tracking my miles (MaxMiles' MileageMiner)
 

I did suscribe (for free till dec-31-98) MileageMiner. But I will not sign for (paid) 1999.

Mileageminer gives a reasonable summary of my accumulated miles.

* Some informations are incomplete, doubled, inaccurate: LH-shows only flight miles (bonus miles, correctly stated on LH's original online-account from hotel stays are missing now for more than two months).

* some destinations abbreveations aren't identified: LH's NYC-flights (for JFK or EWR) are "identified" as beiing missing.

* I can't use MileageMiner for planning ahead (on my personal ff-spreadsheet I can identify/differentiate miles as account-miles and/or status-miles: planned, booked, claimed, credited and I can add informations as promotion-codes, treshold-remarks, etc, etc).

* there is no control-meccano/alarm if bonus miles (class bonus and/or status-bonus and/or treshold-bonus are earned/missing).

* mileage-promotions-informations are more or less restricted to american-ff-programs, LH being an exception.

I certainly will not pay for MilageMiner either.

Their information is very slow to update, which is a huge disappointment. I can understand a few days to get updated information, but not the weeks it seems to take.

I will not renew MaxMiles either. Everything they offer, graphs and all, I can reproduce on MS Excel. And as Rudi stated it is worthless for future planning.

I have to agree with this one, I will not be renewing either.

At the end of the day, I think you are better off constructing your own spreadsheet.

I use MileageMiner at the moment, but it is so slow to update, I end up checking all the relevant sites anyway.

I quite like BizMiles, but that is simply because it offers more streamlined access to the sites I am interested in.

I know this is a little silly, but ever since I have used MileageMiner it comes up with that silly "you will soon be in the top 50% of Frequent Flyers for 1998". What does that mean? I think all of us on this forum know just how silly that type of assumption is!

Someone has got to come up with something more comprehesive and sturdy soon!
MF

mine reads: "based on your flight activity in 1998, you are on track to be in the top 0.8% of all frequent flyers!" ... I am soooooo proud.

yours, merry, should read like .... 0.0001% of all frequent flyers!

I'm only in the top 7.31% ...

Ol' JAWs doesn't use any of these and he's relatively sure he is somewhere in the top 100% of ALL FF's.

I'm just sulking because BA (UK) Airmiles don't count.
MF

Is there a free site that offers a similar service to maxmiles, as I too will not be renewing? BizTravel now only has a few programs available.

The Official Airline Guide is readying their access to Maxmiles which will be free for subscribers. See www.oag.com/gateways for info. If you are not a subscriber, the often have reduced first year subscription with bonus miles offers. I find the guides handy when the various reservations systems say that you can't get there from here.

MIleageMiner had me in the top 50 percent of frequent travelers. FIFTY PERCENT??? MaxMiles had me in the top 8 Percent? Slow to credit,
and a lot of items not on there.

So I did not renew as well.

My math shows me around top 8 percent. I don't fly as much as you but with the cards and bonuses and other stuff I'm get a lot of miles! CATMAN

Catman: Since you can tell that you are at the top 8%, would you mind sharing with the rest of us what a top 10% flyer has to clock every year? I am curious on knowing how I measure up. ( I fly between 110,000 to 150,000 every year.)

agian: I only trust statistics that I falsify myself.

what is 100%? (who's & what sort of miles count, many airlines are not yet in the database of MileageMiner, many ff-flyer aren't either, etc. etc.).

Mr. Auditor: That's what MaxMiles says I am -- but I think they are also taking into account miles from credit cards and the hotel stuff. So its math can be wrong.

I fly on average between 65-70K miles a year
(mostly on UA, but some trips are on other airlines if I get a really cheap fare.) IN your case you would probably be in the top 5 percent of flyers. So I may be in top 20 percent.

Remember: Math is not my strong point. I just fly and fly and fly and rack up miles, I don't care if I'm in top 1 percent or 88 percent. CATMAN

Catman: Thanks for the reply. Miles become lesser an issue to me after a while, but definitely the more the merrier. I use them for upgrade and bring family along on thips only. However, what tiers I get to qualify as an elite is more important. Those perks--first class check-in's, priority waitlist/standby, and free upgrades--make all the difference in the world.