Travel Smarter launches AI to accelerate travellers' airline status

AI accelerates airline status amid higher thresholds

Earning miles is as much about method as mileage. Travel Smarter has formally launched an AI-powered loyalty optimisation platform for frequent travellers. It promises to speed up progress towards airline status and maximise the value of points and miles. The move comes as many carriers tighten elite qualification, shift models ( British Airways has updated its programme since 1 April 2025 ) towards spend-based status, and pare back some benefits. The start-up is initially targeting members of programmes in the Oneworld alliance, with broader coverage to follow.

The platform aggregates and continuously analyses qualification rules, earning mechanics, credit-card accelerators born of bank–brand partnerships, upgrade vouchers and redemption opportunities. Optimisation agents offer personalised recommendations based on travel behaviour and goals, from status and upgrades to rewards. Its agentic approach simulates thousands of itinerary and flight-credit combinations to reveal the most efficient path to a given status and the strongest return on travel spend. The company is also exploring integrations with corporate booking tools to surface these choices directly in the booking flow.

Miles as an alternative currency

The launch also addresses growing uncertainty among travellers now faced with hybrid, increasingly complex systems. Travel Smarter’s aim is to pinpoint, sometimes within the same alliance, the programme where crediting flights advances status fastest.

“Travellers are losing airline status faster than ever despite flying just as much,” said Richard Viner, CEO and Co-Founder of Travel Smarter. “Airlines are raising thresholds and quietly devaluing loyalty programmes. The airline you fly most isn’t always the fastest route to status. Travel Smarter removes the guesswork revealing the smartest path to status and the best return on travel spend”.

Loyalty programmes, set to evolve in the age of AI, remain highly profitable assets for airlines, not least through bank partnerships and co-branded credit cards. Travel Smarter sees miles as a widely circulating alternative currency. In that context, decision-support tools could encourage travellers to move more fluidly between programmes. For corporates, native integrations with booking tools could help align travel policy with employees’ loyalty value.

The first version focuses on Oneworld before expanding to other carriers and alliances. The London-based start-up, founded in 2025, says it has more than 2,000 early-access users and that millions of points and miles have already been modelled.