How To Determine Which Airline Search Engine To Use

Figuring out where to search for award availability can be complicated. Take American Airlines, for example. If you search on their website, they will show you awards for their own flights, but they will not show any results for partners like Cathay Pacific, even if seats are available. The flip side of this, however, is that you can find pretty good availability if you know where to look for it.

The below tables list all of the members of the Oneworld and Star Alliances and indicate which search engines can look up their flights. Non-alliance partners for American and United are listed as well. In case you’ve never heard of a few of these airlines, there is a reference at the very bottom of this page called What Are All Of These Other Airlines?

Oneworld Alliance

American Airlines’ search is very easy to use, but as you can see below, it has a lot of gaps. Gaps in Oneworld are filled in nicely by British Airways, but other partners can only be searched for separately.

Oneworld Alliance Award Search Engines

Oneworld Alliance Partner American Airlines Search British Airways Search
Alaska, American, British, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, JAL, Malaysia, Qatar, Royal Jordanian, S7, Sri Lankan X X
Cape Air*, Fiji, Hawaiian*, Royal Air Maroc, Seaborne * X
Qantas** X
GOL*

* Not a member of Oneworld Alliance, but partners with American
** Qantas can be searched with American Airlines, but the results are not very accurate. Use British Airways.

Non-Oneworld Alliance Partners Of American Airlines

American Airlines Partner Award Search Engine To Use
Aer Lingus United
Air Tahiti Nui*, China Southern, Gulf Air Expert Flyer
Etihad* Etihad
Interjet, WestJet Call American at (800) 882-8880

* Air Tahiti Nui and Etihad can be searched with American Airlines, but the results do not show all available award space.

Star Alliance

United’s search covers nearly all of Star Alliance as well as many of their non-alliance partners. Aeroplan can be used for missing availability on Shenzhen and Singapore Airlines. United’s other partners are difficult to search for, though you usually won’t need them. Out of the difficult-to-search group, Jet Airways can be useful for travel to India (and Amsterdam).

Star Alliance Award Search Engines

Star Alliance Partner United Airlines Search Aeroplan Search
Adria, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana, Austrian, Avianca, Brussels, Copa, Croatia, EgyptAir, Ethiopian, EVA, LOT, Lufthansa, Scandinavian, Shenzhen, Singapore, South African, Swiss, TACA, TAP, Thai, Turkish, United X X
Aegean X
Aer Lingus*, Aeromar*, Germanwings*, Hawaiian*, Island Air*, Silver Airways*, Vistara*  X

* Not a member of Star Alliance, but partners with United

Other Award Search Engines for United MileagePlus Miles

United Airlines Partner Award Search Engine To Use
Azul Expert Flyer
Jet Delta
 Air Dolomiti, Cape Air, Great Lakes Call United at (800) 421-4655

What Are All Of These Other Airlines?

If you want to search for partner award space, it helps to know what cities these partners operate from. Below I’ve listed all of the airlines that do not show up by default in American’s or United’s searches, as well as the locations of their main hubs, and any special routes they fly that may be of interest. Cathay Pacific, for example, is based in Hong Kong, but they also operate a flight between New York City and Vancouver.

Airline Main Hub Special Routes
 City Country
Asia
Air China Beijing China IAH-PTY
YUL-HAV
Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Hong Kong JFK-YVR
JAL Tokyo Japan
Jet Mumbai India YYZ-AMS
Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
Shenzhen Shenzhen China
Singapore Singapore Singapore IAH-MAN JFK-FRA LAX-ICN LAX-NRT

SFO-HKG

Sri Lankan Colombo Sri Lanka
Caribbean
Cape Air San Juan Puerto Rico
Seaborne San Juan Puerto Rico
Europe
Aegean Athens Greece
Aer Lingus Dublin Ireland
Air Dolomiti Munich Germany
Iberia Madrid Spain
S7 Moscow
Novosibirsk
Russia
Middle East
Emirates Dubai United Arab Emirates CHC-SYD EWR-ATH

JFK-MXP

Etihad Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates
Gulf Air Muharraq Bahrain
Qatar Doha Qatar
North America
Great Lakes Denver United States
WestJet Calgary
Toronto
Canada
Oceania & South Pacific
Air Tahiti Nui Papeete Tahiti LAX-CDG
Fiji Nadi Fiji
South America
Azul Campinas
Confins
Brazil
LAN Santiago Chile
TAM Rio de Janiero
São Paulo
Brazil

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