So now that you’ve put in time and effort to earn a bunch of frequent flyer miles, hotel and bank points, you definitely don’t want to let those miles expire. Each program has it’s own expiration policy so check with your program to find the exact rules. In this post we’ll share some strategies for keeping your miles from expiring when that deadline appears on the horizon.
Now is a good time to review where you stand with your preferred airline and hotel partners.
If you don’t take action, when the clock ticks to midnight on January 1, your elite status fate for the coming year will be sealed. Since airlines and hotels base elite status and earned rewards on the calendar year, everything must take place before the end of the year.
Hopefully you’ll never find yourself in a situation where you’ve allowed some of your
The best programs have a flat fee or return the miles complimentary on request. Most, however, use a sliding scale that can make it very expensive to restore large balances. Think carefully about how much you value those miles and what you might use them for before spending several hundred dollars to get them back. Finally, a few programs don’t offer any opportunity to restore lost miles. This post at least describes a few ways that their life can be extended if you act before they expire in the first place.
| Airline | Program Name | Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| Air Canada | Aeroplan | 12 months |
| Alaska Airlines | Mileage Plan | 24 months |
| American Airlines | AAdvantage | 24 months |
| British Airways | Executive Club | 36 months |
| Cathay Pacific | Marco Polo Club | 36 months |
| Delta Air Lines | SkyMiles | Never |
| Hawaiian Airlines | HawaiianMiles | 18 months |
| JetBlue | TrueBlue | Never |
| KLM/Air France | Flying Blue | 20 months* |
| Singapore Airlines | KrisFlyer | 36 months |
| Southwest Airlines | Rapid Rewards | 24 months |
| United Airlines | MileagePlus | 18 months |
*after last qualifying flight
Miles earned with American AAdvantage will expire after 24 months without any account activity in your AAdvantage account. If they expired on or after December 2002 (which applies to most people reading this post), then they are eligible for reactivation. American Airlines charges between $200 and $600 depending on how many miles you’d like to restore.
Unlike American Airlines, United places a time limit on how quickly you must act to recover any lost miles. They can only be restored within 18 months after they expire. Fees are also much higher than with American Airlines if you wish to reinstate a very small number or a very
There are other intermediate price points not listed above, but you can view all of them by reading the complete terms and conditions. If you decide to proceed, log into the United website through this dedicated page.
Alaska Airlines claims that miles do not expire, although it reserves the right to close and delete an account that is inactive for 24 months. (Is there a difference? Supposedly this means that there’s a chance no immediate action will be taken.) Miles can be re-instated up to one year after they are “deleted” for a flat fee of $75.
Rapid Rewards points will expire after 24 months without account activity, and there is no policy for reinstating points after they have expired. Most people report no luck in their requests to have miles returned; they are likely lost for good.
Any earning or redemption activity in your HawaiianMiles account in the past 18 months will prevent your miles from expiring. Once miles have expired, they can be re-instated for a fee. This is not disclosed online, but multiple reports suggest the cost is roughly $30 per 1,000 miles. This would place it among the most expensive fees of any program, and it is probably not worthwhile to most people. Just buy the ticket with cash.
Aeroplan has one of the most strict policies, letting miles expire after just 12 months of account inactivity. In addition, there is no cap to the fees you must pay to have them restored. Expect an administrative fee of CAD$30 plus CAD$0.01 per mile. For example, restoring 50,000 miles would cost CAD$530.
Avios expire after 36 months of inactivity. There is no policy for reinstating Avios after they have expired, so they may be lost for good, but some people report success if the miles were lost recently. Miles that are returned may come with an additional requirement, such as new activity within the next three months, or else they’ll expire again — and for good.
KrisFlyer miles don’t expire all at once. Instead, individual miles expire three years after the month in which they were earned. This means that more recently earned miles will remain available for use. Keep this in mind when looking at your account balance and saving up for a large redemption.
Although expired miles will not be returned, the expiration date can be extended an additional six months (for general members) or 12 months (for elite members) at a rate of $12 for every 10,000 miles. Alternatively, you can redeem 1,200 miles instead of paying $12. These fees are levied online and increase to $20 or 2,000 miles when requesting an extension in person or by phone.
Like with Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program, individual Asia Miles are valid for 36 months after they were earned.
All members pay the same fee of $40 per 2,000 miles to extend their validity by an additional 36 months. This fee only applies online; in-person or telephone requests will cost $100 per 2,000 miles. Although both fees are high, the extension is particularly long and might make this transaction worthwhile.
Miles will not expire in Flying Blue as long as you take a qualifying flight every 20 months. Be aware that this policy excludes other forms of account activity from delaying expiration. In addition, Flying Blue does not have a policy on restoring miles after they have expired, so they may be lost permanently.
Many airline loyalty programs today have one of two approaches toward keeping miles valid for redemption. Some say that miles have a fixed expiration date, no matter what you do. Others say the miles will remain active indefinitely as long as you have an “active” account.
American Airlines AAdvantage miles expire 24 months after you earn them unless there’s some activity in your account. Luckily, you can reset the expiration date by either earning or redeeming miles, which means that there are dozens of ways to keep your miles fresh for your next award flight.
Article update: United got rid of miles expiration and United miles now never expire (provided your United account is open and in good standing).
If you take the time to earn miles, you need to be aware of the rules for keeping those miles. Some airlines will claw back your miles if there isn’t any account activity within a certain number of months. In the case of United Airlines, you will forfeit your miles if you do not earn or redeem miles for 18 consecutive months. Let’s talk about what you can do to keep your miles.
Earlier this fall, it looked like we had seen the last of the really high credit card sign-on bonuses for the year. Lufthansa offered 50,000 miles on its co-branded credit card, and Chase finished a big 70,000 point push on its business card, the Chase Ink.
But oneworld alliance airlines or at least the ones most relevant to North American travelers seem to have gotten together and decided that they really like the business that credit cards bring them. British Airways, American Airlines and US Airways have all thrown out 50,000 mile sign-on bonuses.
It can be tough to keep up with airline and
Earning miles can be challenging so letting them expire really shouldn’t be an option. There are plenty of ways to keep your reward accounts open by earning, redeeming, or buying miles. Here are some ways this can be achieved without breaking the bank.
