FREQUENT FLYER GLOSSARY
What is TPM?
TPM (Ticketed Point Mileage) is the standard mileage between two cities published by the International Air Transport Association, originally used to calculate fares and now used by many frequent flyer programmes to decide how many miles a flight earns.
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Key takeaways
- TPM is a city-pair mileage table IATA publishes every year. It was built for pricing fares; many frequent flyer programmes reuse it to award miles.
- TPM is fixed per city pair and does not change with the route actually flown, so TPM-based earnings can be looked up in advance.
- Of the 22 programmes we checked, 8 state TPM, 2 use great-circle distance and 5 do not specify.
- Our calculator estimates great-circle distance from airport coordinates — that is not TPM.
How TPM works
TPM stands for Ticketed Point Mileage. It is a city-pair mileage table published every year by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), originally for fare construction: the number of miles between two cities is the figure fare rules are built on.
Many programmes borrow this table to award miles. ANA says so plainly on its domestic chart: sector base mileage follows the TPM IATA publishes each autumn. The Air China and China Southern member guides and China Eastern's earning page also cite IATA published mileage.
TPM is not the distance actually flown
The route an aircraft actually flies changes daily with airspace and weather, and the shortest path between two airports (great-circle distance) is yet another number. TPM is a fixed, published table: for a given city pair, every flight that year counts the same, however far it really flew. That is why TPM-based earnings can be known before you book.
Not every programme uses TPM
Of the 22 programmes we checked, 8 state TPM in their official documents, 2 state great-circle distance, 5 just say "distance flown" without defining it, and 7 earn by fare in the rules on this site. When a programme says miles are based on distance, check which distance it means.
Worked example: ANA domestic flights
ANA's domestic mileage chart lists a "sector base mileage" for every route and states that it is based on TPM. These two rows are copied from the official chart:
| Route | Sector base miles (100%) | 75% column | 50% column |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo – Osaka | 280 | 210 | 140 |
| Tokyo – Sapporo | 510 | 382 | 255 |
How to read it: if your ANA domestic fare earns 75%, Tokyo to Osaka credits 280 × 75% = 210 miles — the chart has already done the maths. "Tokyo" means Haneda or Narita and "Osaka" means Itami, Kansai or Kobe, so the number is the same whichever airports you use. That is TPM in a nutshell: published per city pair, not per route flown.
Source: ANA official "Mileage Chart" page (archived copy, lines 58 and 77). Which column applies depends on your fare type and booking class; this page does not guess. We have not verified TPM values for other routes, so no other route mileage is shown.
Which distance each programme uses
Compiled from each programme's own official documents. "Not specified" means the source is silent, not that the programme does not use TPM.
| Frequent flyer programme | Distance basis | What the source says | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3U | Distance basis TPM | What the source saysSource states earning is based on IATA published sector mileage (TPM)“标准里程参照国际航协公布的城市对距离计算” | SourceOfficial source |
| PhoenixMiles | Distance basis TPM | What the source saysSource states earning is based on IATA published sector mileage (TPM)“以国际航空运输协会（IATA）最新公布的始发地至目的地之间实际里程数为基准” | SourceOfficial source |
| CI | Distance basis TPM | What the source saysSource states earning is based on IATA published sector mileage (TPM)“「基本哩程」係指任一班機起點至終點之間的哩程 (以國際航協制定的 TPM-Ticket Point Mileage 為基準)” | SourceOfficial source |
| CZ | Distance basis TPM | What the source saysSource states earning is based on IATA published sector mileage (TPM)““标准里程”是指国际航空运输协会（IATA）最新公布的始发地至目的地之间实际里程数” | SourceOfficial source |
| HU | Distance basis TPM | What the source saysStatus points: source states IATA published sector mileage (TPM)“定级积分累积以公里为单位，以国际航空运输协会（IATA）定期公布的城市对航距（Ticket Point Mileage）为标准” | SourceOfficial source |
| JAL Mileage Bank | Distance basis TPM | What the source saysPartner flights (8 partner earning pages): source states IATA published sector mileage (TPM) | Source JAL partner pages:AA: unknown,AS、AT、AY、BA、IB、MH、UL |
| MU | Distance basis TPM | What the source saysSource states earning is based on IATA published sector mileage (TPM)“航段标准里程数（TPM)” | SourceOfficial source |
| ANA Mileage Club | Distance basis TPM | What the source saysSource states earning is based on IATA published sector mileage (TPM)“IATA（国際航空運送協会）より発行される「TPM（運賃計算に使用する区間距離）」を基準” | SourceOfficial source |
| ET | Distance basisGreat-circle distance | What the source saysSource states great-circle distance between airports, as determined by the airline“Miles for flights are based on the non-stop great circle distance between airports (as determined by Ethiopian)” | SourceOfficial source |
| KrisFlyer / PPS Club | Distance basisGreat-circle distance | What the source saysSource states great-circle distance between airports“awarded based on the actual distance travelled, as calculated using the great circle distance formula” | SourceOfficial source |
| AI | Distance basisNot specified | What the source saysSource says "distance flown" without defining which distance“earn Maharaja Points at a rate of 100% of the actual miles flown” | SourceOfficial source |
| OZ | Distance basisNot specified | What the source saysSource says "distance flown" without defining which distanceThe document never mentions TPM, great-circle or any other distance basis | SourceOfficial source |
| SK | Distance basisNot specified | What the source saysSource says "distance flown" without defining which distance“The number of points depends on the travel class, booking class and distance flown” | SourceOfficial source |
| UA | Distance basisNot specified | What the source saysSource says "distance flown" without defining which distance“Flight distance is defined as the miles scheduled for a specific flight, as determined solely by United.” | SourceOfficial source |
| WestJet Rewards | Distance basisNot specified | What the source saysSource says "distance flown" without defining which distance“earn WestJet points based on mileage flown” | SourceOfficial source |
| 9C | Distance basisFare-based | What the source saysRules on this site earn by fare paid, not distance | SourceUnknown |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | Distance basisFare-based | What the source saysRules on this site earn by fare paid, not distance | SourceUnknown |
| GOL Smiles | Distance basisFare-based | What the source saysRules on this site earn by fare paid, not distance | SourceUnknown |
| LA | Distance basisFare-based | What the source saysRules on this site earn by fare paid, not distance | SourceUnknown |
| MH | Distance basisFare-based | What the source saysRules on this site earn by fare paid, not distance | SourceUnknown |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards | Distance basisFare-based | What the source saysRules on this site earn by fare paid, not distance | SourceUnknown |
| WY | Distance basisFare-based | What the source saysRules on this site earn by fare paid, not distance | SourceUnknown |
How our tools measure distance
The distance our calculator shows is a great-circle estimate from airport coordinates. For TPM-based programmes the miles actually credited can differ by a few to a few dozen miles; the programme's own posting is final.
Official source
- ANA domestic mileage chart (web page)
- Air China PhoenixMiles member guide (PDF)
- China Eastern earning page (web page)
- China Southern Sky Pearl member guide (PDF)
- Ethiopian ShebaMiles terms (web page)
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer terms (web page)
- Japan Airlines (JAL) partner earning pages (identical wording on 8 partner pages; links in the comparison table)
- Sources for the other programmes are linked in the comparison table above.
Every source is archived in our knowledge base with its retrieval date and file hash.