Award Wallet is probably the most useful website out there for tracking miles and points, and I check it religiously. It’s fantastic to be able to track all of my mileage balances in one place, instead of checking each website individually. But for a while a couple of airlines have been trying to prevent Award Wallet and similar mileage tracking websites from displaying account information, due to concerns over “account security.” Of course that’s total BS, and the real reason is that Award Wallet actually helps the consumer by telling them when their miles expire, something American probably doesn’t want. And it seems American has really taken action, because starting Sunday, Award Wallet will no longer be displaying AAdvantage account information, per the email sent to members:
American Airlines has contacted us and stated that we may not access its website on your behalf and that we may not store any of your American Airlines account data on our servers. As a result, in the coming weeks we will release a browser extension which will enable you to check your balance and still display that balance along with the rest of your loyalty account balances; however, the data, such as your username, password, balance and any other attributes will only be stored in your browser so we will never have access to it. Also, this browser extension will be accessing American Airlines website from your computer and not from our servers. Since we do not have this extension ready yet, please save all of your American Airlines accounts and password in a secure place so that you can enter that data when we release the extension.
It’s so beyond disappointing that American has chosen to go this route. You’d think a loyalty program’s dream would be when someone is so obsessed with their miles that they join a website to track them all. That’s the sign of a true mileage junkie, which is exactly the kind of customer American is trying to create with a loyalty program — a customer that not only wants to earn miles through flying, but also shops, dines, and stays at hotels to earn miles.
I really hope American reconsiders. AAdvantage has always been one of the top loyalty programs, in my opinion. So you’d think they could do better than the cheap shot of just trying to make sure peoples’ miles expire.
(Tip of the hat to Gary)
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.