About · an agentic project
A travel decision framework, not a fare search tool.
This tool evaluates the full decision behind a trip — cost, comfort, upgrade potential, award value, flexibility, and risk — weighted by what matters most to you on that specific trip. It does not simply find the cheapest fare. Anyone with the link can read this page; only Susan's Claude sessions can change what the site does.
what it is
You provide the trip: origin, destination, dates, cabin, budget, loyalty balances, and a ranked list of what matters most — lowest cost, most comfort, best chance at an upgrade, best use of miles, or some balance of these. The engine scores every candidate itinerary on six dimensions — Cost, Comfort, Upgrade Potential, Award Value, Flexibility, Risk — weighted by that ranking, and shows the reasoning behind the recommended choice, not just its price.
No single dimension decides the outcome on its own. An itinerary that costs less but scores lower on your top-ranked priorities will not outrank a better-balanced option. Every result shows the exact weight assigned to each dimension, so that trade-off is never hidden.
the stack
Static HTML with a deterministic, client-side scoring engine. No backend, no build step, and no data leaves your browser. This is a deliberate choice for a first version, not a shortcut: the scoring framework, the weighting logic, and every output section — Executive Summary, Best Recommendation, Top Five Alternatives, Upgrade Strategy, Award Strategy, Purchase Strategy, Advisor Insights — are fully built and computed from your inputs today. What is not yet real is the fare and award data behind them. The comparison below shows where this site stands relative to its siblings.
This site, today
- Static HTML, deterministic scoring engine, no build step
- Reference ranges for fares and miles, hand-maintained, not fetched
- No Netlify Functions yet — nothing to fetch live
- Every run is reproducible: same inputs, same result
Vinyl Scout & The Fitness Log
- Full Netlify Functions backend
- Live data sources (WHOOP API, Discogs pricing)
- Automated backups & health checks
- GitHub repo, auto-deploy on push
Live flight and award search — comparable to Google Flights or ITA Matrix for fares, seats.aero for award availability — is Phase 2 of the roadmap. Until it ships, every price and mileage figure on this page is a labeled planning range, not a live quote. The other two sites in this portfolio hold themselves to the same standard.
what's on the page
Input Card
Trip details, flight preferences, ranked priorities, credit cards, loyalty balances, and airport flexibility — everything the engine weighs.
Executive Summary & Best Recommendation
A short summary of what to book and why, plus the full detail card for the winning itinerary.
Decision Framework
The six scored dimensions, each shown with the exact weight your priority ranking assigned to it. The weighting is never hidden.
Strategy blocks
Upgrade, Award, and Purchase Timing guidance, plus five to eight recommendations specific to your inputs.
roadmap
Built in phases, matching the rest of the portfolio. The scoring framework, the full page set, and the custom domain (travelintelligence.org) are live. Live fare and award data and a backend are next. See the full roadmap and the guide for exactly what's computed today versus planned.
what it won't do
- Will not present a reference-range price or mileage figure as a live quote. Every number on this site is labeled for what it is.
- Will not recommend redeeming miles unless the computed value clears a genuinely strong threshold, about 1.6 cents per mile. See the Award Strategy section for the underlying logic.
- Will not optimize for a single variable. A lower price does not win if it costs too much on the dimensions you ranked higher.
- No accounts, no passwords, no analytics or third-party tracking. Nothing leaves your device.