Why Didn’t My Alert Trigger?

Alerts are one of the most powerful features in seats.aero, but there are times when they may not fire exactly when you expect. In most cases, this comes down to how award data is published or how the alert is configured, not that anything is broken.

Here are the most common reasons.

1. Airline program data limitations

Not all loyalty programs expose award availability in the same way.

• Some programs only report “available” vs “not available,” rather than exact seat counts. In those cases, filters like minimum seats can’t always be enforced perfectly.
• Certain programs update their award data less frequently or limit what details are visible outside their own site.

When this happens, availability can appear briefly or inconsistently, which affects when an alert is able to trigger.

2. Filters are doing their job

Alerts only fire when all selected criteria are met.

If availability exists but does not match your filters, the alert will stay silent. Common examples:

• Restricting to direct flights only
• Excluding specific airlines
• Limiting max points or fees

This is expected behavior and usually means the alert is being selective rather than missing availability.

3. Timing differences between searches

Seats.aero continuously monitors award space, but airlines can open and close availability quickly.

Sometimes availability is first detected during a manual search you run, which can then trigger the alert shortly after. This can make it feel like the alert only fired because you searched, when in reality both actions are seeing the same underlying change.

4. Notification delivery

In some cases, alerts are generated correctly but notifications don’t reach you due to email filtering or provider rules.

• Check spam or promotions folders
• Consider adding alerts@seats.aero to your contacts
• Push notifications (via the mobile app) are usually the fastest and most reliable option

5. Rare technical issues

Very occasionally, a bug can affect alert creation or delivery.

If you notice something clearly inconsistent, such as alerts appearing on the site but no notifications arriving at all, please reach out so we can investigate.

✅ Pro tip for testing alerts

If you want to confirm alerts are working, try creating a broad alert with minimal filters, for example:

• Any seats
• Any cabin
• A popular route

This helps verify notification delivery before tightening filters.

Need help troubleshooting?

If something feels off, contact support and include:

• The alert details (route, dates, filters)
• When you expected availability
• Whether you saw results manually that didn’t trigger an alert

That context helps us dig in much faster.