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5 easy ways to keep your points from expiring

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5 easy ways to keep your points from expiring

One of the easiest things to do is forget you have points or miles in a loyalty account and lose them to expiration. This is especially an issue since a lot of loyalty programs suspended point expirations during the pandemic, but now they have re-implemented their old policies. Thankfully, there are numerous ways to keep them alive, but here are 5 easy ways to keep your points from expiring.

I was reminded that Singapore Airlines miles normally expire if you don’t use them within 36 months ( they’re automatically extending them for 6 months if they expire this year ). I received an email and checked my account. Without the pandemic extension, I’d lose nearly 100k miles to expiration!

a screenshot of a graph
Don’t let your Singapore Airlines miles expire!

How often do points and miles expire?

Great question….Here’s a basic chart that will help keep track

ProgramExpiration afterExtend?Transfer Partner
Aeromexico24 monthswith activityAmex
Air Canada18 monthswith any activityAmex
Alaska AirwaysAccounts locked after 24 months of inactivityCall to restartMarriott
American Airlines18 months
with any activityBilt, Marriott
ANA36 monthsnopeAmex
Asiana10 yearsnopeMarriott
British Airways36 monthswith any activityChase, Amex, Cap1, Marriott
DeltaNeverAmex, Marriott
Emirates3 yearsnopeBilt, Chase, Amex, Citi, Cap1, Marriott
Etihad18 monthsAcitivtyAmex, Citi, Marriott
EVA36 monthsnopeCap1, Citi
Flying Blue: KLM/Air France24 monthsActivityAmex, Bilt, Chase, Citi, Cap1, Marriott
HawaiianNo expirationAmex, Bilt
Iberia36 monthsActivityChase, Amex, Marriott
JAL36 monthsnopeMarriott
JetblueNeverAmex, Cap1, Marriott
Korean Air10 yearsMarriott
Lufthansa36 monthsnope
Credit card holders of more than 3 months = no expiration
Elites = no expiration
Marriott
Malaysia36 monthsactivityCiti, Marriott
Qantas18 monthsactivityAmex, Citi, Cap1, Marriott
Qatar36 monthsactivityCiti, Cap1, Marriott
Singapore36 months from earning. Not with activity. But you can pay a fee per 10,000 milesAmex, Chase, Cap1, Citi, Marriott
SouthwestNoneChase
Turkish36 monthsFor a fee ( $10 per 1k miles ) for another 3 yearsBilt, Citi, Cap1, Marriott
UnitedNoneBilt, Chase, Marriott
Virgin AtlanticNoneAmex, Bilt, Chase, Cap1, Citi, Marriott
Hotels
AccorNonecap1
Best WesternNone
Choice18 monthsActivityCap1, Citi, Amex
Hilton24 monthsActivityAmex
Hyatt24 monthsActivityBilt, Chase
IHG12 months unless elite then noneActivityBilt, Chase
Marriott24 months unless lifetime eliteActivityAmex, Chase
Radisson24 monthsActivity
Wyndham18 monthsActivityCap1, Citi

1) Transfer points to keep them active

This is why I love flexible point currenies…it gives you options. If you’re not staying at a hotel or flying on an airline to keep your points active…just transfer points in. Not every airline or hotel program is like this, but the vast majority of them are.

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2) Keep a co-branded credit card to keep your points alive

Credit cards are an easy way to keep your points alive as well. Any activity you make on that card extends the life of your points. Also, cards like the IHG Rewards Premier from Chase keep your points from expiring just for holding the card.

a close up of a credit card

3) Buy points

You can easily buy points to create activity. An easy purchase of 1000 points may set you back $30 or $40, but it’ll keep that cache of points active. Totally worth the money.

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4) Dining Programs

If you aren’t participating in a dining program you definitely should.  You simply link your credit card to the program and you’ll earn the points of that loyalty program, in addition to your credit card points, when you dine at participating restaurants You can read a full description of Dining Programs here, but these are the programs that currently offer them:

5) Use a shopping portal

Loyalty programs have their own online shopping portals that will code your order to earn points in their program. It’s a super easy way to keep your points alive, but also earn tons of bonus points for items you’d buy anyways. All you have to do is log into the mall and then link into the retailers’ normal site. You’ll not only earn your credit card points, but you’ll also earn the points of the portal you’re using.

Hotels

Other

My favorite way to see which portal is offering the biggest bonus is CashBackMonitor

a screenshot of a website

Overall

As you can see, these are 5 easy ways to keep your miles and points from expiring without even leaving your house.

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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Main Cast: 

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The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

6 Comments

  • Jordan February 28, 2024

    Rakuten: http://www.rakuten.com/r/JORDAN48587?eeid=44971

    $30 after your first qualifying purchase in the first 90 days. Join the fun and get some Amex points!

  • Eliana A. December 29, 2022

    Hi! Thanks for those tips!
    Is there an app or website that you would recommend for tracking all the loyalty/points programs in one place?

  • colleen June 10, 2022

    Thank you for providing this. It’s very useful and thorough, and all your work is appreciated.

  • […] I wrote a post about keeping an eye on expiring points. […]

  • outdoor art festivals January 30, 2019

    Hi there this is somewhat of off topic but I was wanting to know
    if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML.
    I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding experience so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience.
    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    • Miles January 30, 2019

      I think most blogs utilize WordPress…in terms of setting it up, buy the domain, find a theme you like and follow the steps. Hope that helps and good luck!

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