Short answer — the award-search tools and services frequent flyers most often recommend for hunting long‑haul business-class seats are:

• PointsYeah — fast, multi‑day/multi‑airport award searches plus alerts; many frequent‑flyer guides and reviewers call it the best value for everyday searching. (nerdwallet.com)
• Seats.aero — strong at finding partner award space and excellent alerting; popular in award‑travel communities (especially for transpacific/Europe J searches). (docs.seats.aero)
• AwardFares — newer but highly rated by many experienced users for cross‑program searches, good alerting and a clean UI (paid). (trustpilot.com)
• point.me — an industry staple (search + paid concierge options); useful for complex partner searches though users report mixed experiences (some rate limiting / slow searches). Good to try, especially if you have an Amex credit benefit. (forbes.com)
• ExpertFlyer (and similar seat/award‑availability alert tools) — not a full multi‑program aggregator but excellent for precise availability lookups and seat/upgrade alerts. Frequent flyers use it to monitor opens. (thepointsguy.com)
• Airline/program engines and partner programs (Aeroplan, United MileagePlus, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, Avianca LifeMiles, ANA, etc.) — many long‑haul business-class sweet spots are booked directly through partner programs, so searching those program sites (or using the search tools above and then booking with the program that has the best pricing) is standard practice. (frequentmiler.com)
• Paid award‑booking concierges (Cranky Concierge, boutique services) — if you want a white‑glove booking for hard seats (e.g., Qsuite, Qsuites, Singapore A350/J), concierges can save time for a per‑ticket fee. Forbes and other outlets list these as options. (forbes.com)

Practical workflow many frequent flyers use

• Start with a multi‑program search tool (PointsYeah, AwardFares, Seats.aero) to scan many programs quickly and set alerts. (awardwallet.com)
• When you find candidate space, confirm availability on the airline or awarding program website (or by calling the program) before transferring points. Programs change inventory and some tools can show “phantom” results. (reddit.com)
• If you can’t find the routing or a complex award, consider a paid concierge or the paid help offered by tools like point.me / some booking services. (forbes.com)

Caveats frequent flyers warn about

• No tool is perfect — scraping outages, “phantom” award results, and API/rate‑limit blocks do happen; cross‑check before transferring points. (reddit.com)
• Paid tools vary in coverage, speed, and alert limits — compare free trials or short subscriptions. (awardwallet.com)

If you want, I can:

• Recommend the single best tool for your exact route/date flexibility, or
• Run a quick comparison (cost, coverage, alerts) between two or three of the tools above.