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A few months ago, Greg wrote a post on a really interesting and promising tool called SeatSpy, which instantly shows a year of award availability at a time (See: SeatSpy: An awesome tool for finding BA and Virgin award flights). The currently usefulness for US-based flyers has been limited because they began with award availability only for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. They have now expanded to include Air France / KLM and are actively working on adding US airlines to the mix. While the tool was initially free, they have added subscription levels as they have expanded and are set to increase prices at midnight (UK time) on May 26th. Whether it is worth signing up before the changes is a bit of a gamble for sure, but we thought it was worth alerting readers to the coming change.
The Deal
- SeatSpy is offering discounted “Founder Member” rates for their Premium (free 3-month trial, then £1.99/mo for life) and First Class (£2.99/mo for life) subscription levels until midnight (UK time) on 5/26/20
- Direct link to this promotion
Key Terms
- Introductory “Founder Member” pricing is only available until midnight on 5/26/20
- Cancelling or changing your subscription will end the discounted cost
- Additionally, subscribing before 5/26 enters you for a shot to win 20,000 Avios or a free 1-year subscription
- See promotion page for full terms
Quick Thoughts
It’s worth noting to start that SeatSpy offers a totally free “Economy” tier for those who just want to run British Airways award searches and set alerts on BA flights. Of course, given the high surcharges on British Airways flights, that functionality is limited in its utility to US-based flyers.
However, SeatSpy also offers two paid tiers: “Premium” and “First Class”. They are running special deals on those two tiers as a “Founders” deal until May 26th whereby members signing up now would lock in the current pricing for life.
It’s worth noting early here two things: first, there is no guarantee that SeatSpy won’t add additional tiers in future years nor is there any guarantee that they will add more useful functionality. There’s a gamble at play here that probably won’t make it worthwhile for all readers. That said, the cost of admission is low enough here that I might join up for a few months to see what happens since I know that they are indeed working on adding US airlines and it could be incredibly useful if it worked as well for US airlines as it does for British Airways.
On that note, here are the costs and included features:
For those of us in the US, the conversions are about $2.45 or $3.67 per month. The Premium membership comes with the benefit of a free 3-month trial before you’re charged, giving a chance for a free test drive and the ability to lock in pretty cheap pricing for as long as you care to remain subscribed. That actually seems like a pretty good deal to me since it gives you a chance to see if they make any movement with US airlines in the next three months. Let’s imagine that it takes them 6 months to get up and running with a US airline or two — your total all-in cost would be somewhere around $7.50 after the free 3-month trial and 3 months at less than $2.50 per month.
At the same time, I’m considering the First Class membership. I don’t know for sure that SeatSpy will become a useful tool for me, but I could see them becoming worth more than $3.67 per month if they get even one US-based airline locked in the way they do with British Airways and I’m able to get instant seat alerts when the seats I want open. Like I said, I don’t know that they’ll succeed, but as I looked at the offerings I decided that I’d probably be willing to bet $50 with the hope that they do. That amount of money would buy more than a year’s worth of months at the current exchange rate. I’d have probably spent $50 on something sillier in the travels I’m not doing this year. If they continue to expand and add more airlines, I’ll be thrilled with having locked it in for cheap. If they don’t, the loss is minimal. Count me very hopeful that they do indeed succeed.
That said, don’t take this as a recommendation that anyone else should follow in my footsteps. I’m curious enough to consider it, but not confident enough to recommend it. It just seemed worth reporting for readers to look at and consider for themselves.
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Damn… listened to the podcast but didn’t hear the 5/26 cutoff date. It’s 5/27 and Founders Deal is dead.
[…] procrastinated on testing so I defer to posts from Frequent Miler, Head for Points, and Turning Left for Less (the later blog name is a British-ism for the direction […]
Nick, or anyone who has paid for this. Does this code as a foreign transaction? If not this would be a good candidate to pay with the Citi Rewards plus card. Thanks
We had a reader comment somewhere (Facebook? Twitter? I can’t recall) to say that it did code as a foreign transaction. That’s not surprising given that they’re from the UK and the prices are listed in pounds.
But great point that it would indeed be a great candidate for the Rewards plus otherwise!
Actually, it was Larry a few comments up who said that.
signed up. thanks for the pointer.
I signed up and selected American as the airline I most want them to concentrate upon.
I plan to join. Note for US — should use a no forex fee card.
It looks like the 3 month trial is only being offered for the 1.99 subscription?
Yes, it looks that way.
Would you still go for the $2.99 subscription?
If you’re asking what I would recommend for someone interested but not committed, I’d say that the free 3-month trial and then 1.99 makes sense. You get 3 months to see if they do anything and you’ve got the cheaper price locked in for life if you decide to go ahead and pay after that. That’s certainly a pretty good deal.
However, if you’re asking which I would personally do — yes, I’d still go for the 2.99 subscription. Two and a half reasons:
1) I want to be able to set more than 4 seat alerts (first class is unlimited) and to get instant alerts that’ll help me nab the seat I want faster (versus hourly with Premium). (I’m counting this as one and a half reasons since it’s technically two things).
2) The increased price for the 1.99 subscription after 5/26 is only 2.99. So you’re locking in a 1 pound per month savings (about $1.22 per month). The First Class subscription is set to increase to 7.99 pounds per month ($9.74 at today’s rate). If it takes off and is wildly successful, I’ll be more enthusiastic about saving the 5 pounds per month than I would be about saving 1 pound per month.
I am optimistic they will expand the flights. Expert Flyer and Juicy Miles can see all the flights, just not in this way. For a little over $3 per month, this is quite worthwhile.
Seems like if enough of us try it out, it would provide additional funds to them to get going on that US list.
Yes, I signed up for the 3 month trial. Everyone should. As a start-up they need proof of concept and need to prove to themselves (and possibly investors) that they have enough interest.
More and more people need to get into the space. You have sites like JuicyMiles that provides a pretty good tool but is priced too expensive so not sure how many active users they have. I just sign up when I need to take a trip and then cancel after that.
At this price range it’s pretty good if it works and they can get enough airlines onboarded. It should blow Juicymiles out of the water as they are too expensive. It’s a good lessons to start-ups that you have to price your model properly or other competitors will come along before you get enough traction.
Many people think it’s always first to market that succeeds but many times it’s 2nd to market after they figure out all the mistakes the first to market is making. I like JuicyMiles but they are too expensive.
I paid Juicy Miles many months ago $300 to book me and my wife on a miles trip to Bali. With this Corona madness, the flights were cancelled. I asked for their help and asked if they can offer any discount and they did agree to a small discount but I would have thought they would offer anyone that had their flights cancelled more help or discounts.
Like Nick’s reasoning, i plunked down for First Class. After signup, they asked for “preference” over these:
British Airways Avios
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Delta Sky Miles
Emirates Skywards
American Airlines Advantage
Lufthansa Miles & More
KLM Flying Blue
AirFrance Flying Blue
I guess these are what they are considering.
Signed up and it’s extremely easy to use. If they add ANA awards I would pay triple the price.