Short answer: frequent flyers mostly say AwardFares is a fast, time‑saving award‑search tool whose alerts and multi‑program searches help them find rare premium award seats — but some users warn about coverage gaps, occasional inaccuracies, and the subscription cost. (trustpilot.com)

What people commonly praise

• It saves hours of manual searching by scanning multiple loyalty programs and routes at once. (trustpilot.com)
• The alert system (Live and newer Flex Alerts) is repeatedly called out as the standout feature — users credit alerts with helping them snag hard‑to‑find business/first seats. (trustpilot.com)
• Clean UI, timeline/multi‑date view, seat maps and broad/region searches are frequently mentioned as very useful for “travel hackers.” (trustpilot.com)

Common caveats and criticisms

• AwardFares is a search-only engine (you must book on the airline/program site), and availability may be “estimated” for some programs — so results aren’t a 100% substitute for checking the actual frequent‑flyer program. Frequent‑flyer docs and the company itself note you should confirm availability with the program before transferring miles. (help.awardfares.com)
• A few users have reported coverage gaps or that certain partners aren’t always checked (some forum posts from travelers flagged degraded/incomplete coverage at times). (reddit.com)
• Several reviewers say the service is worth it if you value time saved, but note premium tiers/subscriptions aren’t cheap. (trustpilot.com)

Practical tips frequent flyers recommend

• Start with the free trial to test coverage for the programs/routes you use. (awardfares.com)
• Use alerts (Live for specific flights; Flex for discovery) and tune filters (cabin, alliance, dates). (financialcontent.com)
• Always verify the seat shows up on the airline/program site or by calling the program before you transfer points or finalize the booking — this avoids “phantom” or estimated availability problems. (help.awardfares.com)

Bottom line Frequent flyers generally view AwardFares as a powerful, time‑saving tool — especially for finding premium award seats and running alerts — but treat its results as a search aid, not the final booking source. If you rely heavily on specific programs or need absolute completeness, test it against the programs you use most before committing to a paid tier. (trustpilot.com)

If you want, I can pull recent threads/reviews for a specific airline, route, or loyalty program you care about (so you can check whether AwardFares covers it well).