How to set award flight and hotel availability alerts

Choose between real-time, Panorama, and hotel alerts#

Use a real-time flight alert for defined airport routes and travel dates. It actively checks award availability for the selected routes and loyalty programs. This fits a specific family visit, work trip, or premium-cabin flight you are waiting to book.

Use a Panorama alert when the destination or departure geography is flexible. It scans AwardTool's stored award database for matching flights and can use broader locations such as countries or regions. It does not perform active real-time searches. The different data source matters when you interpret a notification or decide which alert suits a time-sensitive trip.

Use a hotel alert from a property's bell action when you want to watch that stay. Begin on the hotel's search result or detail page so the alert is attached to the intended property. Review the dates and other fields presented before saving.

Create a flight alert step by step#

1. Start from Alerts or a search

   Open the Alerts page and choose the appropriate type, or use a supported Advanced Alert action from search results. Review all fields even when values are already filled from your search.

2. Set travelers, cabins, and locations

   Enter adults and children and select acceptable cabins. For real-time alerts, select departure and arrival airports. For Panorama, use the supported flexible locations that fit your plans.

3. Define dates and points

   Use the same start and end date for a specific departure or a range for flexibility. Enter a maximum points price per passenger. This is required for Panorama alerts and optional for real-time alerts.

4. Choose programs and restrictions

   Select the relevant booking programs. Add supported limits for taxes, stops, duration, and departure or arrival times. Panorama also lets you match bank or card rewards programs.

5. Review and save

   Check notification settings and the full trip criteria, then choose Create. When editing, use Modify to save changes. Completing a walkthrough or closing the form does not create an alert.

Make an alert specific enough to be useful#

A useful notification should describe something you could book. Set the passenger count for your whole party, a realistic points ceiling, and a cash-fee limit where available. Avoid accepting every departure time if arriving late would make the trip unworkable, but leave optional fields open when you can genuinely be flexible.

Real-time alerts offer additional flight-specific controls, including excluded operating airlines, a flight number, and premium-cabin coverage for Business or First. The operating-airline exclusion is separate from the selected loyalty program: one describes who flies the plane, while the other describes how you book the award.

The premium-cabin percentage measures the share of total flight time in Business or First. Review the matching itinerary's segments even after applying it. Some filters and monitoring features depend on account access; use the current form and Pro page for the options available to you.

Review delivery and continued monitoring#

Flight alert updates can be delivered by email, with SMS available for supported accounts and alert settings. For real-time SMS setup, enter a valid phone number and country code and select the displayed consent checkbox. Leave the phone field empty if you do not want texts.

Where available, Infinite mode keeps the alert running after a match so it can continue sending updates. Review the alert's settings and status as your plans change. Tighten noisy criteria, adjust your date range, or stop monitoring a trip you no longer intend to take.

What to do when an alert finds a match#

Open the matching result and check the date, cabin, seat count, booking program, points, and taxes. For stored Panorama data, pay attention to when availability was observed. Refresh where supported, then confirm the award directly with the loyalty program before transferring points or booking.

If the match has disappeared, keep a workable alert active and consider another date, airport, or program. Award inventory changes, so notifications identify opportunities to check; they do not hold space or guarantee that a ticket will still be available.