The new Avios reward flight search tool is great, apart from these things

The other week, we brought you the news about the launch of the new and improved Avios Reward Flight search.

It's great, but it's not perfect, so here are a few things we would like to see changed.

355 days in advance?

Neither the Avios website, nor the Avios app appear to show flights 355 days in advance, only up to the end of July. Here is an example for London to Mumbai, August 2027, where flights should be showing to the middle of the month now.

This fault is also true with all other destinations.

To be clear, if you search for the flights on the BA website up to 355 days in advance, they are available to book as you'd expect (provided there is availability), it's just that they do not show at all within Avios' tool.

Availability not matching

Take this search from London to Singapore, January 2027. It shows only one day having availability, that being one single seat in business on 22 January.

When I go into the BA website to search, I find other days that have availability.

And...

(These screenshots were taken last week, so the availability may not align with how you currently see it)

Alerts

We have had multiple reports from followers/readers that they are receiving alerts about seats becoming available, only to go onto the BA website and are unable to find them.

Granted, this could be because the seats they want have already been snapped up, but it could also be 'ghost availability', a problem that can plague the third-party Avios search tools at times too.

Whilst I'm on the topic, these alerts have to be set on the Avios app (a gripe of ours which we have laid out before), but they also appear to not be very alerting...

We've had reports from followers that the alerts for seats from the Avios app are coming around 1hr30m after the same alert that they are getting from their Reward Flight Finder account.

As Avios has baked the alert function into the app, this delay could be down to a user not having set the permissions needed for the app to function fully, or they keep their phone in a battery saver mode, thus supressing apps to the background. My point being is that there are variables at play here, and I can't just willy-nilly point the finger at Avios. But in a game (because that's what we're playing) where minutes count for getting that elusive first class seat to the Maldives, this should be tightened up.

General wishlist

We reached out to our followers on Instagram (thank you as always!), and this is what they would like to see changed.

• Allow alerts to be set from the website, linking over to your Avios app

• Alerts via WhatsApp

• Include alerts for Companion Voucher availability

• Connecting flights (although the website does say this is coming soon)

• Match the functionality of the website to the app

• Ability to search Qatar, Finnair, and Loganair

• The same search tool to be placed on the BA/Iberia/Aer Lingus websites

This isn't meant to come across as criticism. The new tool is better than anything Avios have put out before, and anything that can help you and I find Avios flights is greatly appreciated. This is more guidance for you all as to where some of the current limitations are.

Sam

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