How are air miles calculated?
It is true that Nautical Miles are used in air navigation, rather than statute miles; however, the airlines use statute miles to calculate mileage for frequent flyer and other bonus mileage plans. The routes are usually calculated using the great circle or Rhumb Line method, which takes the earth’s curvature into account. A straight line on a Mercator projection may be used when the routes are very short. It can be a complex process to research and calculate the Rhumb Line distances for most routes, but your air carrier has probably done it for you. Contact the Customer Service department for the airline and ask for a table of route mileages. Make sure they understand that you want the mileage in statute miles. If you can only get the figures in nautical miles, use the conversion factors: 1 Statute Mile = 0.87 Nautical Miles 1 Nautical Mile = 1.15 Statute Miles. Have fun!
