AwardFares Launches Intelligent New Alert System for Award Flight Availability

STOCKHOLM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 5, 2025--

AwardFares, the leading search platform for award flights, today launched a major upgrade to its alert system, giving users smarter tools to discover and book award availability faster.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250804412041/en/

The new system includes two powerful features: Flex Alerts and Live Alerts. Together, they provide both flexibility and precision, helping travelers maximize their points and miles like never before.

Flex Alerts are designed for the flexible traveler. Instead of requiring an exact route and date, users can set broad criteria such as "any airport in the US to Europe for an entire month.” AwardFares' AI-powered system intelligently identifies matching availability, focusing not just on high-demand routes but also on high-value redemptions and new opportunities based on industry trends, fare dynamics, and user behavior patterns.

For travelers with a specific plan, Live Alerts offer precision monitoring. This enhanced version of the platform's original alert feature allows users to target exact flights and routes. A key improvement is the ability to monitor multiple airports and extended date ranges within a single alert, making it easier and more efficient to track down must-have award seats for a specific trip.

This launch reaffirms AwardFares' role as a product-driven leader in the industry. The company has a track record of introducing user-centric features that set new standards, including live availability checks, interactive seat maps, and its exclusive onboard menu and wine list feature.

"Our users loved setting alerts for specific routes and dates, and it worked wonderfully. But we are obsessed with user experience and saw an opportunity to take it further," says Philip, Co-Founder at AwardFares. "To truly maximize your points, you often need to broaden your perspective. An alert that's too specific might cause you to miss an incredible Business Class deal from a neighboring city or one with a simple connection. With the new Flex Alerts, we provide a broader perspective on award availability, highlighting opportunities users might never have discovered on their own. When combined with our precision Live Alerts, travelers can build a powerful strategy to capitalize on these great opportunities."

Continued Platform Expansion

Demonstrating its commitment to providing the most comprehensive search tool on the market, AwardFares highlighted the addition of several new loyalty programs throughout the year and plans to integrate more partners in the coming months. This expansion will focus on key strategic areas, including broadening its coverage within the Avios ecosystem and adding new airline programs based in Latin America. Underscoring this commitment to global accessibility, AwardFares is also the only award search tool available in Spanish, uniquely positioning it to serve travelers throughout the Spanish-speaking world.

How to Access

The new Live and Flex Alerts are available today for AwardFares Gold and Diamond members. For more information and to start a free trial, visit https://awardfares.com/.

About AwardFares

AwardFares is an innovative online platform that simplifies the complexities of finding and booking award flights. Born from the founders' frustration with existing tools, AwardFares offers a fast and user-friendly interface that enables travelers to search across multiple frequent flyer programs and airline alliances simultaneously. With powerful features like the Timeline View, Live Seat Maps, Onboard Menus, and now the new Live and Flex Alerts, AwardFares' mission is to save travelers time and help them maximize the value of their points and miles, turning dream trips into reality.

Get a detailed email notification for a Live Alert, which includes seat availability found, flight details, cabin class options, and pricing.

Setting up a precise Live Alert to monitor multiple origin and destination airports simultaneously. This allows users to track specific routes from various departure points to their chosen destination in a single alert.

Creating a Flex Alert for broad, discovery-focused searches is simple. Users can set entire regions like Europe to Asia and select a wide date range to get notified about new travel opportunities.

The main Alerts dashboard in AwardFares, where users can manage all their active Live and Flex alerts in one place, with options to edit, duplicate, delete, or instantly trigger a new search.

AwardFares' Timeline view provides a clear, color-coded visualization of daily award seat availability across different cabin classes, helping users easily spot trends and opportunities for flights.

A federal appeals panel on Thursday reversed a lower court decision that released former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from an immigration jail, bringing the government one step closer to detaining and ultimately deporting the Palestinian activist.

The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t decide the key issue in Khalil’s case: whether the Trump administration’s effort to throw Khalil out of the U.S. over his campus activism and criticism of Israel is unconstitutional.

But in its 2-1 decision, the panel ruled a federal judge in New Jersey didn’t have jurisdiction to decide the matter at this time. Federal law requires the case to fully move through the immigration courts first, before Khalil can challenge the decision, they wrote.

“That scheme ensures that petitioners get just one bite at the apple — not zero or two,” the panel wrote. “But it also means that some petitioners, like Khalil, will have to wait to seek relief for allegedly unlawful government conduct.”

The law bars Khalil “from attacking his detention and removal in a habeas petition,” the panel added.

It was not clear whether the government would seek to detain Khalil, a legal permanent resident, again while his legal challenges continue.

Thursday’s decision marked a major win for the Trump administration’s sweeping campaign to detain and deport noncitizens who joined protests against Israel.

In a statement distributed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Khalil said the appeals ruling was “deeply disappointing, but it does not break our resolve.”

He added: “The door may have been opened for potential re-detainment down the line, but it has not closed our commitment to Palestine and to justice and accountability. I will continue to fight, through every legal avenue and with every ounce of determination, until my rights, and the rights of others like me, are fully protected.”

Baher Azmy, one of Khalil's lawyers, said the ruling was “contrary to rulings of other federal courts.” He noted the panel’s finding concerned a “hypertechnical jurisdictional matter,” rather than the legality of the Trump administration’s policy.

“Our legal options are by no means concluded, and we will fight with every available avenue,” he added, saying Khalil would remain free pending the full resolution of all appeals, which could take months or longer.

The ACLU said the Trump administration cannot lawfully re-detain Khalil until the order takes formal effect, which won't happen while he can still immediately appeal.

Khalil's lawyers can request the active judges on the 3rd Circuit hear an appeal, or they can go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

An outspoken leader of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia, Khalil was arrested on March 8, 2025. He then spent three months detained in a Louisiana immigration jail, missing the birth of his firstborn.

Federal officials have accused Khalil of leading activities “aligned to Hamas,” though they have not presented evidence to support the claim and have not accused him of criminal conduct. They have also accused Khalil, 30, of failing to disclose information on his green card application.

The government has justified the arrest under a seldom-used statute that allows for the expulsion of noncitizens whose beliefs are deemed to pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests.

In June, a federal judge in New Jersey ruled that justification would likely be declared unconstitutional and ordered Khalil released.

President Donald Trump's administration appealed that ruling, arguing the deportation decision should fall to an immigration judge, rather than a federal court.

Khalil has dismissed the allegations as “baseless and ridiculous,” framing his arrest and detention as a “direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza.”

Judge Arianna Freeman dissented Thursday, writing that her colleagues were holding Khalil to the wrong legal standard. Khalil, she wrote, is raising “now-or-never claims” that can be handled at the district court level. He does not have a final order of removal, which would permit a challenge in an appellate court, she wrote.

Both judges who ruled against Khalil, Thomas Hardiman and Stephanos Bibas, were Republican appointees. President George W. Bush appointed Hardiman to the 3rd Circuit, while Trump appointed Bibas. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, appointed Freeman.

The majority opinion noted Freeman worried the ruling would leave Khalil with no remedy for unconstitutional immigration detention, even if he later can appeal.

“But our legal system routinely forces petitioners — even those with meritorious claims — to wait to raise their arguments, the judges wrote. “To be sure, the immigration judge’s order of removal is not yet final; the Board has not affirmed her ruling and has held the parties’ briefing deadlines in abeyance pending this opinion. But if the Board ultimately affirms, Khalil can get meaningful review.”

The decision comes as an appeals board in the immigration court system weighs a previous order that found Khalil could be deported. His attorneys have argued that the federal order should take precedence.

That judge has suggested Khalil could be deported to Algeria, where he maintains citizenship through a distant relative, or Syria, where he was born in a refugee camp to a Palestinian family.

His attorneys have said he faces mortal danger if forced to return to either country.

Associated Press Writer Larry Neumeister contributed to this story.

FILE - Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil holds a news conference outside Federal Court on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025 in Philadelphia (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)