you all the destinations with reward seat availability on the dates you want to travel, to help inspire your next Avios adventure.

The ability to set up to 20 Alerts at once – so you can keep track of multiple destinations at once.

Advanced Alert settings – to make sure you can tailor your Alerts to your exact preferences.

SMS Alerts – just in case you miss that Alert email.

Point pricing information – so you know how many points and taxes you’ll pay before you get to the booking page.

Bottom Line

I book dozens of flights using points/miles (mostly Avios) each year. Anything that makes finding the reward space I actually want quicker and easier is, frankly, a godsend.

That said, even if you only book the occasional flight using Avios, I still think this could be potentially useful – not least for high-demand destinations where availability gets snapped up fast.

Remember: you can sign up for a 7 day free trial of Reward Flight Finder Gold here.

What’s the most frustrating reward flight search you’ve ever had? Let me know in the comments below.