AwardWallet Giveaway: Win a Personalized Loyalty Program Membership Card

by Gary Leff

As regular readers know, I used Award Wallet to track my miles and points. They have a free service with most of their functionality, you input your frequent flyer accounts and passwords and can update them all with a single click or can log into an account with a single click as well, no more spreadsheets or writing down account numbers and passwords on scraps of paper.

I’ve used various services like Award Wallet for years, and there are several. The first one, which I loved, was Miletracker (the downloadable application, not the online service). The problem was that it wasn’t kept up to date. Whenever a loyalty program would change up its website, the service needs to be updated, and Miletracker just didn’t get updated all that often. Which meant that lots of programs wouldn’t update.

What I like about Award Wallet is that they’re really quick on the draw, if something isn’t working it isn’t working for a very short period of time.

The site also has community and TripIt-like features to track your reservations, though I don’t especially use those since I have my own customized ways I prefer to manage my trips.

There’s also a “Plus” membership, which requires you to pay some amount, it can be as low as $5 for 6 months. The biggest difference is that basic free membership will only show expiration dates for points in three accounts, whereas Plus members get expiration dates shown for all accounts that the website supports it.

To encourage you do pay more for premium service, some sites would consider crippling their free product. Fortunately Award Wallet hasn’t done that, and instead is now offering more premium benefits for higher payment amounts.

The new benefit they’ve come up with is the OneCard: a single card which will show your frequent flyer numbers for up to 30 programs on it, the phone numbers for those programs, and includes a magnetic stripe so that you can use the card to check in at airport kiosks in lieu of a credit card. It’s available one card for folks paying $10 and 3 cards for folks paying $25.

Award Wallet’s PR folks reached out to me last week to offer me a coupon code to get a card for free. I didn’t use that card. The guys I know at Award Wallet had discussed the card with me in the past and they knew my initial reaction was that I wasn’t a fan — I know my loyalty program numbers, I carry my elite cards when I travel, I have them all on my laptop. So why do I need another card? But I also realize that not every frequent traveler has 30 account numbers memorized and it occurred to me that for some folks this is rather brilliant.

Back in 2008, Starwood and Priority Club started offering personalized membership cards. Priority Club let you put other program account numbers on the card, in their quest to be the card you actually kept in your wallet. Starwood offered to let you select the photo of one of their properties for your membership card, in order to build affinity between you and that card and get it to be a card you actually kept in your wallet. Both programs were on to something, and it seems like Award Wallet may have the best implementation so far.

I didn’t accept a free card, I paid for one instead, as regular readers know while I’ll happily accept a referral when someone signs up for a credit card rather than telling the banks just to keep it, when someone comes and offers something to me I prefer to offer it to my blog readers instead. You’ll know my feelings about a product are as a paying customer, and it lets me share it with y’all. I’m more than happy to cover my own costs, thank you very much 🙂

So instead of my getting a couple of free cards, we’re giving away two free cards on the blog. If you aren’t an Award Wallet user, you will need to be of course, since the programs you’ve entered in your account are the ones you’ll select to go on your card.

What we’re going to do is this, as per my usual practice:

  • Leave a comment on this blog post to enter, one comment per person only please! (When I draw the winner, I will check..)
  • In that comment, please tell us how you track your miles and points.
  • The contest will run until Friday 12 p.m. Eastern.
  • I will draw the winner at random using random.org. This is a giveaway, done with generous spirit, not a lot of terms and conditions here but let’s just say that in all matters related to the giveaway I am the final arbiter of any interpretations, disputes, disagreements and will use my sole discretion in handling such matters.

So leave your comment here to enter to win an Award Wallet OneCard. And if you have any questions, drop them to me by email. Thanks!

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  2. I currently use awardwallet (free version) and points.com (for the exchange/trading) to manage my points.

  5. I used to have a spreadsheet that I would carry around on my laptop and phone that I would manually update every few months. Ever since I learned about AwardWallet, it’s the mint.com for my points!

  8. AwardWallet is my miles/points tracker backed up by a spreadsheet in google docs.

    At this point I would never be able to remember more than 5 or 6 of these numbers on my own.

  9. I use Tripit pro to monitor my award miles, however, generally know when they expire from my frequent visits to the actual program websites

  10. I haven’t ever used Award Wallet before, because I have a folder in my email that has all of my account numbers listed in it. Not all that convenient when going with a lesser-used entity and I need the # fast, though.

  11. I love awardwallet! Now if only they’d start tracking daily deal site coupons (i know…not their schtick)

  13. I am a premium AwardWallet user, but when I want to assign miles to a different carrier, I usually have to unpack my laptop and pull up my FF.xls spreadsheet, which is a pain. So the wallet card seems like a really smart idea.

  15. I use award wallet to track my husband’s and my points/balances. I find it really useful.

  17. As of yet I am still keeping track on the desktop so I am looking forward to getting up to date soon!

  18. I use the notes tab on my iPhone. Rarely carry my cards because I have too many so a single card would be extremely helpful.

  26. I still use a spreadsheet to keep track of my FF accounts. Maybe it’s time to try AwardWallet…

  27. I use Award Wallet premium and love it! Have been thinking about upgrading to get the One Card.

  28. Another Award Wallet user here. I especially like being able to store my login’s on Award Wallet, as it allows me to pull up my accounts on each airline/hotel/rental car site with one click.

  32. I use AwardWallet, plus a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is especially useful for tracking promotions.

  34. I have been using award wallet for a few years now as well as monitoring activity on the individual websites of the programs that I am a member of.

  35. I track everything manually using the programs websites and my own spreadsheets to track account numbers.

  36. i use awardwallet and i like it a lot. i just wish it would automatically refresh the point balances.

  39. Pageonce, mileagemanager and tripit pro are used quick frequency as I travel over 200,000 “butt in seat” miles per year.

  43. I’m currently using an old fashion spread sheet but I’m in the process of becoming an AWARD WALLET person. I believe I will benefit from AW’s service.

  47. I use Award Wallet. It’s my go to. Really like the iPhone app. Any chance of an iPad app coming down the pipeline?

  53. I just signed up for awardwallet.com and it seems like a great way to keep track of both my points and my husband’s. Does anyone know if the one card can include both of our accounts? (as in 2 Delta #s, 2 Hertz #s)

  54. Thanks Gary–I’ve been using award wallet thanks to you–this is an added benefit. Much appreciated.

  57. I have several active FF accounts. I am looking into award wallet as that would save me some time.

  58. I only use AwardWallet…and I hate that AA is threatening to no longer allow these types of sites to access my data.

  59. Awardwallet is an awesome service! I track my points/miles, my wife’s, my son’s, and my parents’.

  62. I use Award Wallet as many others have mentioned. This card could be really useful – there is no way I could memorize all my frequent flyer accounts!

  66. Im using Awardwallet to track my miles and points and have more than 20 programs registered with them. Its extremely convenient that they also offer an Iphone app for people on the go.

  68. My premium membership for award wallet just ended and would love to get the upgrade again. The card would be useful, even though i fly all the time and use my credit card to check in, I keep on thinking they’ll charge me for something i’m unaware of!

  72. I actually keep it in writing and I check up on my accounts online. I could really use this. Thanks!

  79. An interesting idea – I think I’d like to have one to see if it’s useful or not. I have mine memorized as well, but every once in a while I’ll draw a blank on a lesser used program.

    I use award wallet, btw.

  80. I use award wallet for me my husband and my son. I’ve also gotten my mom and all 3 of my siblings to sign up because I think it’s such a great site.

  82. I use AwardWallet, just got the email from them introducing the OneCard, and thought it was a brilliant idea!

  88. I use AwardWallet. I also use the “Full View” option in my Fidelity Brokerage account, it is a great way to track all of your programs.

  89. I’ve used Award Wallet for about a year? Paid version 🙂 (and recently the android mobile version). But do not have the card!

  96. I have used premium award wallet for a few years now and frequently reoommend it to my friends.

  97. I use Award Wallet and the Google Homepage plugin. I like the daily reminder of being able to see my updated balances so I don’t forget to keep the earning (or spending) going! Thanks Award Wallet

  99. I use AwardWallet to track my airline/car/hotel accounts with ease. Fun fact, i can track my groupon purchases too!!

  101. I use AwardWallet for myself and the rest of my family! Its a great source, especially since it now track daily deal and coupon websites along with the traditional airline and hotel points.

  104. I track miles and points using AwardWallet, and it is fantastic! Makes it so much easier — I particularly like the feature where they track your expiration dates as well as your points.

  106. I’m currently being rather inefficient about keeping track of my less well used programs and have just lost some points because of it. So your post about AwardWallet is timely and the card sounds like a great idea to get rid of all the many, many cards in my travelling briefcase.

  107. I’ve been looking at AwardWallet and just haven’t done it yet. This would be the reason to try! Presently, I use the point tracker function in TripIt Pro but find it a little passive. Plus, I’m becoming more of a points hound so really need a better tool.

  108. I was using a Google doc with all the account numbers and all of the individual websites (lots of bookmarks) but once I saw your Award Wallet post I signed up and plan on using it all the time.

  109. I’m an AwardWallet user–great service. BTW, Gary, thanks for taking the high road and buying your own card. IMHO it makes you a more credible blogger.

  112. I only track my Aeroplan regularly. I do track the expiry of my miles in other accounts on Google calendar though.

  113. I use both Award Wallet and TripIt. I pay for TripIt Pro because I love the immediate notifications for gate changes, baggage carousel, etc. But I think Award Wallet does a much better job allowing me to track the rest of my family’s mileage account numbers.

  115. What? Only 30 account numbers memorized, Gary? You’re really slacking 😉 Maybe a tip on your memorization techniques is a subject for a future blogpost?

  117. I have been using AwardWallet for the past 3 weeks.. since I started churning CC’s! What a great new hobby I’ve found 🙂

  118. I have been using AwardWallet for several years. I always pay the $5 and manage accounts for about 6 people. Thanks, in advance.

  123. I track everything manually today, logging in and out of all my various accounts. I mostly just use accounts when I’m looking to redeem awards, so it hasn’t been a major issue, but Award Wallet is something I’ve been meaning to try out for a while now!

  126. I just go to individual sites of the companies to check my mileage balance. But to keep track of all my numbers, I have a spreadsheet that I maintain.

  127. I use award wallet and an Excel spreadsheet. I can’t keep track of that many numbers in my head.

  129. I use AwardWallet and find it to be pretty handy. I have its App as well so I can look stuff up on the go.

  130. I use awardwallet to track all my miles. However recently gomiles has also drawn my attention although they participate in not as many programs. (They do promise to add a lot more soon) Other than that I see gomiles as a serious challange to awardwallet but for the time being awardwallet rocks

  131. I use AwardWallet and find myself checking it at least once per day, especially with the Grand Slam going on!

  132. I use AwardWallet and periodically check the sites for correct miles/points. As far as membership numbers, I typically have relevant ones printed out on my itinerary before the trip.

  135. I currently track them on each separate site… this is… less than ideal I now see. I think this is me getting award wallet now… thanks!

  136. I definitely use AwardWallet and LOVE it! It’s the king of tracking websites in my opinion.

  138. Awardwallet is a lifesaver for us travel addicts. I love the premium service and its one place – one click automated updates for all my programs. Infact I have my entire family on it and manage over 85 programs (ridiculous I know, but super helpful). Quite simply, I think Awardwallet Rocks and this new one card is a super idea. I’d love one.

  139. I have the premium version and loved it. I think the one card idea is awesome because I can never remember all the account numbers.

  145. I use Award Wallet to track my wife’s and my mileage and award points. I also use their Iphone app which works seamlessly with the PC version. This way you don’t have to pull out your laptop when looking for account information.

  146. I rely on AwardWallet. It makes tracking my loyalty miles quick and easy. I was a beta member and am happy to renew every six months.

  149. I’ve been getting TripTracker alerts for several months now. I like not having to check balances constantly.

  150. This would be really useful, given how massively over-stuffed my wallet is already with all those loyalty cards. Award Wallet offer a great service, and this just makes it better!

  152. I use Awardwallet! I click UPDATE ALL frequently everyday and manage almost 80 accounts for 10 family and friends!

  154. I used to keep everything in a spreadsheet until Awardwallet came along. Now I’m a Awardwallet free version user! Would love to try out the OneCard!

  155. Gary, I absolutely enjoyed your presentation at the Chicago DO!
    I love and use AWARD WALLET! I totally recommend it; as I am an award wallet junkie and probably check it a few times day. I manage a family of 4 and all our points, so for me it is a lifesaver! for the grand slam, it has been priceless! The day I found it, it changed my point junkie life!

  160. I use AwardWallet (Premium). It was nice to put a face with a blog at the Chicago DO this weekend. Thanks for all that you do!

  163. I have an AwardWallet account, but I tend to use a mixture of memory and information on my contact list on my computer when traveling.

  165. I use awardwallet to track my balances. I’m fairly new to this game and I’m still learning, but I do have a few points(highest so far is 200) spread out on different programs.

  168. I have a dog-eared sticky note that I refer to when my memory is failing me regarding my account numbers. I “track” my points by occasionally logging in to the programs’ sites to check my balances. Yes, I am a Luddite.

  172. I’m all set for tracking my own points; I use award wallet too! But I’ve lost control over my Mister’s points, now that he’s avidly collecting too, and I’d love an easier way to help him manage his accounts!

  173. I use AwardWallet, but to be honest I find myself just managing each program individually. Need to use it more!

  174. I use Award Wallet to track my current balances and a Google Docs spreadsheet to track as-yet-unposted miles.

  176. I use Award Wallet to track all of my balances and just recently starting using it to track accounts for my sister, brother-in-law, AND their 4 kids! It’s great!

  181. Love using AwardWallet- fast and easy to keep track and email reminders about expiring points are great too!

  182. I use award wallet and used a code from Frugal Traveler for 6 months premium. I liked it so much I pay for it myself.

  186. At the end of AwardWallet’s email on OneCard it says, – To unsubscribe, please login to your profile and uncheck the checkbox: “Occasional, important product updates”

    A category called “Occasional, important product updates” did not exist previously. In order to uncheck and save my options, I have to give them my state info. Otherwise I am subscribed to “Occasional, important product updates”.

    Unethical way of asking for additional information to unsubscribe to a category that never existed previously. They have lost my trust.

  199. I use points.com and an Excel spreadsheet, it ain’t pretty but it works. Would be interested in trying AwardWallet-thanks!

  200. I track all my programs manually. Have been thinking about signing up for Award Wallet ever since Oct. 2010 Iggy conference in Chicago. This contest could be the trigger for me to make the switch.

  203. i redeemed some miles yesterday for an aa flight and immediately went to award wallet and the deduction was noted immediately- a great service!

  206. Been using Award Wallet for almost two years and paid for the Plus membership most of that time. I like the idea of the new card, but how are they going to fit my 40+ accounts on one card?

  207. I use Award Wallet, they’ve been very helpful in reminding me to make a deposit into 2 accounts so I don’t lose miles at the end of the year.

  208. I use award wallet, mainly because it is simply the best out there. A OneCard would be amazing

  213. I actually made my own “one card” years ago, laminated it and everything, but the number of programs I belong to now has far surpassed what I could fit on that old card. Award Wallet has been great at keeping it all organized.

  214. AwardWallet. Tried two other sites before that and they were incomprehensibly bad compared to AwardWallet.

  216. I use Award Wallet but I also have an Excel spreadhseet with all the balances and other info.

  220. OK, I’ll give them a try but I sort of like tracking my own in a spreadsheet. Could be worse — paper, pencil, and eraser.

  224. I track my miles with awardwallet’s iphone app. Prior to that I used usatoday miletracker (many years ago). I keep all of my FF #s in my iphone address book with the contact info for each company.

  230. In response to Sunny M. about the unsubscribe option (that you had to provide your state if you haven’t done so in order to unsubscribe): this was a bug on our end and we just fixed it, thanks for pointing it out.

  232. Excel spreadsheet is what I used till now, thanks for bringing award wallet to my attention. 🙂

  234. i use awardwallet and their tripit-like features are better than tripit (i hate having to forward an itinerary to tripit).

  240. I use AwardWallet for points, and upcoming travel arrangements. The maps thumbnails it generates are a neat feature.

  242. I currently use Gomiles to track my miles, but this onecard may entice me to switch to Awardwallet!

  246. I use a number of online sites (AwardWallet included) to track miles. For my reward numbers I have a text file in SimpleNote that I save on my iPhone.

  275. I use Award Wallet now, but before that, I used Bank of America’s portfolio function to track balances. (I had fewer that I was tracking at that point in time…)

    For tracking EQM, I still have to use an Excel document to forecast my EOY balances and plan MRs.

  278. I just started tracking mine and i signed up for award wallet. Hopefully it works out for me!

  279. I use Award Wallet and have handed out referrals to friends and they all love it. Southwest needs to jump on board and AA needs to quit what they’re trying to pull! Long live Award Wallet!

  280. I switched over from pageonece and like how I can see my partner’s program too. Also it includes all my local shopping points too!

  283. Good website – very useful – only if they had a faster engine to update all accounts. Kayak is entering into this.

  284. I use award wallet. It is easy and keeps everything organized for me. I really like it. It is the first system I’ve used for tracking, as I recently have had more points and miles and accounts to keep track of.

  288. I track my miles (and my partner’s) using Award Wallet, and it’s vastly superior to the ugly spreadsheet it replaced. 🙂

  289. I’ve been using Award Wallet premium for a year and have encouraged my friends and family to do so, too.

  296. I use AwardWallet (Premium) too, for both my own and my wife’s accounts. Makes coordinating award redemptions so much easier – and keeps me from forgetting which airlines she’s elite on. 🙂

  297. I use Award Wallet now but just realised I need a local (not online) copy of all my information too. Whew, that could prevent a disaster. I would love a OneCard, Thanks!

  299. I use AwardWallet Premium on my iPad, Androi phone and my laptop. I can’t wait for them to add the itinerary feature on the mobile apps.

  300. I use AwardWallet for some, but only recently started — previously it was a hugely manual task, and in the process I found I had 5k Hyatt points that I had literally forgotten about. As far as the idea of the OneCard – its awesome, I have what I call a “Wallet Card” where I’ve put similar information and printed it off on one of those home made business card sheets… its getting a bit ratty now, and the idea of the magnetic strip is very smart!

  305. I track my miles and points through AwardWallet website and Android app, and through the individual airline websites. A must-have!

  309. I use a cobination of excel spreadsheets and my financial account which lets me track travel accounts too. tried some other tracking programmes before but as you say, it was more effort updating the urls on those!

  311. I use Award Wallet & also an Excel spreadsheet where I track my Miles, Segments, Plane registration #’s, upgrade sucess, car rentals, car rental $’s, car rental taxes, hotel nights, hotel $’s, hotel nights & $’s by chain.

  323. I have used Award Wallet ever since I read about it on your blog…love that I have one site to manage all of my mileage/point accounts!

  328. I use AwardWallet. I tried TripIt Pro’s mile and point tracking feature (which is free for AMEX Platinum Card holders), but it was nowhere near as user-friendly or as aesthetically pleasing as AwardWallet.

  337. Thanks for the offer … I usually use Award Wallet, but my premium membership expired back in August. Basic membership works fine but not as much info on the accounts, such as expiry date.

  348. i use award wallet and find it easy to use. they even keep track of upcoming trips. highly recommend.

  350. I use Award Wallet, Page Once, and Mileage Manager. But I would use Award Wallet exclusively if they gave me one of those cards!

  351. I’ve found Award Wallet to do pretty much everything I’m looking for. (And there’s no way I’m memorizing all those ID numbers…!)

  353. I just check each account on line and I have dial up so it is cumbersome, I really need to come up with a better method.

  354. I use te cardstar application mostly. I have tripit but only use it to reference my rental reservations on trips. Thanks!

  366. LOL didn’t read the instructions. Guess I needed to mention I use AwardWallet. But now I’ve posted twice, so I’m disqualified.

    Oh well 🙂

  367. I used to like award wallet but when they got squeezed out by an airline it would not let them update I became frustrated. I still have the account but I am still concerned about its reliability and thus don’t feel I can depend on it. Given your recommendation and the free card I would definitely go back to using it more frequently.

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