Travel Technology - How do you manage your frequent flyer/hotel accounts?

Hi friends,

I was wondering if there was any software for both my PC and for my PDA using Windows PPC2002, that can basically help me:

-List all my frequent flyer/hotel/car rental accounts
-Their number
-Address on file
-Status
-Points/Miles etc

Basically, I just wanted to keep a record of all my travel accounts, so that I know how many points I have or do not have!, if they are up for renewal etc.

Does not have to be anything fancy, I know I can do this very quickly and easily using excel, but maybe there is something prettier out there?

Thanks
RJ

I used to use Miletracker until this summer when it became infested with adware. It was a purposeful embedding with the Deskport junk - uninstall the infestation and you lose Miletracker. Somebody on MilesBuzz says there is a German-language version of the tool again, but I don't trust anything with the Miletracker name on it to not be some sort of virus, hijacker, spyware, or other type of infection.

I now use Yodlee.com. It is decent - not great, but not bad either. It is compatible with all of the programs to which I belong but doesn't provide any program-savvy "smarts" behind the logic. Simply a datastore for numbers, passwords, and balances. For that purpose, I like it. Plus it's web-based so I can get at it from anywhere.

I used to use Miletracker until this summer when it became infested with adware. It was a purposeful embedding with the Deskport junk - uninstall the infestation and you lose Miletracker. Somebody on MilesBuzz says there is a German-language version of the tool again, but I don't trust anything with the Miletracker name on it to not be some sort of virus, hijacker, spyware, or other type of infection.

I now use Yodlee.com. It is decent - not great, but not bad either. It is compatible with all of the programs to which I belong but doesn't provide any program-savvy "smarts" behind the logic. Simply a datastore for numbers, passwords, and balances. For that purpose, I like it. Plus it's web-based so I can get at it from anywhere.

A stand-alone, English version of Miletracker is available - sponsored by USAToday so it has a few McPaper ads on it but is as safe/secure as ever.

Yodlee works fine, and is combined with financial holdings and other data. It is OEM's by Fidelity's FullView and others.

Go to www.maxmiles.com

It is the best out there.

Go to www.maxmiles.com

It is the best out there.

For me, the cost is too high. $29.95 per year too high, to be precise.

Hi,

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, the cost is also too high for me!!, but I am sure it is great deal for those of you that use it. Thanks for the suggestion though!.

Any other suggestions out there....all the ones so far seem great, just want to evaluate several options before I zoom in on one!.

Thanks
RJ

I only consolidate in 3 or 4 programs, and so I'm able to manually track my points that way, but I just have a password-protected Excel spreadsheet that has all my programs, #'s, and passwords... Simple enough for me to use, although admittedly it doesn't take the next step to sync with the websites and get the number of points I have.

I have been very happy with MIletracker/Deskport. I did not have any problem with virus or adware. I run Spybot and Adaware on a regular basis. Perhaps this is why.

I only consolidate in 3 or 4 programs, and so I'm able to manually track my points that way, but I just have a password-protected Excel spreadsheet that has all my programs, #'s, and passwords... Simple enough for me to use, although admittedly it doesn't take the next step to sync with the websites and get the number of points I have.

I'd love to get down to 3-4 programs, but unfortunately I'm scattered across 9 airline programs and 4 hotel programs (plus almost the same number for my wife). I refuse to transfer balances except as a last resort, so I spend a lot of time watching balances and using things like iDine to nudge small accounts up to 25k.

There are a few things that NONE of the online tools will do: (1) manage your expiration dates, (2) help you keep partner data linked to accounts (e.g., your iDine credit card links, IDs, and passwords, your rental car default earnings, etc.), (3) help you model future earnings based on hotel stay or flight scenarios in various programs. (Helpful when considering a series of hotel stays that might trigger any number of promo bonuses in the different programs and their value vs. Priceline stays.) So I have a big spreadsheet in addition to Yodlee that has all of that stuff for both my wife and I.

Yodlee helps when I'm anywhere and want to pull up an FF number to book a ticket. The big spreadsheet helps when I'm at my home PC and I'm shuffling iDine data to either top-off or push out an expiration date on a dormant account - or when I want to crunch a bunch of numbers to figure out what I might earn in the next few weeks.

Here's the new, free English version of MileTacker, sponsored by McPaper

http://www.usatoday.deskport.biz/

I've actually never really understood why someone needs to use one of these things. Is it so tough to just log into your accounts, seriously?

There are a few things that NONE of the online tools will do: (1) manage your expiration dates.

Actually, i thought there was a series of expiration managment tools that are part of mileagemanager.com As well, mm also ties into a database of bonuses you get information on all within the same tool.

Two things mentioned here i have my own observations on. You might have seen a question i recently answered on USA Today from a reader who had 700,000+ miles expire with BA and wanted some help on getting them back. Well, BA is rather tough on expiring miles and yes, 700,000+ is a lot to lose, but in my advice, i could not help pointing out that if he had invested in a management program like mileagemanager.com, that probably would not have happened as i think it sends out 2 or 3 warning of soon to be expired miles. $29 too expensive? OK, but frankly seems a small price to pay to have things all in one place for you. And more importantly, with bells and whistles. I think we even introduced at mileagemanager.com another tool that pings you every time any deduction is taken from your account - the only service to do that. Given old relationships, co-workers with bad habits and a lot more, i hear often from members who have had their accounts tapped. With this alert, you have time to cancel the reservation, etc.

As for the miletracker. It seems that years back some members really got into that one because they wanted "control" of their account and of course saw black helicoperts with the online versions. good scare tactic by the desktop crowd, but mileagemanager was the orginal, started as a manual service in 1987, became electronic in the mid-90s and even has been endorsed and carried by American Express which does know something of security. With all the spyware and other stuff running around on your desktop today, it may not be the big selling point it once was.

And for those of you with your spread sheets - hey, whatever works, but i know i never have to rely on my time to manage my programs, whether for expiration or simply forgetting about them.

hfly: if anything lese, any program is a good one if it forces you to get all your stuff together. PINs, old accounts and more are a real problem for most people, which is why anything is better than nothing.

for me, it's about time. I'd gladly pay $29 for a program that keeps all my stuff at my fingertips where ever i'm at (remember, the desktop stuff is only good from your own desktop) and one with i've never had a problem of which system and product i need to do a work around with.

Just my thoughts.

I've actually never really understood why someone needs to use one of these things. Is it so tough to just log into your accounts, seriously?

Click on MileTracker in toolbar. Click on Update - see all balances in one place

OR

Open Browser. Click on Yodlee. Type in user ID. Type in password. See all balances in one place

vs.

Open Excel. Open Browser. Start Loop [Type in URL. Type in user ID. Type in password. Click on Account Details. Memorize balance. Alt-tab to Excel. Type in number you memorized. Alt-tab to browser] Repeat Loop 15 times to get all data.

Yes, it is.

You could use ewallet for everything you listed except keeping up to date on your frequent flyer miles (you'd have to update those manually).

I find ewallet to be a great tool on both the home PC and the Pocket PC.

Hi friends,

I was wondering if there was any software for both my PC and for my PDA using Windows PPC2002, that can basically help me:

-List all my frequent flyer/hotel/car rental accounts
-Their number
-Address on file
-Status
-Points/Miles etc

Basically, I just wanted to keep a record of all my travel accounts, so that I know how many points I have or do not have!, if they are up for renewal etc.

Does not have to be anything fancy, I know I can do this very quickly and easily using excel, but maybe there is something prettier out there?

Thanks
RJ

Try ewallet for your PDA.
It works very good.

Microsoft Money has Frequent Flyer accounts that are used to track FF points (I think that feature started in the 2002 release). I use that feature and it works rather well, it has expiration tracking for each transaction entry. You can also track credit card points, and link the credit card reward account to the parent credit account.

Note that Money 2005 is getting very feedback from the user community over at the money newsgroup, news:microsoft.public.money ... The general concensus there is to skip Money '05, and upgrade to, or keep using, Money 04 until 06 appears.

I use TripTracker (http://www.twopeaks.com). You can buy a bundle with a desktop and a PocketPC application.

TripTracker wont download your statements, but it lets you enter trip details (including air segments, hotel stays, car rental, custom appointments, etc.). For every activity, it will track your frequent flyer miles or points. It will also track all your associated expenses.

The cost for the bundle is around $30 but there are always coupons giving you a significant discount.

Overall, it's a great piece of software. I never print my itineraries. I just go to the airport with my iPaq and I can easily lookup reservation numbers, make sure I have the seats I had reserved, etc.

No problems whatsoever with Deskport/Miletracker. No adware/spyware. It does display ads in its own window but...so does everything including FlyerTalk.

QL

I have a word processing document that I update continuously and re-save every month with a new name reflecting that month and year. I make good use of differing font sizes.

It has all the relevant information for airline, hotel, and points-earning credit cards, such as date checked, date of last posting, balance, prior balance, e-mail address provided, password (partial, using mnemonics for each), expiration dates (with this year's in redline), pending transactions, Diners Club account or partner transfers, etc, for over two dozen of my accounts, and those of my family and in-laws.

Having the account numbers in one file facilitates cutting and pasting to go online. It is not as much work as it sounds, because there is no need to continuously check accounts where one knows there has been no activity, if the expiration date is in the distant future. However, sometimes I do! :)