Mila compares the cash fare with the award's taxes and fees, divided by the bank points you'd actually spend at your card's transfer ratio. Under 1¢ a point she says pay cash, at 1.5¢ or more use points, in between it's a close call, with hours and connections weighed too. Award seats come from cached searches across about 25 programs; she always tells you to confirm the seat before transferring.
One decision, traced
A real search from 3 November 2026: Amsterdam to Mexico City in business, with 300,000 Belgian Amex points.
- 1
Find the seats your points can reach
A month of award seats, one search. Days that need a program your card can’t transfer to are greyed out, so a cheap seat you can’t book never leads you on. Seats not updated for over a week are left out.
- 2
Price it in your points, not airline miles
45,000 Flying Blue miles cost 90,000 Belgian Amex points at 2:1. The same seat costs a French Amex holder far fewer. Ratios come from the exact transfer rate for the country your card is from.
- 3
Take off the fees, compare with cash
The cash fare for the same day is $1,800. The award still costs $551 in taxes and surcharges, so the points save you $1,249.
- 4
Give the verdict
$1,249 ÷ 90,000 points = 1.39¢ a point. Per airline mile it looks like 2.78¢, which is why we never stop there. Between 1¢ and 1.5¢ is a close call, and Mila says so.
- 5
Hand over the booking steps
If you go ahead: confirm the seat on the program’s own site, link the account, transfer only what you need (and how long that takes from your bank), hold if you can, then book. Transfers can’t be undone.
Every way there, not just the first
Brussels to Tokyo has more than one answer. Mila looks at nonstop flights, one-stop routings on partner airlines, and starting from a nearby hub, then weighs the hours, the connections and the risk, not only the miles.
Many engines, one answer
Each loyalty program has its own search engine, prices and rules, and the cash fare lives somewhere else again. Mila combines them for the trip in front of her and returns one recommendation, with at most one backup.
Try the maths
Change any number. The dial uses the same thresholds as Mila: under 1¢ a point pay cash, 1.5¢ or more use points, in between it’s close.
1.39¢ a point you spend Close call
Per airline mile: 2.78¢. Points spent: 90,000.
How old is a cached seat?
Award seats come from cached searches, and they age at different speeds per program. We measured it: the median time since each program’s seats were last updated, across eight markets on 3 November 2026. Seats older than 7 days are left out of every calendar and ranking.
The pre-flight checklist
Rules Mila follows on every answer. They are written into her instructions and checked in testing.
Seat first, transfer second
Confirm the seat where you’ll book, then move only the points you need. Never a speculative transfer, not even for a bonus.
Never invent a number
Prices, seats, taxes and bonuses come from a tool or a dated source. Anything from her own knowledge is labelled as such.
"Pay cash" is a normal answer
Under about 1¢ a point she says so in one line. A cheap fare on a good card earns points instead of spending them.
Hours and hassle count
Total time, connections, overnight layovers and separate tickets are weighed next to cents per point.
Neutral by rule
Mila earns nothing from any card, program or airline. If we ever add paid options, they come after the verdict, are labelled, and pay us the same whichever option wins.
No booking references, no card numbers
Route, date, cabin and miles are enough to watch a booking.
When Mila speaks up
Alerts only when there is something you can act on, with fixed thresholds so they don’t become noise.
Before you book
Watch a calendar: a message when a day your points reach beats cash by 1.5¢ a point or more after fees. A day is reported again only if it gets at least 5% cheaper.
After you book
Watch the booking: a message when the same program asks at least 5% and 2,000 fewer miles, net of the change fee, or when a better cabin opens that your points reach.
Before the deadline
Reminders 3 and 1 days before free cancellation ends.
How we test it
- Every rule above is code with automated tests: the cents-per-point maths, transfer ratios, fees in other currencies, party size, stale seats, alert thresholds. About a hundred run on every change.
- Before a feature ships, we run it on live data and read the answers: the Mexico City example on this page is one of those runs.
- Researched facts carry a source and a date. Where sources disagree, the fact is marked unverified and Mila tells you to check it.
What it can’t do yet
- Award seats are cached, not live. Confirm before you transfer.
- Some programs don’t publish fees or seat counts in the data we use, so their value per point is unknown until you check.
- Fees in other currencies are converted at an approximate rate.
- The calendar, the destination search and the alerts run in our invite-only app and aren’t switched on for everyone yet.
Questions
How does Mila decide between points and cash?
She takes the cash fare for the same flight, subtracts the award's taxes and fees, and divides by the points you would spend, counting your card's transfer ratio. Under 1¢ a point she says pay cash; at 1.5¢ or more, use points; in between is a close call. Hours, connections and risk are weighed too.
Why per bank point and not per airline mile?
Because you spend bank points. At a 2:1 transfer, 45,000 airline miles cost 90,000 of your points, which halves what each point is worth.
Is the award availability live?
No. It comes from cached searches, and seats can be gone by the time you book. Seats not updated for over 7 days are left out, and Mila always tells you to confirm the seat on the program's site before you transfer.
Does Mila earn anything from what she recommends?
No. She earns nothing from any card, airline or program. If paid options are ever added, they come after the verdict, are labelled, and pay the same whichever option wins.