How I Used Seats.Aero To Book a Last-Minute Japan Airlines First Class Ticket

For many, including me, points and miles have entirely changed the travel game. Flying long-haul international flights in business and first class on some of the best airlines in the world seemed unattainable, but is now readily accessible.

Earning points and miles is easy for many, but redeeming them for maximum value is infinitely harder. However, even though many airline loyalty programs have been limiting award space, searching for award space has never been easier, thanks to the numerous award search tools that have popped up in the last few years.

One of these award search tools, seats.aero, is my go-to. It helps me find business and first class tickets around the world relatively easily. Recently, I used seats.aero to locate Japan Airlines first class award space; then I was able to book the award ticket in under 5 minutes. Talk about efficiency.

Here’s an in-depth look at the seats.aero platform, how it works, and the special tool that helped me find last-minute Japan Airlines first-class award availability so easily.

What Is Seats.Aero?

Seats.aero is an award search tool that helps locate award space across all 3 major airline alliances, SkyTeam, Oneworld, and Star Alliance. It is a handy tool with nifty features that make searching for award availability easier than ever.

Seats.aero supports more than 15 award programs, including popular ones like Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards, American Airlines AAdvantage, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, United MileagePlus, and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, among others.

In addition to the numerous airline loyalty programs supported, seats.aero has tools such as a specific route award finder and award finders for particular premium cabins.

If you want to dig deeper, check out our full review of seats.aero.

How Much Does Seats.Aero Cost?

Seats.aero is free for everyone to use, but it has some limitations. There is also a paid Pro subscription that offers many more features than the free version.

The Pro version allows members to search for award space a full year in advance (the free version only allows for searches less than 60 days out), gives access to all seats.aero tools, allows for SMS notifications, and provides advanced filters for narrowing down award space.

The Pro version of seats.aero costs $9.99 per month or $99 for an annual subscription.

How Seats.Aero Works

Seats.aero is relatively straightforward in how it works. Instead of having to perform individual award searches, seats.aero automatically checks and refreshes award availability for its many supported programs several times per day. You can then check the database to see what award availability there is, making the process incredibly easy.

However, there are some downsides. Since the award searches aren’t performed in real time, plenty of awards can be unavailable. This is especially true for premium cabin award seats, which can disappear within seconds.

How I Used the JAL First Class Finder Tool

One of the most convenient parts of seats.aero is that it has highly specific award search tools for rare premium cabin award seats. This includes an Air Canada eUpgrade Finder, an ANA First Class Finder, a Japan Airlines First Class Finder, a Lufthansa First Class Finder, and a Qatar Qsuites Finder, among others.

To find a specific premium cabin’s award search tool, click on “Tools” at the top of any page on the seats.aero website. Since I was looking for Japan Airlines first class award space to Tokyo from Europe, I selected the JAL First Class Finder Tool.

From here, I could immediately see plenty of JAL first-class award space. Since I was in Paris at that point, I was thrilled to see award availability from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (HND), including a few incredibly last-minute awards.

Fortunately, I found award space for the exact date I needed. Since Japan Airlines is part of the Oneworld alliance, I could book this award ticket through Oneworld partner airline programs, including American AAdvantage and Qantas Frequent Flyer.

Seats.aero does a great job of displaying award pricing in the far right column. I could use 90,000 AAdvantage miles or 149,800 Qantas points for this specific redemption.

If you click on the “Information” toggle on the right, seats.aero provides more information about the award booking and suggests alternative programs.

For this redemption, seats.aero had a message that the flight could be booked for far fewer miles (and by extension, taxes and fees) by booking through American AAdvantage instead of Qantas Frequent Flyer.

From seats.aero, I headed straight to the American Airlines website to see if the award space were still there. Fortunately, there were several seats available in Japan Airlines first class.

Overall, Seats.aero makes the award search process incredibly easy, especially with its fantastic award search tools. What once took me more than 30 minutes can now be done in less than a few minutes.

Final Thoughts

Seats.aero is an easy-to-use award search engine that quickly finds award availability. With its straightforward user interface and fantastic award tools, I found Japan Airlines first-class award space and booked one of the most premium cabins in the world, in under 5 minutes.