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airline miles expiration
Readers often ask how to keep their airline miles active if they don’t fly on a particular airline. Miles expire in most US based airline program after 18 months of no earning or redemption activity. Award Wallet is a good tool to track your miles and points balances and expiration dates.
Airline | Expiration Policy |
|---|---|
| Alaska Airlines | 24 months of no earning or spending miles |
| American Airlines | 18 months of no earning or spending miles |
| British Airways | 36 months of no earning or spending miles |
| Delta | Miles Never Expire |
| Frontier Airlines | 18 months of no earning miles |
| Southwest | 24 months of no earning or spending miles |
| United | 18 months of no earning or spending miles |
| US Airways | 18 months of no earning or spending miles |
But it is really, really easy to keep your miles active WITHOUT flying!
Sometimes, all you need to do is earn or redeem 1 mile to reset the mile expiration clock. You can easily do this by buying a $1 iTune, making a $1 donation from the airline’s online shopping mall, downloading the airlines’ shopping toolbar and making a few searches, or using a credit card to keep your miles active!
1. Alaska Airlines
- Expiration Policy
- Alaska Airlines says: “As long as you earn or spend at least one mile every 24 months you’ll keep all the miles that you earn.“
- Keep your Alaska Airlines Miles Active by Earning Miles:
- Fly on a paid Alaska Airlines flight, or an Alaska partner, such as American, Cathay Pacific, or Emirates and credit the miles to Alaska Air
- Use the Alaska Airlines credit card
- Open a checking account with Bank of America, and use the Alaska Airlines debit card to earn miles
- Enroll in the Alaska Air dining program and dine at a partner restaurant
- Sign-up for e-Rewards and e-Miles
- Rent a car through one of Alaska Air’s car rental partners
- Buy, gift, or transfer Alaska Air miles
- Register any credit card with Thanks Again via Alaska Airlines to earn miles at participating merchants
- Download the Alaska Airlines toolbar and earn 1 mile for every three searches
- Transfer hotel points from Choice, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Priority Club, or Starwood to your Alaska Air account
- Exchange other airline miles into Alaska Air miles through Points.com
- Keep your Alaska Airlines Miles Active by Redeeming Miles:
- Book an Alaska Air award ticket
- Book and cancel an Alaska Air award ticket for free with no cancellation fees if you are a MVP Gold elite member
- Redeem miles for a magazine subscription
- Donate your miles
2. American Airlines
- Expiration Policy
- American Airlines says “AAdvantage members must have mileage earning or redeeming activity once every 18 months in order to retain their miles.“
- Keep your American Airlines Miles Active by Earning Miles:
- Fly on a paid American Airlines flight or a partner airline such as Cathay Pacific or British Airways and credit the miles to American Airlines
- Use the American Airlines credit card
- Use the American Airlines debit card from UFB Bank
- Download the American Airlines Shopping Toolbar and earn 1 mile for every three searches
- Earn American Airlines miles with the BankDirect checking account
- Enroll in the American Airlines dining program and dine at a participating restaurant
- Purchase an item through the American Airlines shopping portal ($1 iTunes song will do)
- Register any credit card with Thanks Again via American Airlines to earn miles at participating merchants
- Sign-up for e-Rewards
- Staying with an American Airlines hotel partner, or renting a car and crediting the miles to American Airlines
- Transfer hotel points from Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Priority Club, Starwood, Choice or Wyndham to your American Airlines account
- Purchase, gift or share American Airlines miles
- Exchange other airline miles into American Airlines miles through Points.com
- Keep your American Airlines Miles Active by Redeeming Miles:
- Book an award ticket or redeem American Airlines miles
- Book and cancel an American Airlines award ticket for free with no cancellation fees if you are an Executive Platinum elite member
- Donate miles to families of wounded soldiers, or to children in need or to the USO
- Redeem miles for a magazine or newspaper subscription.
3. British Airways
- Expiration Policy
- Avios points will not expire as long as “you collect, spend, purchase or share at least one Avios every 36 months“
- Keep Your Avios Points Active by Earning Points:
- Fly on a paid British Airways flight or an oneworld carrier or one of their airline partners such as American Airlines and credit the flight to British Ariways
- Use the Chase British Airways credit card
- Purchase or share Avios points
- Earn points by staying with a British Airways partner hotel and crediting the stay to British Airways
- Convert hotel points from Club Carlson, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Priority Club, or Shangari-La.
- Rent a car with Avis and credit the points to British Airways
- Purchase an item through the online British Airways eStore ($1 iTunes song will do)
- Transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards to British Airways
- Keep Your Avios Points Active by Redeeming Points:
- Book an award ticket or redeem for car rentals or hotel stays
- Book and cancel an Avios award ticket for FREE if you are a gold elite member
4. DElta
- Expiration Policy
- Delta does not have a mile expiration policy
5. Frontier Airlines
- Expiration Policy
- Frontier Airlines says “Early Returns miles will expire after 18 months of no accrual activity on the account.“
- This means that redeeming Frontier miles doesn’t extend the life of the miles.
- Keep Your Frontier Miles Active by Earning Miles:
- Fly on a paid Frontier Airlines flight
- Rent a car with Alamo, Avis, Budget, Hertz, or National and credit the miles to Frontier Airlines
- Use the Barclays Frontier Airlines MasterCard
- Purchase flowers through FTD, Teleflora, or 1-800 Flowers
- Stay at or exchange points with Club Carlson, Hilton, Marriott, or Wyndam hotels
- Transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards
- Earn miles through the Early Returns Online Shopping Mall (a $1 iTunes purchase will do!)
- Purchase, gift, or transfer Frontier Airlines miles
- Sign up for e-Miles or e-Rewards
- Exchange other airline miles into Frontier miles through Points.com
6. Southwest airlines
- Expiration Policy
- Southwest says “Rapid Rewards points do not expire, provided there is activity on the account at least once in a 24-month period.”
- Keep Your Southwest Points Active by Earning Points:
- Fly on a paid flight on Southwest to extend the life of your points
- Purchase Southwest points
- Earn Rapid Rewards through purchases from Southwest partners such as hotels or rental car agencies
- Enroll in the Southwest dining program and dine at a partner restaurant
- Purchase an item through the Southwest shopping portal ($1 iTunes song will do)
- Use the Chase Southwest Airlines credit card
- Transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards to your Rapid Rewards account
- Transfer hotel points from Hyatt, Marriott, Choice, Wyndham to your Rapid Rewards account
- Subscribe to Rapid Rewards emails & earn points for a new subscription
- Enroll in e-Miles and e-Rewards to earn free Rapid Rewards points!
- Keep Your Southwest Points Active by Redeeming Miles:
- Book an award ticket
- Book and cancel a Southwest award ticket which is free for all members
7. UNITED
- Expiration Policy
- United says “Mileage accrued shall only be subject to expiration on the last day of the eighteen (18) months after the last account activity in the member’s account“
- Keep Your United Miles Active by Earning Miles:
- Fly on a paid United flight, Star Alliance partner flight, or their non-alliance partners and credit the miles to United
- Rent a car or hire a car service through one of United’s partners
- Take a trip on Amtrak in one of the designated fare classes
- Plan a vacation or cruise through United
- Stay with one of United’s hotel partners
- Sign up for MileagePlus Dining program
- Link your social media accounts with Bckstgr, and earn 1,000 bonus miles
- Download the United Shopping toolbar and earn miles for internet searches
- Use the MileagePlus Explorer or Club Card
- Miles never expire as long as you pay the fee or use the MileagePlus Explorer card
- Transfer points from your Chase Ultimate Rewards account to United
- Purchase an item through the United shopping portal ($1 iTunes song will do)
- Transfer hotel points from Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Priority Club, Starwood, Wyndham & Choice to your United account
- Register any credit card with Thanks Again via United to earn miles at participating merchants
- Sign up for e-Miles or e-Rewards
- Exchange other airline miles into United miles through Points.com
- Keep Your United Miles Active by Redeeming Miles:
- Book an award ticket, hotel or rental car
- Book and cancel a MileagePlus award ticket for free if you are a Global Services/1K/Platinum elite member
- Subscribe to a magazine or newspaper
- Donate United miles
8. US AIrways
- Expiration Policy
- Keep Your US Air Miles Active by Earning Miles:
- Fly on a paid US Airways flight or a Star Alliance or partner flight and credit the miles to US Air
- Pay $9 to extend expiration of your miles for another 18 months
- Download the US Air eShopping toolbar and earn miles for internet searches
- Enroll in the US Air dining program and dine at a partner restaurant
- Rent a car or stay at a partner hotel and credit the miles to US Air
- Use the US Airways Mastercard
- Purchase or share Dividend Miles through a 100% bonus period or any other time.
- Transfer hotel points from Hilton HHonors, Hyatt Gold Passport, Marriott Rewards, Priority Club, Starwood, Wyndham & Choice hotels to your US Air account
- Purchase an item through the US Air shopping portal ($1 iTunes song will do)
- Register a credit card with Thanks Again via US Air to earn miles at participating merchants
- Play Theater Trivia with Audience Rewards
- Sign up for e-Miles or e-Rewards
- Exchange other airline miles into US Air Air miles through Points.com
- Keep Your US Air Miles Active by Redeeming Miles:
- Book an award ticket
- Book and cancel an award ticket for free if you are a Chairman’s Preferred elite member
- Redeem US Air miles for a magazine or newspaper subscription
- Donate your US Air miles
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I have earned and redeemed millions of airline miles and hotel points to travel the world for free. Now I'm blogging to help more people do the same! 
Please advise extending Airtran, wondering if anyone knows any tricks other than swapping them out for Southwest credits.
Excellent summary. Will do be doing one on hotels points?
How about CX Asia miles? I have not been able to find a viable way (without flying) to keep them alive.
Will you do one of these charts for hotels as well please
@ Dluke – Keep in mind, Airtran is currently in the process of merging with Southwest. I’m not saying it’s impossible to extend the life of your credits, but it may be more difficult considering Southwest is slowly taking over the routes.
@Dluke – You can pay $29 to extend the credits, but it may not be worth it depending on the credits you have.
@Achilles – You can pay to renew the miles, but it isn’t worth it. Probably best to just redeem the miles for something before they expire.
@Dave Op @Hunter – I’ll post on hotel points next week.
D- Is it still true that United miles don’t expire for Mileage Plus credit card holders or did this change?
What about Jet blue? Can you make a $1 itunes purchase as well?
Are US Airway miles transferrable? like to hotels?
this is extremely helpful..I’ll look forward to the hotel summary
Very well done, thanks!
This post would have been helpful about a year and a half ago! I had some United miles (no idea how I accumulated them, but I had a couple thousand) that were about to expire. This was before I really got into the miles/points game, so all I could think of was to subscribe to magazines with the balance. They didn’t make it clear that you only needed to redeem a few of them to keep them from expiring, so I went on a magazine ordering spree.
We got nearly a dozen monthly magazines for an entire year, and the Wall Street Journal (daily). It was hard keeping up with all of that reading (and disposal of the paper). Even worse – when the magazines stopped coming, we were glad that we were almost free – but then the WSJ kept coming! We just wanted it to end, but it took about 3 months before they finally stopped sending us a daily copy!
Keep Your US Air Miles Active by Earning Miles:
Think u may be wrong , if not please explain how you can “transfer “to your United account? from us airways
Fly on a paid US Airways flight or a Star Alliance or partner flight and credit the miles to US Air
Pay $9 to extend expiration of your miles for another 18 months
Download the US Air eShopping toolbar and earn miles for internet searches
Enroll in the US Air dining program and dine at a partner restaurant
Rent a car or stay at a partner hotel and credit the miles to US Air
Use the US Airways Mastercard
Purchase or share Dividend Miles through a 100% bonus period or any other time.
Transfer hotel points from Hilton HHonors, Hyatt Gold Passport, Marriott Rewards, Priority Club, Starwood, Wyndham & Choice hotels to your United account
Very helpful summary post, thanks!
” Pay $9 to extend expiration of your miles for another 18 months”
Instead of feeding them $9, extend for $0 by answering questions:
https://www.audiencerewards.com/usairways/trivia.cfm
If you need help, read
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/1239119-audience-rewards-trivia-questions-answers-starwood-delta-u-s-air.html
My husband lost his Choice Hotel points at 12/31. By the time he told me the points were already gone. They emailed him a few days in advance, but he was busy.
I don’t think iTunes will work with JetBlue. They get great customer service ratings but their award program is one of the most unfriendly in the industry. I emailed them recently about my miles with them expiring next month and they had just awarded me miles for taking a survey for them a week prior and they responded:
There are only three activities which extend the expiration date of points: completing a JetBlue revenue flight, a JetBlue Getaways Package, or by earning points from a qualifying purchase made with the JetBlue Card from American Express. Promotional, purchased or bonus points do not extend the expiration date.
If one is signed up to multiple dining programs thru different airlines, and i dine at a place that is excepted by a bunch of airlines, do i get credit for all of them?
Thanks in advance.
For programs that I do not have a credit card open, I purchase one iTunes song (make sure it’s $1+) and cycle through one program each month, ensuring my miles never expire.
Any idea how to extend Aeroplan miles?
Thanks
Yep. Excellent summary. Thank you.
If family members have linked their Avios accounts with a Household account, if the main person has account activity within the expiration period, will that extend all members of the Household account or must each have activity?
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@corinne – They market it that way, but it isn’t exactly true because the terms say “Your miles will not expire as long as there is activity on your credit card account, including paying your annual membership fee, and the credit card account is open and not in default.” If you have NO activity on the card, but pay the fee, your miles won’t expire. But if you use the card you’ll earn United miles and will extend the expiry by another 18 months.
@Happy Feet – I don’t believe so.
@Jen@WanderOneDay – I used to get magazines from the US Grand Slam and promptly left them in the common area at work as soon as they arrived!
@STAN – Thanks! It is a typo – it should be US Air.
@world-traveler – Thanks! I do mention the trivia option in the list and performing a search will also extend the expiration of the miles for free.
@Lively – Choice is different in that you can’t extend their miles beyond expiration. Use them or lose them.
@Melinda – If you sign up the same credit card with 2 different airline dining programs, you will only get credit from the last airline dining program you signed up for.
@yngp – You could transfer Membership Rewards points, or use their shopping portal etc.
@KarenL – The BA website says “Just like with an individual account, your Household Account Avios stay with you as long as you collect, spend, purchase or share some Avios at least once every 36 months.”
However this link on FlyerTalk suggests differently. I’d be safe and assume the points expire after 36 months of inactivity in anyone’s account.
Tremendous post to be bookmarked!
No expiration policy for Delta?
(Maybe it’s to compensate for how many miles you to need to redeem an award flight…)
Any idea if I can transfer miles out of Alaska Airlines? I was hoping I could use my Alaska stash like I did with my Hawaiian stash and transfer to Hilton. Thanks, D.
A note to ACHILLES,
CX Asia Miles expire after 3 years whether you have or do not
have any activity.
For example miles earned on JAN. 5,2010 will expire today and
miles earned since than will expire on their 3rd year anniversary.
Michael
@Nick – Unfortunately, there is no way to move them out at a decent ratio. But you can redeem on many airlines including American, Delta, Alaska and their other partner airlines.
I didn’t see any mention of JetBlue’s policy in your post. I wrote about it in December.
Check out my post:
http://www.michaelwtravels.com/2012/12/jetblue-trueblue-be-careful-with-your.html
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I ordered through the aa portal on dec 29 but no activity shows up in. My account. My miles spire in two days. How lomg does it usually take for an miles to post?
Thanks!
Hawaiian Airlines, incase anyone is wondering, is every 18 months.
@Michael W. Travels @Jim – Thanks! I’ll add those to the list.
@Donna c – It takes longer than 2 days for the miles to post from the shopping portal, but it *may* be backdated to the transaction date, but your miles may vary.
It seems that both AA and UA discontinued their shopping toolbar. And the links above for the toolbars don’t work anymore.
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@yngp if you leave in Canada you can fill up at esso, buy at Sobyes (east) , buy at Rexal (east), deposit a pin from a nestle product, use any of aeroplan credit cards
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Hi Darius,
You did not cover Emirates Skywards miles in your post above. may be because it is not a US based airline. But, do you have any suggestions on how can I save my miles from expiring on Emirates Skywards. Alaska is a partner but do they allow using an Emirates skywards number? please suggest if you have any ideas.
Thanks.
@Somy – You can’t extend your Emirates miles and they will expire after 3 years.
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how do I prevent my Emirates miles from expiring without flying
Oh! you mean even if I buy something say for a buck on their ” Emirates high wall street” still the remaining miles will expire? There is no way around?
TAKE A EMIRATES FLIGHT
Dear Million Miles Secrets,
This is a great site. I need 10,000 Emirates miles. I was reading that one of your readers’ miles is about to expire before she can use them. I will buy them from her – if she has enough & is willing to sell. How can we arrange this?
Thank you
Victoria.
Thanks!
Can you track point expiration dates on points.com? I see you can track balances, but I’m more concerned about a dashboard showing expirations. Thanks!
@Joe – You can track them on Award Wallet.