Value of Unused Frequent Flyer Miles Greater than the GDP of Most Countries

Portland, OR - Oct 18, 2009 - May 1981 American Airlines started the first frequent flyer program with a list of 150,000 of its best customers. Today there are 277 million frequent flyer members[1] belonging to a myriad of airline loyalty programs with an accumulated 9.7+ trillion miles outstanding[2]. Airlines estimate that the value of these miles are in the neighborhood of 570 Billion dollars, $0.017 per mile. Many of these miles will go unused and expire because frequent flyer members have difficulty managing the many programs in which they are enrolled.

Most airlines and other loyalty programs over the last couple years have changed their policy to expire miles from member accounts if there has been no activity for a period of time. This averages from 12 to 18 months depending on the program. Before this policy change, miles would never expire or the member would have had a greater amount of time to log some activity. Unfortunately, members are not always aware of policy changes and this can have costly consequences as 'jeanrtco' describes in a post on a frequentflier.com forum.

“I am so upset, as i had 263,000 miles expire on June 1, 2008 and just realized this. I was told back in dec. 2006 when redeeming miles that the balance was good for 36 months, along the way that policy changed and I was not aware of it!”[3]

Active members of loyalty programs belong to an average of 6.2[1] loyalty programs ranging from airlines, hotels, car rental, credit cards, etc. Managing these programs can be problematic. AwardWallet.com provides a free service that allows members to view all of their loyalty program balances in one place and get email notifications on recent activity and expiration warnings.

About AwardWallet.com - AwardWallet.com is owned and operated by ITLogy, LLC. AwardWallet.com provides members with a consolidated view of loyalty programs points and information focusing on the travel industry. AwardWallet.com members also have the option to automatically consolidate travel itineraries and link with friends traveling to the same location at the same time.

Todd Mera
541-314-3302
71 Little Buck Creek Rd.
Underwood, WA 98651

This release was published on openPR.