Below is a concise, up-to-date roundup of the popular award‑flight search & booking services people review and use, what reviewers say about each, and quick recommendations for who each fits best.

Top services (what reviewers say)

• point.me (formerly Juicy Miles / PointsPros)

  • What it is: a multi‑program award search engine plus optional concierge/booking service. Many users also know it as the successor to Juicy Miles. (onemileatatime.com)
  • Pros: user‑friendly, shows which transfer partners to use and estimated points required; offers a paid concierge that can book for you. Reviewers praise its concierge help and beginner friendliness. (trustpilot.com)
  • Cons: search speed/feature limitations (no multi‑day searches, slow searches), occasional inaccuracies/“phantom” or missing results, and mixed community feedback about reliability and upsells to paid concierge. (nerdwallet.com)
  • Typical use case: beginners or people who want guidance + the option to pay for a booking agent. (blogx.almontsf.com)

• Seats.aero

  • What it is: a fast, powerful award‑search tool with wide program coverage and alerting (no booking — you book with the airline). (docs.seats.aero)
  • Pros: extremely fast multi‑program searches, long‑range calendar/alerts, excellent for power users hunting premium‑cabin availability. (thepointsparty.com)
  • Cons: can show availability that disappears by the time you click through (“phantom” results); coverage/accuracy can vary by program; steeper learning curve for beginners. Community threads report occasional bugs and mismatches. (thepointsparty.com)
  • Typical use case: intermediate→advanced award hackers who want alerts and wide searches and who will always verify on the airline site.

• ExpertFlyer (and similar fare‑class/alert tools)

  • What it is: long‑standing subscription tool for fare class, seat maps, and award alerts. Very useful historically for tracking award openings. (thepointsparty.com)
  • Recent caveat: ExpertFlyer has lost the ability to show award availability/alerts for many Star Alliance carriers and a number of programs at times, reducing its usefulness; reviewers recommend checking current coverage before subscribing. (onemileatatime.com)
  • Typical use case: experienced flyers who need fare‑class/seatmap data — but confirm current airline coverage first.

• AwardHacker and other free aggregator/reference tools

  • What it is: free tools that show how many miles a route typically costs with different programs (good for ideas, not live availability). (pilotplans.com)
  • Pros: free, good for planning and comparing redemption options.
  • Cons: does NOT show real‑time bookable inventory and won’t book for you — always verify availability on the airline or a live search tool.

What reviewers commonly warn about (important safety checks)

• Don’t transfer points until you can actually place a hold or complete the booking — third‑party tools can show options that disappear or can’t be booked through the suggested program. Multiple reviewers and publications emphasize verifying on the airline/loyalty program before transferring. (insideflyer.com)
• All third‑party award search tools have coverage gaps or timing/accuracy issues (airlines sometimes block scraping or change sites), so use multiple sources and set alerts where possible. Recent reporting shows tools have lost access to many airline feeds, so expect intermittent outages or missing programs. (awardwallet.com)

Quick recommendations — which to try

• If you’re new to award travel and want guidance (and the option to pay someone to book): try point.me (use free/trial search, then verify results on the airline; consider concierge only if you value time over cost). (nerdwallet.com)
• If you’re a power user hunting premium‑cabin awards and want fast multi‑program scans + alerts: try Seats.aero (but always confirm on the airline before transferring/booking). (thepointsparty.com)
• If you want free planning tools: use AwardHacker / AwardWallet for ideas and balance tracking, then verify availability with a paid tool or directly with the airline. (pilotplans.com)
• If you’re relying on ExpertFlyer or similar, check current coverage/alerts before paying — several recent reports show reduced airline support. (onemileatatime.com)

If you want, I can:

• Pull together side‑by‑side pricing and plan features for 3–4 services (point.me, Seats.aero, ExpertFlyer, AwardHacker) with direct review citations; or
• Look up recent user reviews for any one service (e.g., Trustpilot/Reddit/NerdWallet for point.me or Seats.aero) and summarize the positive vs negative themes.

Which would you prefer? (I can fetch current prices/plan names and a few representative reviews next.)