Way back in March, I wrote about Chasing Mall Points, but today’s version is nowhere near what I originally envisioned it.
There were complications along the way, I didn’t have the same knowledge 4 months ago that I have now. I am very happy to say that we’ve launched Chasing Mall Points first of many web applications for points and miles and enthusiasts. The original app is still planned, but there’s a few issues that still need to be ironed out, notably database set up.
Chasing Mall Points currently has one app, it’s a distance based frequent mile calculator. There’s a few things currently happening with the app while we are in beta mode that is not pretty. Like after running the query, your query will display on the top (when we go live and move to production it will go away) – it is there for us to debug if something strange occurs.
There’s a few things we currently have planned like removal of unnecessary columns, to make the user interface a little cleaner, a small fix to the data retrieval process, and a few small things.
Big thanks to Matt @ Saverocity for the inspiration of the calculator in these posts:
A Tale of Debauchery AKA the Fat Bastard’s Challenge!
Exploring Distance Based Award Programs – Part 1 An Introduction to the airlines
The current programs in the calculator are: Cathay Pacific, Virgin Australia, British Airways, Asiana, ANA, and JAL.
After reviewing the posts from Matt, looks like I missed LAN and Qantas. With the addition of Citi Thank You points being a transfer partner to a few more airlines, I could use your help on finding the redemption chart for Etihad and Garuda. Qatar is nice and easy and can be added fairly quickly as soon as I have a chance.
Have fun and I’d love to know your thoughts!
Garuda looks interesting if the prices are round-trip, as they appear to be. http://bit.ly/1rlMJzI Then you run into this: ‘Award Tickets redemption for any of Garuda Indonesia partner airlines, including Etihad Airways, can only be conducted at Garuda Indonesia Sales Offices.’ Let me just run to the Garuda Sales Office down the street and get some fuel surcharge quotes…
It looks like they have offices in Chicago and L.A.
Garuda definitely looks interesting – in my cursory look I only saw 1 route on ANA for US Travel.
It seems to be calculating something incorrectly. IE: DCA-MHT (406 miles each way) a round trip on BA is pricing as a zone 2 round trip. Should be zone 1.
Thanks – I’ll put this in my notes and check it out