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If you’re interested in securing upgrades or award tickets on most airlines then you’ll want to take advantage of ExpertFlyer‘s alert function. There are a couple of different ways to access the alerts, and I’ll show you which one I typically use, but also another that is faster if you know how to input the information.
How ExpertFlyer Alerts work
Usually you’ll want to set an alert when award availability isn’t currently populating, or when you’re seeking an upgrade and want notification when the space has opened up. I use this all the time personally and for award clients and highly recommend it. With that said…it’s not without it’s faults.
- Set an alert
- When it becomes available you’ll receive an email
In practice, I’ve found the service to lag a bit. On muliple occasions I’ve been so obsessed with finding award space that I’ve stumbled upon it prior to Expertflyer sending me an alert.
How I usually set an alert.
Usually, I search for award space first, and then within the search function utilize the alert service that is embedded. That sounds super complicated, but in reality it’s quite easy and straight forward.
After you login you’ll want to start an Award and Upgrade Search – it’s the top button on the left. I just upgraded a BA flight from business to first so I’ll walk you through how I went about doing that on a random date.
Here’s LAX to LHR on 1/14/20. First we search for any business and first space so you can see the difference in fare code.
Next we see the populated results. Nothing is available. You want to click the ! icon in the upper fight.
Now you’re in the embedded alert function
You’ll ask for an alert for the inventory you want, or in this case, Z space which correlates to first class. In this inquiry we select one seat, but note that you can select as many as you like.
I use this functionality because Z isn’t always first class, and it doesn’t always correlate to upgrade space. For this reason alone, it’s easiest to use the search and create flight alert function embedded because it auto populates the correlated fare bucket with the cabin of service. I’ll show you the alternate way
The second way you can set an ExpertFlyer alert
There is a function on the home screen that will take you directly into flight alerts. As you can see below, you’d simply click ” create new flight alert. ”
You’ll then see this search form.
I went ahead and filled it out, but if you’re unfamiliar with the class code that you need, you’ll have to do a search to see a list of codes. That function can be accessed with the “click her” but in my opinion it’s more arduous to use this function than to just search for space and use the embedded alert function.
Either way, when the space becomes available you’ll receive an email alerting you to its availability.
Here’s what you can expect to receive
Dear Miles the Monkey,This is a notification that your Flight Alert “BAFirst12/30” has located at least 1 availability opening(s) at this time.
——————————————————————————-
For: BA282/First – Award & Upgrade (Z)
From: LAX to LHR
Date: 12/30/19 4:20 PM
——————————————————————————-Please log in (https://www.expertflyer.com) to view further information regarding this flight.
Thank you,
The ExpertFlyer.com Team
And here’s how we flew after using 25k Avios for the upgrade
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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