What is the significance of WebFlyer in the context of frequent-flyer communities?
50% View from the Wing
40% The Gate with Brian Cohen
10% Other
WebFlyer began as one of the earliest online hubs for frequent‑flyer information and grew into a multifaceted travel resource.
Origin and early impact
- Randy Petersen launched the first WebFlyer site on Friday, September 22 1995 as part of his Frequent Flyer Network, and it quickly became the first source of frequent‑flyer information on the Internet, earning numerous awards for its pioneering role The Gate with Brian Cohen .
Expansion into community tools and content
- By July 2004, WebFlyer introduced a beta mileage‑conversion tool that let users explore ways to move points between programs, marking its move from pure information sharing to interactive utilities View from the Wing .
- In early 2003, the site began hosting personal travel blogs, including a blog that was later moved to webflyer.com/blog, showing its support for user‑generated content and community discussion View from the Wing View from the Wing .
Ongoing presence and later developments
- The WebFlyer blog continued to be referenced in travel‑community posts as a trusted source for mileage tips and news through at least 2014, indicating that the domain remained active as a content platform for several years View from the Wing View from the Wing .
- While the original WebFlyer site’s prominence faded as newer platforms like FlyerTalk and Milepoint rose, its legacy persisted through the tools it created and the community it helped launch.
In short, WebFlyer started as a groundbreaking frequent‑flyer information site in 1995, expanded to offer mileage‑conversion tools and host travel blogs, and remained a recognized resource within the travel‑loyalty community for many years.
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Let’s take a walk down frequent flyer memory lane and head back to a time when the Citi AAdvantage cards were churnable, one could earn 25,000 AAdvantage miles for switching home phone service to MCI (several times), and AOL AAdvantage’s Opinion Place had just gone live. This post is part of a new “blast from the past mileage promos and hacks” post that we’ll share each Tuesday. Check out last week’s post here. It was early 2000 and my mileage obsession was just kicking into full-gear. I did my best to keep up, following along on WebFlyer
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One of the most frequent questions I get asked is “how can I combine my miles from programs X and Y to get an award?” I’ve written on this before, such as here and here. Now WebFlyer has introduced a tool to answer the question for yourself, plugging in the program you want to move miles into or out of, and generating a list of methods for how to do it. The new tool is here. It isn’t 100% exhaustive yet – the tool didn’t offer any suggestions for converting USAirways points into American miles, although Points.com does offer the exchange. It also doesn’t have all the fine print, such as exchanges out of USAirways via Points.com require the person making the exchange to hold a USAirways Visa. In a similar vein, I was told I could move miles from Mexicana Frecuenta via the Hilton HHonors Reward Exchange which is only sort of true. Mexicana has a practice of only permitting flight miles to be transferred out. But it’s a good start, and I understand the programming is still in beta.