Guides · Get connected

Get connected

Most of AwardWise works the moment you sign in. One thing needs a few extra minutes: award search needs your own Seats.aero account.

What works right away

You can chat with the concierge, search cash fares, build trips, and read every guide without connecting anything. Cash flight search runs on AwardWise's own data source, not yours, so there's nothing to set up for it.

Award search is the exception. AwardWise finds award seats through Seats.aero, a real-time seat-availability search engine (not affiliated with any airline). Those searches run against your Seats.aero account and quota, not a shared one, so each AwardWise user connects their own. That also means the award half of an Award vs cash comparison needs it too; the cash half doesn't.

Get the key

Seats.aero's API access is part of its paid Pro subscription (see current pricing at seats.aero; every personal key it issues starts with pro_). Free Seats.aero accounts can search the site itself but can't generate a key.

Create a Seats.aero account (or sign in) and subscribe to Pro.
Open your account settings at seats.aero/settings and open the API tab.
Copy the key. It's a single string starting with pro_.

Connect it in AwardWise

Where you paste the key depends on where you are in AwardWise. The first time you sign in, a Setup Wizard walks you through it as one step among several. If you've already been through that (or skipped it), the same field lives in your Wallet instead. Same key, same backend, two doors.

First time: the Setup Wizard

The first time you sign in, AwardWise opens a Smart Wallet Setup wizard automatically. It's seven steps (points balances, credit-card points, preferences, valuations, confirmation) and the Seats.aero key is step 6 of 7, titled "API Key (Optional)":

The Setup Wizard's step 6 of 7, titled API Key (Optional), with an empty Seats.aero API Key field (placeholder pro_...), a link to Seats.aero API settings, Validate Key and Clear buttons, and a note that the step can be skipped and the key added later in Edit Wallet.

Step 6 of 7 in the Setup Wizard, right after it opens for a new sign-in. The field is empty by default; nothing here is required to continue.

The step is genuinely optional, twice over: the info box says so up front, and the wizard's own Skip for now link (bottom left, dismisses the whole wizard) works from here too. Paste your key into the Seats.aero API Key field and click Validate Key if you want to confirm it works before moving on, or just click Next to carry it forward, validated or not. Leaving the field empty and clicking Next (or Skip for now) is just as valid a choice: skipping saves nothing and doesn't block anything else in the wizard. Either way, you land on the same key described below, in the same place.

Already set up, or skipped the wizard: the Wallet

Click Wallet in the left nav to open Edit Your Smart Wallet, then find the Seats.aero Connection section.

The Wallet's Seats.aero Connection section: an empty API Key field (placeholder pro_...), a Not Set status badge, Test Connection, Update Key, and Remove buttons, and a link to Seats.aero API settings.

The same key field, reached from the Wallet instead of the wizard. The status badge reads "Not Set" until you save one.

Paste the key into the API Key field (it takes a value starting with pro_).
Click Test Connection to confirm it's valid before saving, if you want to check first.
Click Update Key to save it.

A saved key shows as Active once it's been tested (or Untested until then), with a masked preview of the key underneath. Remove deletes it if you ever want to disconnect.

A one-click connection to Seats.aero is coming soon. For now, the personal key above is how you connect, from either door.

Check it works

Ask the concierge for an award search, for example "find me a business class award from JFK to CDG next month." If your key is connected and valid, you'll get real award results back instead of a connection prompt.

Troubleshooting

No key connected yet. An award search (in chat or from a search screen) shows:

⚠️ Please add your Seats.aero API key in Edit Wallet to search for award flights.

This only blocks award search. Cash search, hotels, and the rest of the concierge keep working in the meantime.

Invalid key. If the key on file stops validating, an award search shows:

⚠️ Your Seats.aero API key is invalid. Please update it in Edit Wallet.

Testing a malformed or rejected key directly in the Wallet panel (Test Connection or Update Key) gives a more specific reason: Invalid API key format. Must start with 'pro_' for a badly-formed key, or Invalid API key - authentication failed for one Seats.aero rejects.

Award vs cash with no key connected. The comparison is blocked the same way a plain award search is: a notice appears over the results panel explaining that award search needs a connected Seats.aero account, with a Connect your key in Wallet button that takes you straight to the right panel. Any cash results you already have stay intact behind the notice and come back as soon as you switch to them.

Privacy

Your key is encrypted before it's stored and decrypted only to run your own searches. It's tied to your account and isn't shared with or used for anyone else's searches.

Try an award search →