AwardHacker shut down: what to use instead
Checked on October 12, 2026 on AwardHacker's own pages by the MilesZone team. Sources
AwardHacker was a free award chart calculator. You typed an origin and a destination, and it listed every frequent flyer programme that could book the trip, with the miles its award chart asked, the airlines flying it, and the credit card points that transfer to each programme. It did not check whether a seat was for sale: it pointed you to the programme's own site to look.
It shut down between March 13 and April 10, 2026, judging by the Wayback Machine's snapshots of awardhacker.com. Its farewell page gives the reason: many airlines have shifted to dynamic pricing, and award availability has become increasingly limited. It sends readers to US Credit Card Guide for credit card rewards.
How many miles from A to B, by programme
This is the question AwardHacker answered from award charts. Under dynamic pricing the answer is a range, so here it is from seats we read: for each programme, the typical price (the median of each day's cheapest seat), the lowest seen, the cash on top and how many departure dates had a seat.
The same route can cost twice as many miles through one programme as through another, and some programmes add hundreds of dollars in surcharges. That spread is what a single chart number used to hide.
| Programme | Typical miles | Lowest seen | Cash on top | Days with a seat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LifeMiles | 62,100 | 62,100 | at least $49 | 2 of 60 |
| British Airways Club | 88,000 | 88,000 | not quoted | 16 of 60 |
| Atmos Rewards | 175,000 | 45,000 | at least $29 | 39 of 60 |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | 184,000 | 60,000 | at least $357 | 59 of 60 |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 350,000 | 350,000 | at least $690 | 3 of 60 |
Today's seats on this route: New York (JFK) to London (LHR).
| Programme | Typical miles | Lowest seen | Cash on top | Days with a seat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atmos Rewards | 45,000 | 45,000 | at least $428 | 57 of 60 |
| LifeMiles | 62,100 | 62,100 | at least $241 | 3 of 60 |
| British Airways Club | 88,000 | 88,000 | not quoted | 33 of 60 |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | 105,500 | 60,000 | at least $788 | 60 of 60 |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 345,000 | 47,500 | at least $951 | 32 of 60 |
Today's seats on this route: London (LHR) to New York (JFK).
| Programme | Typical miles | Lowest seen | Cash on top | Days with a seat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LifeMiles | 90,000 | 90,000 | at least $35 | 9 of 60 |
| Atmos Rewards | 200,000 | 150,000 | at least $6 | 60 of 60 |
Today's seats on this route: San Francisco (SFO) to Tokyo (NRT).
Business class, one way, one adult, for departures from October 5, 2026 to December 3, 2026, read between September 25, 2026 and October 5, 2026. Typical is the median of each day's cheapest seat; "at least" marks cash a programme quotes only in part. Method, limits and the full data: Business-class award prices by loyalty program, October 2026.
- AwardHacker read award charts; most programmes now price awards by date and demand, so a chart figure no longer tells you the price.
- The replacement for a chart is the price programmes actually charged on real dates, as in the tables above.
- MilesZone shows the seats programmes are selling, with miles and cash side by side, free for departures in the next 60 days.
AwardHacker vs MilesZone at a glance
- Status
- MilesZone: Running; each route is read on a schedule, the busiest within about a day.
- AwardHacker: Shut down between March 13 and April 10, 2026; awardhacker.com is a farewell page.
- What it showed
- MilesZone: Seats a programme was selling on a date, with its miles and cash fees side by side.
- AwardHacker: The miles each programme's award chart asked for a route, with transfer partners; no seat availability.
- Dynamic pricing
- MilesZone: Shows the price the programme charged when we last read the route; Pro re-checks a seat live.
- AwardHacker: Its last version marked Flying Blue "Dynamic award pricing. The results shown are estimations."
- Programmes
- MilesZone: EL AL Matmid, Atmos Rewards (oneworld), Air France-KLM Flying Blue (SkyTeam), LifeMiles (Star Alliance), Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (Virgin Atlantic's own direct flights), Thai Royal Orchid Plus (Star Alliance, no mainland US airports), British Airways Club (routes to and from London), United MileagePlus (Star Alliance, from United's US hubs), Delta SkyMiles and Qantas Frequent Flyer. What each one reads is on coverage.
- AwardHacker: 19 airline programmes in its last version, Aeroplan, AAdvantage and Asia Miles among them.
- Price
- MilesZone: Free with an account for the next 60 days. Pro: $17 a month or $127 a year, once the 7-day free trial ends.
- AwardHacker: Free while it ran; nothing left to use.
AwardHacker column checked on October 12, 2026. The MilesZone column follows our current plans.
What to use now that AwardHacker has shut down
AwardHacker answered a pre-dynamic-pricing question well. Here is how each part of it maps to what you can use now, checked on October 12, 2026.
Instead of a chart price: what programmes charged on real dates
A chart told you that a route cost a fixed number of miles in a given cabin. Programmes such as Flying Blue and Atmos Rewards now move the price with the date: from New York to London in business, their typical price in our October study was three times their lowest or more.
MilesZone starts from the seat. A result is a seat a programme was selling when we last read the route, with that programme's miles and cash fees. The monthly figures per programme are in our award price research.
Instead of "check the airline's site": the seats themselves
AwardHacker stopped at the chart and linked you to each programme to look for space. That second step was the slow one.
MilesZone search is free with an account for departures in the next 60 days, with no card and no daily cap, and its calendar marks every date with a seat. MilesZone Pro adds alerts on up to 25 routes, departures up to 12 months out and a live re-check of a seat before you transfer points.
What we do not replace
AwardHacker covered 19 programmes and showed which credit card points transfer to each. MilesZone reads fewer programmes, and shows no transfer partners.
Our coverage, programme by programme, is on coverage. To try it on a route AwardHacker users often priced, start with New York (JFK) to London (LHR).
Every programme we read, on one page.
Search a route and see each programme's miles with the cash on top, for every date in the window.
AwardHacker vs MilesZone: questions
- Is AwardHacker still working?
- No. awardhacker.com says AwardHacker has been shut down and is no longer available. The Wayback Machine shows the full site on March 13, 2026 and the farewell page from April 10, 2026.
- Why did AwardHacker shut down?
- Its farewell page says many airlines have shifted to dynamic pricing and award availability has become increasingly limited. A tool built on fixed award charts could no longer give a reliable price.
- What did AwardHacker do?
- It was a free award chart calculator: enter a route and it listed the miles each programme's award chart asked, the airlines that fly it and the credit card points that transfer to each programme. It did not search seat availability.
- Where does the AwardHacker farewell page point?
- To US Credit Card Guide, a site about US credit card rewards.
- What replaces an award chart calculator?
- Prices read from real dates. MilesZone shows the seats programmes sell with miles and cash fees side by side, free for departures in the next 60 days, and publishes monthly figures per programme in its award price research.
- Does MilesZone search live?
- No. MilesZone reads each route on a schedule, the busiest within about a day. Pro re-checks one seat live before you transfer points, and alerts re-check the seat before they email.
Other award search tools compared
Seats.aero vs MilesZoneAlerts that re-check the seat before they email, and keep running after.
AwardFares vs MilesZoneEvery programme in one search before you pay, and a week-long Pro trial.
Award Nexus vs MilesZoneNo points per search: a whole calendar per search and flat-price alerts.
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