Sources and method

Where each data type comes from

Typical transfer times

Frequent Miler's transfer-time chart, built mostly from AwardWallet balance tracking. Our copy is from the version last modified Nov 5, 2025. “Not published” means the chart has no time for that pair.

When seats open

Award Travel Finder's booking-window table, refreshed March 2026. These are the days before departure each airline opens its own seats; partner programs may show them later.

Phantom seats, fee surprises and account rules

Posts and comments in r/awardtravel and r/churning from October 2025 to October 2026. We store a short summary in our own words and link the post. We never copy posts or show usernames. A pattern only goes in when the post describes what happened, not a guess.

Reports on Crosscheck

People who used the checker tell us how their transfer went. Reports are anonymous; we keep a salted hash of the IP address for rate limiting and never the address itself. Notes are read before they appear. Reports count toward the checklist for 12 months.

What we never do

• Generate award prices or availability with AI.
• Scrape airline sites or search from anyone's airline account.
• Use affiliate or referral links in the checker.

Freshness

Each source line shows its date. Anything last checked more than 180 days ago says “last checked” with the date. Anything older than a year is labeled stale in red until someone re-checks it.

How the checklist decides

Transfer time is low when the chart says instant, and goes up to “check” when anyone reported a delay for that pair in the last year. Phantom risk comes from the reported patterns for that program and airline; with no pattern, own-airline seats are low and partner awards are “check”. Fees and account rules come from the reports above. The verdict counts the high and “check” items.

Something wrong?

Every section of the checklist has a “Something wrong?” link. Or send a correction, or email hello@crosscheck.travel.