MileIntelMileIntel.
Turquoise ocean and white sand beach in the Maldives
Featured Destination
MaldivesIndian Ocean
MLE
The MileIntel Blog

Points of Departure

Airline miles intelligence, loyalty program strategy, and the sharpest thinking in travel rewards.

From the Cockpit
11 articles
a view of the wing of an airplane in the sky01From the Cockpit

She Had 180,000 Aeroplan Points. Then June 1st Happened.

A real user story about the Aeroplan devaluation, what MileIntel caught, and what we're still not fast enough to prevent.

M
MileIntel
5 minJun 13
airplane over clouds during golden hour02From the Cockpit

I Built a Devaluation Alert System. It Wasn't Ready for Aeroplan.

I thought our alert pipeline was solid. Then Aeroplan restructured its entire award chart in under 2 weeks and exposed every gap I'd ignored.

M
MileIntel
5 minMay 30
black and gray car dashboard03From the Cockpit

How MileIntel's Transfer Graph Actually Works

Wells Fargo just added Cathay Pacific as a transfer partner. Here's why that's a hard engineering problem — and how we built the system to handle it.

M
MileIntel
6 minMay 3
a large airplane flying in the sky04From the Cockpit

Mergers Break Loyalty Programs. Here's How MileIntel Catches It.

The Allegiant-Sun Country merger follows a familiar pattern that costs loyalty members thousands. Here's how MileIntel's upgrade monitor and status tracker catch it.

M
MileIntel
7 minApr 23
Tropical resort with pools and palm trees by the ocean05From the Cockpit

The Alert I Wish Existed Last Week (Building It Now)

Hyatt just hiked peak-night costs by up to 67%. Members found out too late. Here's the fork in the road I faced building MileIntel's alert system.

M
MileIntel
6 minApr 18
a couple of tall buildings sitting next to each other06From the Cockpit

Citi ThankYou Devaluation: The $300 Warning We Almost Missed

Citi ThankYou cuts Choice Privileges transfers 25% and Preferred Hotels 50% on April 19. Here's the math, what to do now, and why we almost missed it.

M
MileIntel
7 minApr 9
Developer workspace with code editor and laptop07From the Cockpit

Why I'm Building MileIntel (And Why I Can't Stop)

My wife is a surgical resident. I run a startup. We have almost no overlapping free time. This game, the miles game, is how we make the little time we have together count.

A
Aditya Badve
7 minMar 9
Airplane cockpit view at sunset with clouds below08From the Cockpit

We Built an AI Travel Concierge. Here's What Happened.

I was standing in the United Club at O'Hare, 90 minutes before a flight to Tokyo, staring at two browser tabs. One showed my Chase UR balance, the other showed United award pricing. I needed a simple answer and couldn't get it.

A
Aditya Badve
4 minMar 6
Data dashboard with analytics charts on dark screen09From the Cockpit

How We Track 47 Airline Programs Without Losing Our Minds

Last Tuesday, Delta quietly raised the floor price on SkyMiles business class awards to Europe by 15%. We caught it in 4 hours. The Points Guy wrote about it 3 days later.

A
Aditya Badve
3 minMar 3
Close-up of premium credit cards on a dark surface10From the Cockpit

Your Wallet Is Lying to You (And We Built a Fix)

Last week, Chase launched a 25% transfer bonus to Hyatt that expired in 48 hours. Most people missed it. That's the problem we're obsessing over right now.

A
Aditya Badve
5 minFeb 28
The Mileage Run

Don't Miss a Departure

Get the week's best miles intelligence — deals, devaluations, and strategies — delivered every Friday.

Create Your Free Account

Sign up with Google · No credit card required