“Availability already exists” — what this message means

When creating an alert, you may see a message that says availability already exists (or similar). This can be confusing, but it’s not an error — and it doesn’t mean alerts are broken.

Here’s what’s actually happening.

What this message means

Seats.aero has already found award availability that matches the route, cabin, and program you’re trying to create an alert for.

In other words:

• Award space already exists right now
• There’s nothing new for an alert to wait for
• You can view and book that availability immediately

This is why the alert form stops you from creating a one-off alert in this case.

Why you’re seeing it

One-off alerts are designed to notify you when availability appears or improves.

If availability already exists, there’s no change to watch for — so instead, we surface what’s already available.

This often happens when:

• You’re creating an alert for a popular route
• Award space was just released
• You recently ran a search for the same route

What to do next

You have a few good options:

1. View the existing availability

Click View route to see the flights that are currently available and book them if they work for you.

2. Create a more specific alert

If you’re waiting for something better, try tightening your alert:

• Lower max points
• Lower max fees
• Specific cabin
• Specific date or narrower range

This lets the alert trigger only when availability improves.

3. Use a Continuous Alert (Pro)

If you want to be notified of any new availability going forward, a Continuous Alert will keep running and notify you when more seats or better options appear.

Common misconceptions

• ❌ “Alerts aren’t working”

  Alerts are working — availability already exists.

• ❌ “The route is broken”

  The route is active and has availability now.

• ❌ “I need to refresh or try again later”

  You don’t — you can view the available flights immediately.

Quick example

If a flight is currently available for 90k points and you try to create an alert for “any availability,” you’ll see this message.

If you instead set an alert for ≤85k points, the alert will be created and notify you only if the price drops.