Use Claude Code to choose points or cash for a trip
Claude Code can scan award space, fares, and balances so you can judge whether points or money is the better deal.
- What they did
- They turned on a travel-hacker subagent inside Claude Code with a plugin that adds skills and MCP servers. For each trip, it looks at paid fares through Duffel, Ignav, Google Flights, Skiplagged, and Kiwi, then checks Seats.aero for award seats across 27 programs. It also reads loyalty balances from AwardWallet and looks through credit card portals to find the least expensive transfer route.
- How it went
- The workflow compares cents-per-point with a set minimum value and steers you toward cash when the award option falls short. It does not place the booking for you; you still have to confirm space on the airline’s site and make the reservation yourself.
- Tips
- Award searches need a Seats.aero Pro key, priced at about $8 a month or $99 a year. Balance checks require an AwardWallet Business account, and the free MCP servers only handle cash-fare searching.
Try it yourself with Claude Code
I’m deciding how to pay for a trip from [origin] to [destination] during [dates or flexible window]. Check cash fares, award availability, and my balances in [programs and amounts], then compare taxes, fees, and point value so I can see whether points or cash makes more sense. Present the best 3 choices in a clear table, and pause before any point transfer, submission, payment, or booking so I can approve the exact option first. If any award space looks promising, tell me where I should verify it on the airline’s site before I finish anything.
Fill in the [brackets]. Agents can make mistakes, so review anything before it is sent, paid or deleted.
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