Skip to main content
AirMilesCalc
Menu
Terms

Terms of service

What you can do with AirMilesCalc, how the OpenFlights ODbL license affects redistribution, the liability limits, the DMCA-style takedown route, and AdSense ads.

Updated 2026-06-016 min read
Primary sources · 5
  1. [1] Open Database License (ODbL) v1.0Governs the underlying airport, airline, and route data inherited from OpenFlights — Section 4 sets the attribution and share-alike obligations for any redistribution · Open Knowledge Foundation / Open Data Commons · Published 19 June 2009 https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/
  2. [2] Consumer Rights Act 2015 (UK)Section 49 sets the implied terms about quality and fitness of digital content provided to consumers in the UK · UK Public General Acts · Effective 1 October 2015 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/contents
  3. [3] U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. §512Safe-harbour framework for online service providers handling user-claimed copyright infringement · U.S. Code via Cornell LII · Enacted 28 October 1998 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/512
  4. [4] Google AdSense Publisher PoliciesSets the disclosure, content-restriction, and ad-placement obligations that bind us as an AdSense publisher · Google · Continuously updated https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/48182
  5. [5] U.S. Copyright Act §107 — Fair useStatutory four-factor framework that governs whether a use of copyrighted material is permitted without permission · U.S. Code via Cornell LII · Codified 1976; amended 1992 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107

These terms cover what you can and cannot do with the AirMilesCalc website and the calculator output. They are written in plain English, reflect the open-data license that binds the underlying airport database, and disclaim the kinds of liability that no reasonable free-to-use reference tool can credibly accept.

$0
What you pay to use the calculator and every page on the site
By design
ODbL v1.0
License covering the underlying OpenFlights data — binds redistribution
Open Data Commons
MIT-style
Position on calculator output (the numbers you see) — yours to use
Project policy
30 days
Notice we will publish before any material terms change
Project policy

License and ownership

AirMilesCalc has two layers of intellectual property. The website content (prose, methodology pages, learn articles, source-code blocks, design) is original work by the project maintainer, licensed for personal, educational, and non-commercial use. The underlying airport, airline, and route database is sourced from OpenFlights and carries forward the Open Database License v1.0 — that license does not change when you get the data via our pages.

Who owns what, and how it can be redistributed
ElementAuthor / sourceYour rights
Methodology + learn articlesAirMilesCalc maintainerPersonal / educational use; cite for academic work; ask before commercial reuse
Airport / airline / route dataOpenFlights contributorsUse under ODbL v1.0 — attribution + share-alike on derivative databases
Calculator output (specific numbers)Computed from open data + open formulasUse freely; no proprietary claim on a specific distance
Geodesic / CO₂ formulasPublic-domain math + UK government conversion factorsUse freely; cite when used in academic work
Site code (open components)AirMilesCalc maintainer (some MIT-style permissive)Inspect / inspect-and-borrow; consult the repository for specific files
OG image, logo, brand marksAirMilesCalc maintainerNo use without permission
Source: ODbL v1.0; UK Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988; project policy

What you may do

The site is designed to be useful, so the default disposition for ordinary use is permissive. Linking to AirMilesCalc from any external site is welcome without permission. Sharing screenshots of calculator output for personal, educational, or journalistic purposes is fine. Citing the methodology in research is fine and encouraged — please cite a /methodology subpage URL rather than a specific calculator query, because dynamic outputs may change as the database updates.

What you may not do

Five activities are out of scope no matter how small the scale: scraping or automated harvesting that interferes with normal site operation; reverse-engineering to claim AirMilesCalc's editorial output as your own; republishing OpenFlights data without ODbL-compliant attribution and share-alike on the derivative database; using the site for any illegal purpose under your local law; and circumventing or tampering with the Google AdSense advertising or the consent-management UI that funds the site.

Disclaimer of warranty and limitation of liability

AirMilesCalc is a decision-support reference tool, not flight planning, not regulated emissions disclosure, not booked-itinerary verification. Distances are geodesic great-circle paths; real-flown paths bend around airspace; emission factors are fleet-wide averages with named uncertainty ranges. No warranty of fitness for a particular purpose is offered or implied beyond what the UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 §49 mandates.

Where this estimate is not enough — use the cited primary tool instead
Use caseWhat to use instead
Audited corporate carbon disclosure (SECR, CSRD, SEC climate)DESNZ spreadsheet with your own activity data + GHG Protocol
Aviation flight-plan distanceA certified flight-management system
Booked-itinerary verificationThe airline's confirmation system or an aggregator
Regulatory compliance reportingThe relevant national regulator's tool
Legal proceedings, insurance claimsSource documents from the operator(s)
Source: DESNZ guidance; ICAO Doc 9501; FAA advisory circulars

DMCA and copyright concerns

If you believe material on AirMilesCalc infringes a copyright you own, send a written notice under 17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3) to

info@airmilescalc.com

. A complete notice identifies the copyrighted work, the URL of the allegedly infringing material, your contact details, a good-faith statement that the use is unauthorised, and a statement under penalty of perjury that you are authorised to act on the owner's behalf.

  1. 1
    Identify the work

    Provide enough detail that we can verify what is being claimed — title, publication, URL of the original, or registration number where available.

  2. 2
    Identify the AirMilesCalc URL

    The specific page or asset URL on airmilescalc.com that you believe infringes. Multiple URLs go in one notice.

  3. 3
    Sign and send

    Include your name, address, phone (optional), email, and the two statutory statements (good faith + authority). Email to the address above with “DMCA Notice” in the subject.

  4. 4
    Counter-notice route

    If material you posted has been taken down and you believe the notice was mistaken, you may submit a counter-notice under 17 U.S.C. §512(g) at the same address.

Third-party services and ads

The site is funded by Google AdSense advertising. The Google AdSense Publisher Policies, the Google ads technologies policy, and any applicable consent regime (GDPR / UK GDPR / CCPA via the Funding Choices CMP) all bind your interaction with the ad layer. The non-ad parts of the site rely on three additional third-party services: Vercel for hosting, OpenStreetMap + CARTO for map tiles on country and airport pages, and the static OpenFlights dataset for reference data.

Third parties that participate in delivering the site
ServiceRoleTheir terms
Google AdSenseAdvertising + Funding Choices CMPGoogle AdSense Publisher Policies
VercelHosting, edge runtime, server logsVercel Terms of Service
OpenStreetMap + CARTOMap tile imageryOSM ODbL + CARTO terms
OpenFlightsReference data (static)Open Database License v1.0
Source: See /privacy for the full data-flow disclosure

Affiliate disclosure and independence

AirMilesCalc has zero affiliate relationships. We earn no commission from airlines, online travel agencies, booking aggregators, comparison sites, GDS providers, ancillary-service vendors, or any other aviation or travel service. External links on the site to airlines, airports, regulators, and reference sites (IATA, ICAO, FAA, Eurocontrol, ACI, Google Flights, Flightradar24, FlightAware, SeatGuru, and similar) are provided for editorial context and reader convenience only.

The only projected revenue source for AirMilesCalc is Google AdSense display advertising, which is not yet active — see the implementation status notice on /privacy for the current state. There is no sponsored content, no paid placements, no advertorial coverage, no “recommended by” sections funded by a third party, and no money changes hands for the editorial choices on methodology or learn pages.

Relationships AirMilesCalc has and does not have
Relationship typeStatusDisclosure if changed
Affiliate or commission programmesNoneWould be disclosed on this page with effective date
Sponsored content or advertorialNoneWould be labelled “Sponsored” per FTC / ASA conventions
Paid editorial placementsNoneWould breach the editorial process — would not be accepted
Display advertising (planned)Google AdSense, planned post-approvalDisclosed at /privacy with implementation status notice
Donations or membershipsNot acceptedIf introduced, donor list and amounts thresholds would be published
Data partnerships with airlines / aggregatorsNoneWould be disclosed on this page
Source: Project policy

The full editorial standards that back this independence position are documented at /editorial-process.

Changes to these terms

These terms are not the kind of contract that needs constant tweaking, but they will evolve. Material changes (new restrictions, changed limitation-of-liability scope, modified license claims) will be preceded by 30 days' notice published on this page and referenced from the change log. Editorial fixes (typos, clarifications, link updates) can be made without notice.

Frequently asked

Can I screenshot calculator results and post them on social media?
Yes — personal, educational, and journalistic sharing of screenshots is fine and welcomed. Attribution back to airmilescalc.com is appreciated but not required for casual sharing. For volume sharing or commercial use, email first.
Can I scrape airport and route data for my project?
Use OpenFlights directly at openflights.org/data.php — the source is open under ODbL v1.0 and they host the canonical data files. Scraping AirMilesCalc pages to extract that same data interferes with our site operation and violates the spirit of using the open source. The ODbL terms apply either way.
Can I cite AirMilesCalc in academic research?
Yes. Cite the methodology page URL (e.g., /methodology/vincenty-formula) rather than a calculator query — dynamic outputs change as the database updates. Use the canonical primary sources listed in our Sources blocks as your underlying references where possible.
What happens if I find a bug that gives a wrong distance?
Email info@airmilescalc.com with the IATA codes and the value we returned. We investigate, fix the issue (which usually means correcting upstream OpenFlights data), and republish. No compensation is offered for incorrect output — these are reference estimates.
Is there a copy of these terms preserved as I read them now?
Yes — the page is version-stamped at the top with a last-updated date. Material changes are preceded by 30 days' notice; if you need a snapshot for a contract or audit, save a PDF of the current version and we can confirm in writing what terms applied on a given date.
Which law governs these terms?
Disputes are governed by the law of the maintainer's jurisdiction of residence. Where you are a consumer in the UK, EU, or another jurisdiction with mandatory consumer-protection rules, those rules apply on top of and override anything in these terms that would otherwise reduce your statutory rights.

Related