How to Calculate Air Miles

Do you know anyone who is an international traveler? Remember the old saying: “They live out of a suitcase.” Some people do actually live out of their suitcase - or at least they travel a great deal for one reason or another. In order to reward them the airlines have put together air miles reward programs. These programs are very helpful to individuals whose patronage is greatly appreciated by the respective airline.

You are rewarded with points each time you travel. The incentive here is that you may later redeem your points and fly for free. In order to keep track of the air miles you fly it is useful to maintain an air miles record. If you aren't going to use your log with respect to the points at least keep it around for posterity.

The salient fact is land miles and air miles are different in method of calculation. Why is this? Well for one thing, think about a plane in flight. It doesn't have any particular changes in course as you do on land. There are no narrow, winding roads in the air. In fact, it is harder to calculate road miles than air miles. Also the way you measure air miles is different.

In order to properly calculate air miles you must use the International Nautical Mile. One international nautical mile is equivalent in distance to one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two meters. One international nautical mile equals the distance of one arc minute of Latitude (along the Meridian). Certainly this is different from a geographical mile. The geographical mile measures length. Further, consider 1 International Nautical Mile is equal to one or precisely 1.151 geographical mile. Also with certainty the distance of an arc minute across a Meridian is not consistent but will change respective of latitude. This is due to the fact the shape of the earth is not a precise sphere. Thus air miles must be recorded as international nautical miles due to the nature of travel.

However you aren't Magellan and you are basically wishing to find a simplified way to calculate air miles - right? One way is to assemble all the information about your travel and measure the precise distance yourself. This is the preferred choice of the person who likes to do things for themselves. You'll need to gather the following data: a) The course of flight; and b) the precise coordinates of each airport. These are your points of take off and arrival. Using a map to scale such as Mercator's map and the Great Circle technique, you may calculate air miles precisely by way of international nautical miles. This method is also referred to as the Rhumb line method.

If you wish to employ a method that is simpler you can use one of the sites specifically designed for the purpose. You can go to the site and by just clicking your mouse you are provided with the exact air miles. The data you enter is your arrival city and your destination city. The site then calculates air miles between the two destinations. Since you are calculating air miles based on the fact you fly frequently, the latter technique, no doubt time-wise, will be to your liking.