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Do British Airways Avios Points Expire? Here’s What You Need to Know

  • Devon O'Rourke

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    INSIDER SECRET: British Airways Avios expire … but they’re super easy to keep from expiring and worth it with sweet redemptions like transferring to Iberia to save big on fuel surcharges.

    Avios are among the easiest types of points to keep from expiring because of British Airways’ relaxed rules that allow you to reset your Avios expiration as long as you earn, share, spend or purchase Avios within a certain time frame.

    You can keep British Airways Avios from expiring. (Photo by Ondrej Zabransky/Shutterstock))

    And it’s easy to meet the specifications to keep your British Airways Avios from expiring. We’ll show you below.

    Do British Airways Avios Points Expire?

    Per British Airways, as long as you earn or spend 1 Avios every 36 months, your points won’t expire. All you have to do is earn, purchase, share or spend.

    I’ll show you what qualifies for each of these!

    Earning British Airways Avios Points

    Link: Collecting Avios

    There are so many easy ways to earn British Airways Avios points. You can book flights, hotel stays, car rentals, vacations and more.

    A quick way to earn that single “Avio” may be at the British Airways shopping portal, where you can buy something you’ve been itching to purchase anyway.

    Also, transfers from partners like Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards qualify as earning.

    Spending British Airways Avios Points

    Link: Spending Avios

    It’s just as easy to spend Avios as it is to earn them. You can use your points to book flights, hotel stays, car rentals, etc. You can even use your Avios for flight upgrades and food.

    Purchasing British Airways Avios Points

    Link: Purchasing Avios

    We rarely encourage folks to purchase points because it’s usually better to earn points from a welcome bonus. But sometimes you need to purchase points to top off an account or keep an account balance from expiring.

    Gifting Avios works the same way, but you can designate someone else to receive whatever amount of points you purchase. Just remember that you have to purchase a minimum of 1,000 points and can purchase a maximum of 100,000 at a time.

    Sharing British Airways Avios Points

    Link: Sharing Avios

    As long as you have 1,000 Avios, you can transfer them to another Avios account for a steep fee of $37.50. And the fee increases with the number of Avios transferred. We don’t recommend this option if you’re trying to keep your account balance from expiring. It’s easier and more valuable to use one of the above methods.

    Cards That Earn British Airways Avios Points

    Transfers from partners like Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards qualify as earning, so it’s beneficial to have one of the following cards in your wallet if you need to transfer points to your Avios account to reset the 36-month clock.

    The British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus Visa Signature® Cards earn British Airways directly through everyday spending and welcomes bonuses. But we prefer earning flexible and transferable rewards like Chase Ultimate Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards.

    Chase Ultimate Rewards Earning Cards

    Chase Ultimate Rewards points are great for many reasons. One is that they are easy to earn. There are so many cards you can use to collect them, including:

    The information for the Chase Freedom card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

    The most valuable Ultimate Rewards card is the Chase Sapphire Reserve. The Chase Ultimate Rewards points expiration policy is never an issue, so our team members happily keep their cards open year after year.

    Amex Membership Rewards Earning Cards

    I’ve recently started to expand into the Amex Membership Rewards world, and I’m liking it a lot. There are a ton of transfer partners, like British Airways, and the Amex Offers are great.

    You can even transfer Marriott Bonvoy points and Hilton Honors points to British Airways Avios but at a much smaller rate. Try to stay away from this option unless absolutely necessary, because it’s not the best deal.

    Bottom Line

    British Airways Avios points are awesome because they’re easy to keep from expiring and they have a shelf life of at least 36 months.

    To reset that 36-month time frame, just earn, share, purchase or spend at least one point. You can even transfer points from Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards to keep your Avios from expiring.

    What’s your favorite method to keep your Avios from disappearing?

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    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)