Seats.aero with Founder Ian Carroll

Sep 12, 2025

Ian Carroll, founder of the award search tool Seats.aero, dives into the evolution of his platform designed to optimize travel using points and miles. He discusses unique features like customizable alerts and the new Seats.aero Assistant. The conversation highlights Japan's rising popularity as a travel destination and the intricacies of award searches, especially with airlines like ANA and Emirates. Listeners also get insider tips on maximizing credit card benefits and securing the best travel deals.

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INSIGHT

From Side Project To Flexible Search Tool

Seats.aero began as a personal side project to find flexible award space from one airport to anywhere.
It evolved into a tool optimized for flexible, advanced award-searching across many routes.

ADVICE

Confirm Results On Airline Sites

When you want a specific date or route, verify availability on the airline site in addition to third‑party tools.
Use Seats.aero for broad multi-airport searches, then confirm live on the carrier before booking.

INSIGHT

Cached Data Powers Broad Searches

Seats.aero prioritizes cached data to enable instant, broad searches rather than immediate live results.
That design favors flexible travelers searching large date and airport ranges over narrow date-specific searches.

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Episode 137 of the Award Travel 101 podcast featured guest Ian Carroll, founder of the award search tool Seats.aero. Angie opened with a highlight post from a member who discovered Chase is now more strictly enforcing repeat-sub restrictions, similar to Amex’s lifetime rules. The episode also covered news of elevated welcome offers on IHG credit cards, refreshed Amex Delta card bonuses, and several ongoing mileage sales and hotel promotions. Angie shared her own recent credit card approvals and denials—including a Barclays Red card approval after a manual verification—while Ian celebrated finally getting the Atmos Summit card. Travel updates included Angie’s upcoming New England trip and Miami meetup, and Ian’s EVA and Starlux premium cabin bookings from San Francisco to Asia.

The main topic focused on Seats.aero, exploring its origins, how the product vision has evolved, and what makes it unique among a crowded field of award search tools. Ian discussed how the platform stands out with features like customizable alerts, streamlined award searches, and the new “Seats.aero Assistant.” They also touched on hotel alert services, airline coverage gaps (like BA not yet being integrated), and planned enhancements for casual and advanced users alike.

The episode wrapped with Angie’s tip of the week: always follow up on bank communications. She shared how a letter from Barclays, which she initially considered ignoring, ended up securing her approval for another 70,000 AA miles after a quick verification call. The takeaway: those small steps can sometimes unlock big wins in the points-and-miles game.

Where to Find Us

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You can also email us at 101@award.travel
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Reserve tickets to our Spring 2026 Meetup in Phoenix now. award.travel/phx2026

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