September 11, 2011
How many of you out there have a frequent flier rewards program that allows you to rack up “miles” to turn into free travel later on? Points may build up based on an airline membership (where you get points for booking flights), a credit card (where your purchases earn you points that can later be redeemed for airline tickets), or some other form of rewards program. And how many of you have more than one of these memberships or cards working for you? Probably a lot. Now, how many of you can honestly say that 1) you know how many points you currently have, 2) you know how to find out, and 3) you know how to redeem them? Did a sea of hands just drop? Luckily, there is an easy solution, and it’s called MileWise.
The online service is free to sign up for and it offers you some amazing features to not only track your various rewards programs, but also make sure that you can actually use them. It starts by entering your accounts into a profile. With over 300 rewards programs on file, you shouldn’t have any problem finding the ones you hold and logging your membership numbers. Once they have been entered, they will remain in your profile, updating periodically to reflect new earnings as well as notify you of upcoming expiration. Although being able to track all of your rewards in one place is pretty fantastic, it actually gets better.
You can also use the service to search flights. Like other travel sites, it brings up a listing of flights that fit your search criteria (destination, dates, etc.), but it differs in one important way. Whereas most travel sites will show you the flights priced from low to high, MileWise will compile them based on either monetary cost or applicable mileage. If you have a membership with Delta, for example, flights on that airline will show up in miles it will cost you instead of a dollar amount. This may seem confusing, but it’s actually an amazing feature.
Side-by-side comparison between miles and dollars is probably a bit too taxing for the average brain, so the service lists flights in the order of most relevance (that being overall cheapest cost to you) by percentage (listed next to the “cost”). They do the math for you. So if one of your mileage programs will completely cover the cost of your ticket, that entry will be listed with a 100% rating next to it, while other tickets that will cost you more and more will be listed below. In short, it works out the best price for you so that you don’t have to try to convert your miles to dollars.
Finally, you can click on the ticket you want to buy and you will be redirected to the seller’s website, where you will automatically be logged in if you are a member of their mileage program and your points will be redeemed for the ticket of your choice. So whether you’re looking to take in the view on the Champs-Élysées, enjoy the sun and surf at a beachside villa in Paphos, or hit the slopes and then snuggle up by the fire in Aspen, you can use MileWise to get the most out of your rewards programs and save on every trip you take.
