How to keep your American Airlines miles from expiring

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Ever logged in to your frequent flyer account only to realize that some (or all!) of your miles expired? Even if you’ve never had this experience, believe me, you don’t want to.

American Airlines miles expire after 18 months of inactivity. You worked hard collecting those miles; to see them expire would be a shame. We’ve compiled a list of 10 different ways to prevent your American Airlines miles from expiring.

One of the easiest ways is to earn miles by using the right credit card. Our favorite credit cards for earning American Airlines miles include:

• CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Mastercard®
• Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite™ Mastercard®
• Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard®

Do American Airlines miles expire?

American Airlines miles expire after 18 months of inactivity, but redeeming or earning miles will reset your expiration date.

Let’s take a look at 10 ways to keep your miles from expiring.

1.  Take a flight on American Airlines (or a partner airline)

You can also take a flight with an American Airlines partner airline, like those in the Oneworld program, including:

• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific Airways
• Finnair
• Iberia
• Japan Airlines
• LATAM Airlines
• Quantas
• Qatar Airways
• and more

Just remember to credit the miles you earn to your American Airlines frequent flyer account and make sure the miles will be deposited into your account before your other miles are set to expire.

2.  Spend miles for a future flight

Even if you’re too busy to book a trip before your miles are scheduled to expire, you can spend miles to book a future award trip. The goal is to spend some miles before they expire in order to reset the clock on the expiration date for all your AA miles.

When you book an award ticket, the miles will be debited right away from your American Airlines miles account, even if the flight is a year away. And the life of your American Airlines miles will be extended for an additional 18 months.

3.  Shop

Almost all airline frequent flyer programs offer an online shopping portal. If you’re doing some online shopping, you might as well be earning travel rewards while you’re at it — and keeping your miles from expiring at the same time.

Just log into the American Airlines AAdvantage shopping portal, find your desired online merchant and click through to their online store. You’ll earn a set number of miles per $1 and reset the clock on the expiration of your miles.

4.  Stay at a hotel

You might not be planning any flights, but if you can get away to a hotel for even one night, you could earn American Airlines miles — and extend the expiration date of your miles another 18 months.

To earn miles for your stay you must stay at one of American Airlines’ hotel partners and credit the rewards you earn to your American Airlines account.

American Airlines hotel partners include most popular hotel chains like:

• Best Western
• Choice Hotels
• Hilton
• Hyatt
• IHG
• Marriott
• Radisson
• Wyndham
• and many more…

These brands cover the vast majority of hotel options. You can earn miles nearly anywhere.

You can also use RocketMiles to find and book hotel rooms, which earns you up to 10,000 American Airlines miles per night.

5.  Rent a car or use a shuttle service

Planning to rent a car?  Consider crediting your rental to your American Airlines account. The number of miles you’ll earn depends on your elite status but earning those miles will reset the expiration of your entire American Airlines frequent flyer account.

You can earn American Airlines miles for rentals through most of the major agencies, including Alamo, Avis, Budget, Hertz, National and more. You’ll also earn miles for taking a shuttle service like GroundLink or SuperShuttle.

6.  Convert hotel points to American Airlines miles

If you have a stash of hotel points you don’t have a plan for, you might be able to convert those points to American Airlines miles.

Not only can this be a good option for topping off your account for an award flight but it also extends the expiration date of your American Airlines miles for another 18 months.

This can be especially helpful if you have points with a hotel that are also expiring soon.

For example, Hilton Honors is an American Airlines hotel partner and Hilton points expire after 12 months of inactivity. So by transferring some points from Hilton to American Airlines, you can extend the life of both your American Airlines miles and your Hilton points.

You can convert hotel points to American Airlines miles from programs like Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Starwood, Choice, Wyndham and more. The minimum number of points you can convert and the number of miles you’ll earn varies by hotel chain. So always do the math to make sure the deal makes sense for you.

7.  Grab some grub

Everyone has time to eat. One of the easiest ways to earn more American Airlines miles is to enroll in the American Airlines dining program and eat at a participating restaurant. There are over 10,000 dining partners so you can probably find a restaurant near you.

Many of these dining partners have meals for under $10, so you could grab a quick (cheap) meal and prevent your American Airlines miles from expiring at the same time.

8.  Take a cruise

You can earn American Airlines miles for taking a cruise. Just search for a qualifying cruise through the American Airlines cruise portal to earn 1 mile per $1 spent (up to 10,000 American Airlines miles).

This is a great way to keep those miles active in your account while planning an incredible adventure.

Not only does this keep your miles from expiring, but it could be a great way to get additional perks for booking a cruise. Special offers available through the portal include ones that have no gratuities, free onboard ship credits and bonus miles. These offers rotate, so check often.

9.  Donate to charity

American Airlines has a partnership with Stand Up to Cancer through which you can earn bonus American Airlines miles for donating. You’ll earn 10x American Airlines miles per $1 on donations of $25+. This is a wonderful way to do good and extend the expiration date of your points balance.

10.  Earn miles from any purchase

Using an American Airlines credit card is an excellent way to earn miles for everyday purchases. With the right card, any purchase you make extends the life of your miles. Plus, you can often earn bonus miles for purchases in special categories.

To make this proposition even sweeter, American Airlines credit cards come with the following welcome bonuses, so you can stockpile quickly for an upcoming vacation.  The current offers are:

• CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Mastercard® – 70,000 American Airlines miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first four months of account opening
• Citi® /AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite™ Mastercard® – 50,000 American Airlines miles after spending $2,500 on purchases within the first three months of account opening
• Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard® – 50,000 American Airlines miles after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening
• American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card – 10,000 American Airlines miles and receive a $50 statement credit after making $500 in purchases within the first three months of account opening

This is probably the best way to earn American Airlines miles. Plus, some of these cards come with great perks like a free first checked bag for you and up to four travel companions on the same reservation (domestic flights only) and preferred boarding for you and up to four travel companions on the same reservation.

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

Bottom line

American Airlines miles expire after 18 months of inactivity, but there is no reason for this to happen.

All you have to do is earn or redeem miles to reset the clock. Qualifying activities include taking a paid flight on American Airlines (or a partner airline), converting hotel points to American Airlines miles, booking a hotel with a qualifying hotel partner and more.

Of course, the easiest way to earn miles and keep them from expiring is to use an American Airlines credit card. Our favorite American Airlines cards are:

• CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Mastercard®
• Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite™ Mastercard®
• Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ Mastercard®
• American Airlines AAdvantage MileUp℠ Card

Have you used any of these methods to prevent your American Airlines miles from expiring? If so, tell us about it in the comments below.