It also advises the user on which options make the most sense, given the price and the user's point balance. (For instance, this writer has a little over 14,000 miles from one airline, which Milewise estimated to be worth $211 in rewards.) Like many of the other mileage tracking programs, Milewise compares real-time fare availability for the major airlines based on miles, points, or cash. Milewise tracks more than 200 rewards programs and calculates the cash value of points or miles. The site also partners with TripIt, so after booking flights or hotels, users can build their itinerary using TripIt. Aside from tracking miles and bonus earning opportunities and notifying users in advance of mile expiration dates for selected mileage programs, MileageManager searches for flights and hotel rooms using cash or miles, and shows which programs have award ticket availability. Guillebeau uses MileManager and says he likes its simplicity. TripIt also lets users share their itinerary with others, a feature Segal says isn't available on many other sites. Segal likes TripIt's integration with real-time airline information and the ability to see every aspect of her trips (flight, car rental, hotel) in one place. Stacy Segal, a frequent traveler and travel blogger who says she accrues between 150,000 and 200,000 miles flown per year, checks her miles and points on TripIt Pro to decide what trips she'll take and whether she needs to trade or exchange miles between accounts (which she does through ). The regular account sends up to three expiration notifications, but AwardWallet Plus offers unlimited notices.Ĭost: Free for the first 30 days, then $49 annually (the basic TripIt features are free but do not include points tracking) Both the regular AwardWallet account and AwardWallet Plus track reward balances for an unlimited number of programs and track rewards for family members. Kelly says he uses AwardWallet because it syncs with hundreds of rewards programs (even retail stores and credit cards, in addition to travel programs) and because it's one of the oldest programs (founded in 2004, which in Internet years shows some staying power). Here's a look at five mileage-tracking sites and their features.Ĭost: Free for the regular account, and consumers can name their own price for AwardWallet Plus That said, these tools do have practical applications for budget-savvy travelers. "Don't just sign up for any old site because you're actually giving up a lot of personal information." "Really, anyone with a password to your frequent flyer account could use it to book a flight," he says. Many of these mileage trackers will email you before your miles expire, but as Kelly points out, giving a third-party website access to your mileage and points programs shouldn't be taken lightly. "Inevitably, you never have one username across all programs." But who really has the time to manage each one individually?" asks Brian Kelly, a travel consultant and blogger who writes about points at. "Miles and points are worth money, so if you don't like losing money you should track them. Several websites offer mileage tracking, which could prevent you from letting miles expire or getting so frustrated you give up on mileage programs altogether. "But you just put your information in once and it automatically keeps up with all your mileage and hotel programs." "Once you start using it, initially you don't really see what the big deal is," he says. He's since switched from a spreadsheet to an online tool called, which he compares to Gmail.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |