For the best experience on desktop, install the Chrome extension to track your reading on news.ycombinator.com
Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit | history | borski's commentsregister

A Claude Code subscription is a subscription to … Claude Code … which is an interface.

The API keys are how you use models directly.


It uses Seats.aero under the hood, which is a Roame competitor, but I’d love to integrate it with others. Seats.aero is the only one with an API, though, which I believe is a mistake on Roame and others’ part.

The actual searching for actively available award flights is the part this relies on Seats.aero for


It’s not nearly as complicated as you make it out to be, and the literal point of what I posted is to try and simplify it.

An MLM or timeshare it is not.

Yes, it has gotten harder than it was a decade ago. But it is far from a “scam”


hey, check it out :) https://github.com/borski/travel-hacking-toolkit/pull/1

I don't know anything about capital one so can do that at a later point


In my personal instance I actually have added the list of Chase The Edit as well as AmEx’s FHR/HC hotels. The problem is there’s no easy way to to search AmEx/Chase for those.

I’ve never booked on super.com usually because I’m not into the “any room, run of the house” that usually requires, but please lmk if I’m missing something!

And please, I am very open to PRs that improve it. :)


That’s incredible! Just having access to a list of Amex FHR/THC hotels alone is super helpful! Will check this out next trip I plan.

Nope. I just booked biz class flights to Scandinavia in August for 140k pts.

Cash was about $7k for the same flights.

In part, the reason I built this wasn't exactly to optimize 1.5cpp vs 2cpp, although that can be useful too... but rather to help me make the choice between using points vs. cash. (which, yes, is based on the cpp value).

But if you don’t find it useful, I’d love that feedback too!


> I just booked biz class flights to Scandinavia in August for 140k pts.

> Cash was about $7k for the same flights.

Cash price US$3,500

https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/64QhvwAzsAGp8NUA7

August 5 to 12, Turkish Airlines, lie-flat business class all legs, round trip, Los Angeles to Istanbul to Oslo

points game is over, man.

but again, if it's a hobby and you like searching, winning, and finding a good deal, then sure. that has value.


Thanks for proving my point, as I was booking for 2pax, which is about $3500/pax indeed. And the 140k pts was total for both (+ ~$1200 total for fees, etc., in the interest of full disclosure).

I was booking over 3 weeks, late August to early September, and I booked on KLM/AF. I had specific date ranges I needed to hit.

Again, you don't have to like it. That's fine.

But consider that "I think points are nonsense" isn't the person this was built for. :)


> Thanks for proving my point, as I was booking for 2pax, which is about $3500/pax indeed. And the 140k pts was total for both (+ ~$1200 total for fees, etc., in the interest of full disclosure).

Again, sounds like you're trying too hard to justify 2 cpp vs 3 cpp.

Cash price $2,900/pax including fees, Aug 19 to Sep 9 (21 days), Turkish airlines lie-flat business round trip with nice short 1h30m layover at a brand new airport.

https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/fewZVhBFrtMTn7WQ6

Versus your 70k points + $600 cash fees per person?

Especially with kids, or with high income, you stop caring about $1,000/person and care more about simplicity or having the trip vs not (e.g., departing on Friday cash vs Wednesday points)

And if one is rich with points (1 million+), then one should have no problem spending 250k points one-way business on the date of their choice. Otherwise, they can't consume their point balance.


Okay. Like I said, you don’t have to like it.

I was happy with the deal I found because my goal was saving cash, and using points I already had. I am not trying to prove a point past that.

$600/pax is a lot less than $2900/pax. Saving $4600 total to use 140k points is, indeed, very useful for me and a lot of other people.

You have other desires and needs. Cool. You could also build those into your request, but like I said: I don’t see the point you’re trying to make other than “I don’t want to like this tool because I don’t like points in general,” which is fine.

Do your thing! And I’ll do mine. :)


Related indirectly : Turkish airlines hub (Istanbul airport) is a scam. Everything there costs at least twice the price it should. Especially food which is basically what everyone does during layover. Think 30€ for a burger or a kebab.

« Brand new » is not an argument by itself. Business is a must, or at least booking a lounge.


> Turkish airlines hub (Istanbul airport) is a scam. Everything there costs at least twice the price it should. Especially food which is basically what everyone does during layover. Think 30€ for a burger or a kebab.

Business class passengers don't pay for food. They are busy eating free buffet in the lounge.


lol you conveniently left out 50% of the ticket fees

$600/pax (which I disclosed) is hardly 50% of the ticket fees, which were, as I mentioned, $3500/pax or so otherwise.

your 70k points + $600/pax is equivalent to $1300

so $600 fees is 46% of the points + cash you paid

you could've cashed out 70k points as $700, therefore the 70k points becomes cash in the math


OK, so you've calculated I've saved $2200/pax. Fine.

For the record, I already took that into account. My goal with these flights was to save cash, because at the moment, cash flow is the issue I'm solving for. At other times, I have other priorities.

I can't believe I have to say this, but... YMMV, I guess.


I don't know if US miles gives better deals, but in EU (Flying Blue, KLM) Amsterdam-Munich (1hr flight) business class is 52k miles. Amsterdam - Los Angeles business class goes for 550k miles. For 1 passenger.

This was 70k round trip SFO-OSL, for 1 passenger. In general, good deals on international flying is the main win with points. Domestic can be useful too, but usually less so.

> Nope. I just booked biz class flights to Scandinavia in August for 140k pts.

Was it 70k points for single passenger, round-trip business class?

It's usually 100k points for one-way business class.

More likely 70k is one-way. Which means 140k points round trip + $600+ fees, vs $2900 cash price, which is hardly a deal.


It was 70k/pax round trip business class.

Yes, I agree it was a great deal.


Oh man, do I hear that. I suspect you’ll like this; let me know what you think! Feedback greatly appreciated

You’re right, you can’t.

Unlike Zenefits, which had (allegedly?) committed fraud for part of their business in the interest of moving faster, and then Parker came back with Rippling…

These guys’ entire and actual business model was fraud.


zenefits didnt commit fraud in the social sense they allowed people to sell real financial products without having a broker licence. its more like not wearing seatbelts than scamming people

the car was real, but there was no drivers licence. 'licence fraud' -> fraud

delve is an actual scam


Ignoring a law is different from knowingly and intentionally breaking the law, especially when that law is actual intentional fraud.

Also, there was no “endgame.” They weren’t trying to change the law; they were exclusively breaking it for profit.


Let me more clearly instead say that many successful startups knowingly and intentionally broke the law.

But I agree that Delve is a special case and should naturally be held to a higher standard here because their whole business is around being compliant with the law. When most other startups break the law, they do it to get an advantage over competition. Delve did it in a way that sacrificed their core value towards customers.


that's defrauding the customer

this will literally get them in court


Yeah, precisely.

> Ignoring a law is different from knowingly and intentionally breaking the law

This is something Airbnb has facilitated for a very long time, no? And Uber, back when it started.

From a legal perspective I don’t see that it matters whether you’re trying to change the law or not. You’re either following it or breaking it.


Sure. Technically and legally, you’re right.

In reality, it makes quite a difference if public opinion is on your side or not.

“We decided to commit fraud by providing fake compliance reports” reads very differently from “we let homeowners make money by renting a room”


The difference is that Airbnb customers used Airbnb because they thought hotel regulations were dumb and overbearing (or at least, they didn't care about the laws). Delve customers were literally trying to obey the law and Delve (allegedly) lied to them about it.

> Ignoring a law is different from knowingly and intentionally breaking the law

Huh? In a legal sense I'm pretty sure they're the same thing.


I ignore the law every day when I jaywalk. Technically, you’re right that that is also breaking the law. I wasn’t being careful with my words.

How and why matters, though.


> How and why matters, though.

How and why you break a law matters (to a judge / jury). Whether you frame it as "ignoring" vs "breaking" in your legal defense, not so much.


I agree; I attempted to clarify that with my “not using words carefully” but that is a fair criticism of what I wrote.

That’s not how words work. This sentence

> I ignore the law every day when I jaywalk.

Means the exact same thing as “I intentionally break jaywalking laws every day”. They are equivalent sentences.


I agreed with you; that is why I said I wasn’t being careful with my language.

What does that mean

> I ignore the law every day when I jaywalk

Not illegal here, but I hope you not complain when caught and fined.


Jaywalking was illegal in NYC until 2025 but literally every crossing had people doing it constantly. This is not figurative, it actually is literal.

Including people doing it in front of police. Including the police themselves!

The law only existed for police to harass and fine blacks and Latinos. And indeed, that was how it was struck down.

It is critical to a just society that victims of unjust laws or uneven enforcement complain!


There is a difference between "fake it till you make it" and "blatant widespread fraud", but the line is blurrier than many startups would like to admit.

> Ignoring a law is different from knowingly and intentionally breaking the law

This is like a line from a Naked Gun movie. The only way that this sentence could be true linguistically is if the party doesn’t break the law that they’re ignoring (e.g. I could ignore the rule against perpetuities while drunk driving through a zoo)


For creating an itinerary, for sure!

This is more about handling travel point hacking, credit card points and their transfer partners, comparing cash vs point prices, etc.

Plus, I like Atlas Obscura more than general internet searches for 'what to do' :)


Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search:

HN For You