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.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ADVICE

Check Bank Bonus Eligibility First

Do check bank application pop-ups and lifetime language before applying for churnable bonuses.
Chase appears to be enforcing repeat-sub restrictions similar to Amex, so verify eligibility first.

INSIGHT

Elevated IHG Offers Are Tiered

IHG temporarily raised elevated public bonuses across personal and business cards with tiered structures.
These offers can be lucrative but often include high spend tiers that change value by cardholder profile.

ANECDOTE

Waiting For Premium Cards To Arrive

Ian and Angie shared waiting stories about newly applied premium cards that hadn't arrived.
Angie described imminent large expenses she could use to hit a card spend once the card arrives.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

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

The Free Award Travel 101 Community.
To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
You can also email us at 101@award.travel

Our partner CardPointers helps us get the most from our cards. We love being able to automatically add all of our offers and quickly seeing the best card to use for every purchase. Signup today at https://cardpointers.com/at101 for a 30% discount on annual and lifetime subscriptions!

Lastly, we appreciate your support of the AT101 Podcast/Community when you signup for your next card!

Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.