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How do you keep your points and miles alive? What counts as qualifying activity to extend the life of miles? Here are the policies for major US airline and hotel programs and those programs that partner with credit card issuer transferable points programs.
When do airline miles expire and how do you keep airline miles alive?
Aeromexico Club Premier
Since April 10, 2023 AeroMexico Rewards points no longer expire.
Air Canada Aeroplan
Air Canada Aeroplan miles expire after 18 months of inactivity. Any activity extends miles. The easiest methods would include a transfer from Amex Membership Rewards or Capital One miles or earning miles through Air Canada’s shopping portal or donating some miles.
Air France KLM Flying Blue
Flying Blue miles expire after 24 months after they are earned (from credited flights) or after 24 months of inactivity (for miles earned from transfers or the shopping portal). If your only source of earning is by transferring from credit card currencies or other non-flight partner activity, you can extend by simply transferring the minimum from a credit card program or earning points through the shopping portal or other non-flight partners. See this post for more.
American Airlines AAdvantage
American Airlines miles expire after 18 months of inactivity. Any earning or redeeming keeps them alive. The easiest methods are to maintain an American Airlines credit card, earn miles through the AAdvantage eShopping portal or AAdvantage dining program, earn miles with a Bask Bank savings account, or redeem miles for an award.
Miles do not expire for members under 21 years of age. Once a member turns 21, they will need activity within 24 months of their 21st birthday or else miles will expire.
Amtrak Guest Rewards
Amtrak Guest Rewards points expire after 24 months of inactivity. Earn or redeem points or being an Amtrak credit card holder to keep them alive. The easiest ways to earn points is making a small purchase through the Amtrak Guest Rewards shopping portal.
ANA Mileage Club
ANA miles expire 36 months after they are earned and typically can only be extended by achieving top-tier ANA Diamond status. Note that transferring additional miles does not extend the expiration date of existing miles.
Avianca LifeMiles
Avianca miles expire after 12 months of inactivity, but it is easy to keep miles alive by transferring the minimum from Amex, Bilt, Citi, or Capital One. Note that redeeming miles does not extend miles, only earning / transferring miles in.
Avios (British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, Aer Lingus)
Avios expire after 36 months of inactivity. Transferring from Amex, Capital One, or Chase or earning miles through the British Airways or Iberia shopping portals should extend the life of your Avios. Note that transferring Avios from one program to another (i.e. from Iberia to British Airways) does NOT reset the clock (and in fact, according to this article, if the target account hasn’t been used in more than 36 months the points may expire immediately. YMMV).
Note that Finnair Avios has an 18-month clock on inactivity.
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
Asia Miles expire after 18 months of inactivity and any activity should reset the clock (including transfers from Amex, Citi, Chase, or Capital One).
Delta SkyMiles
Delta SkyMiles do not expire.
Emirates Skywards
Emirates Skywards miles expire 3 years after the year in which they were earned at the end of your birthday month. In other words, miles earned in 2024 will expire in 2027 at the end of the month in which you were born. You can pay a fee to extend miles for 12 more months as long as you do it within 3 months prior to expiration, but the fee is expensive at $20 per 1,000 miles.
Etihad Guest
Etihad Guest miles expire after 18 months of inactivity. Unfortunately, transferring points from Amex, Capital One, or Citi doesn’t seem to work to extend the life of them based on this comment from Grant. Buying or redeeming miles should reset the clock though.
EVA Infinity MileageLands
EVA Infinity MileageLands miles expire 36 months from accrual. Transferring in more miles does not extend validity.
Finnair Avios
Unlike other Avios programs, Finnair Avios expire after 18 months of inactivity at the end of the 18th consecutive month after you haven’t had any activity. Collecting or redeeming Avios resets the clock, so a transfer from Capital One should keep miles alive.
Hawaiian Miles
Hawaiian Miles do not expire.
JetBlue TrueBlue
JetBlue TrueBlue miles never expire.
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Qantas Frequent Flyer miles expire after 18 months of inactivity, but you can keep miles alive by earning or redeeming them. The easiest way to earn Qantas miles is by transferring from Amex Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou points, or Capital One miles.
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Qatar Privilege Club Avios expire after 36 months of inactivity. Earning or spending Avios or buying Avios will extend them for another 36 months.
Singapore KrisFlyer
Singapore KrisFlyer miles expire 36 months from when they were accrued and can not be extended. Specifically, miles expire at the end of the month 3 years after they were earned.
Southwest Rapid Rewards
Southwest Rapid Rewards points never expire.
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus miles expire 3 years from accrual at the end of the quarter in which they are earned. Miles can not be extended.
Turkish Miles & Smiles
Turkish Miles & Smiles miles expire 3 years after they were earned. Members can pay a fee of $20 per 1,000 miles to keep them alive.
United Mileage Plus
United Mileage Plus miles do not expire.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points do not expire.
When do hotel points expire and how can you keep hotel points alive?
Accor Live Limitless
Points expire 365 days from accrual. To keep your Accor Live Limitless points alive, you’ll need to check out from a qualifying point-earning stay at least 7 days before points are set to expire. You can alternatively earn points through bars or restaurants with their dining program. I am unsure whether transfers from Capital One or Bilt Rewards will extend validity, but I suspect they might.
Choice Privileges
Choice Privileges points expire after 18 months of inactivity. Earn or redeem to extend the life of points, but note that booking and cancelling an award stay will not extend the life of your points. Booking a stay that you complete will extend points or booking a cash & points stay will extend points. Alternatively, a purchase through the Choice Privileges shopping portal or card-linked offers should extend points or you can keep points alive with their credit card.
Hilton Honors
Hilton Honors points expire after 24 months of inactivity. To keep them alive, earn or redeem. If you won’t be staying at a Hilton property soon, you could transfer from Amex Membership Rewards points or earn points through the Hilton Honors shopping or dining programs.
Hyatt World of Hyatt
World of Hyatt points are forfeited after 24 months of inactivity. Any activity resets the clock, so the easiest way to keep points alive is by transferring from Chase Ultimate Rewards.
IHG Rewards Club
IHG points expire after 12 months of inactivity. Earning from stays or partners, redeeming points, or having elite status (such as the free Platinum status that comes with the IHG Rewards Club Premier credit card) keeps IHG points alive.
Marriott Bonvoy
Marriott Bonvoy points expire after 24 months of inactivity. Earning with partners, including via the Marriott Bonvoy credit cards, or transferring points from Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards keeps points alive. Other ways to keep points alive include purchasing points (1,000 points costs $12.50), converting points to miles or miles to points with airline partners, or redeeming points for charity or other non-hotel awards. It is interesting to note that redeeming points for hotel awards does not count as activity until the completed stay posts to your account. See this article for more.
Wyndham Rewards
Wyndham Rewards points expire 4 years after accrual or after 18 months of inactivity. The 18-month counter can be extended with any activity, including points earned from paid stays or the Wyndham Rewards shopping portal, points transferred from Capital One or Citi, or award redemptions. It is also possible to extend up to 60K points per year by transferring to Caesars Rewards and back and it may be possible to reinstate points that have expired.
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Hey Nick,
Just a quick mention, Aeroplan points expiry is suspended till Nov 2025.
No Alaska on the list???
Unless I missed it, how about Lufstansa? How to extend w/o having a credit card? Thanks!
Thanks Nick! Can we add this to the Resources page please?
Some airlines and hotel programs offer surveys through a free program and completing a survey keeps the account active. I’ve done this with Alaska and Hilton.
Korean?
This is very helpful. Did you forget or intentionally omit Lufthansa? Also, it would be great to have a table or list with expiration periods, and check boxes if they can be extended with points transfers.
Choice Privileges Mall is No More – needs to be updated here.
singapore kris flyer – can you reset the clock after transferring miles or is it like ANA – hard 3 year expiration
No. Its like ANA
The https://frequentmiler.com/choice/ link is not working.
I think American Airlines is 24 months.
This is incorrect: “Etihad Guest miles expire after 18 months of inactivity. The easiest way to keep Etihad miles alive is by transferring points from Amex, Capital One, or Citi.”
I transferred 1K miles into my Etihad account from AMEX MR on 9/2/24, but my previously expiring miles still expired on 10/1/24. Etihad was not willing to restore the expired miles either.
That sucks – sorry that you lost those. We’ll get the post updated.
I wasn’t too bad, but still annoying. I wrote a post about the frustrating experience here: https://travelwithgrant.boardingarea.com/2024/10/10/my-frustrating-experience-with-etihad-guest-customer-service-and-the-virtual-visa-reward-card-app-rant/
AEGEAN!
TAP!
RE: Alaska Airlines Chat GPT says…
“No, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles do not expire as long as your account remains active. However, Alaska considers an account “active” as long as there has been any qualifying activity (earning or redeeming miles) within the last 24 months. Qualifying activities include flying with Alaska or its partner airlines, using an Alaska Airlines credit card, or earning miles through other partners, like hotel stays or car rentals.
If there is no activity for 24 months, the miles could be removed from your account, but you can easily keep them active by engaging in any qualifying transaction within that period.”