Earning frequent flier miles is like keeping loose change in a million different piggy banks. It’s much easier to earn the points and miles than it is to keep up with them, let alone know when they expire. With so many airlines, programs and caveats it’s simply hard to know what you have and where. The entire “point” of collecting points is to be able to use them when you want or need them, easily, fortunately there’s yet another app for that…
A really useful FREE tool I love is http://awardwallet.com. Essentially, you sign up, sync your various points earning accounts from airlines, hotels and banks and Award Wallet tracks and monitors your points presenting them to you in one place in a style similar to ApplePay or GoogleWallet. Much easier. When I need to book a free flight or hotel its so nice to have all of my options presented to me on one screen. I find that on top of being a fantastic source of ease and organization, Award Wallet helps to really see your points strengths, weaknesses and needs. When you login and see that you have 23,000 miles on Delta you can very quickly deduce that just 2,000 more miles, which you could earn simply from having dinner, would give you the 25,000 points necessary for a round trip economy flight anywhere in the US. Adversely, if I see that I only have 250 Starwood Hotels Points and no intention of staying at a Starwood property in the near future, I may look to see what my strongest hotel points are and focus more attention there. I love using miles for last minute situations and finding all the tools in the shed in one place is simply the best.
An interesting footnote is that airlines absolutely hate this service and have gone to battle with it on numerous occasions. The travel market we live in is so competitive that it would be suicide for a company to no longer offer points or miles but with that said, almost every airline, hotel or credit card would love for you to forget about your points and miles until they expire. Or entirely ; ) People being organized means points being more valuable and airlines being able to squeeze less fares out of you. Don’t let your points go to waste by being disorganized. They’re not just mythical values, they are money in disguise.
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