My DS has about 70,000 miles on AA that are due to expire the end of Oct. I know there has been a thread on here about different options to buy things to be able to keep the miles but somehow searching the forums is not bringing it up.

Anyone with tried and true methods to make sure that the miles are not lost. Thanks for any suggestions.

Google search AA shopping, or something similar. You can link any credit card to your AA account, then shop through AA shopping online at somewhere like Walmart.com or many other locations.

I did this last December to beat an expiration deadline and it took about 6 weeks after the purchase for the miles to show up in my AA account. By the time the miles showed up the 10,000 AA miles had expired - I never tried to get them reinstated, so I'm not sure if AA would be flexible if you missed the end Oct cutoff.

https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/

you can also go to advantage dining and eat at one of the restaurants.

or, get the AA citi mastercard credit card (but you may be out of time for this option) though this is a bit drastic, but better than losing 70k miles.

finally use the miles to book a trip for next year somewhere.

Thanks for your replies. I just signed up his student credit card for the advantage shopping link above and bought something. It looked like Sept. 30th is the end of a reporting period, so I may have just squeaked by.

I am also applying him for Citi AA credit card. He gets an application form in the mail every couple of weeks, but I just wasn't sure I was ready for him to have that high a credit limit yet. I guess I'll manage this account for him, as 20yo male college students are not known for their ability to be responsible (my apologies to all the responsible male college students, my DS just isn't one of them...)

I can't believe you're worried that your son can't manage a credit card and you still applied for a card in his name, just to keep some points alive.

re:I can't believe you're worried that your son can't manage a credit card and you still applied for a card in his name, just to keep some points alive.


I thought that too.

I accumulate thousands of miles on aadvantageeshopping.com. I don't see the need for the credit card. Let him get one later on on his own. iTunes is one of the vendors, so one $.99 song every 18 months to prevent the miles from expiring...

An easy way to keep the account, and miles, active is to purchase 1000 miles through aa.com. Will cost you $27.50 and will post within a day or two. (AA says to allow 72 hours for the miles to post, but in my experience they show up the next day.)

that is a good way, but it is a lot more than $27.50: you have to add on taxes and "processing fee" of 30 bucks. not a cheap option, but better than losing 10's of thousands of miles.

You can also reactivate miles:

<i>* Miles that expired on or after December 31, 2002 are eligible for reactivation
* There's no limit to the number of expired miles you can reactivate
* The price to reactivate miles is $50 for every 5,000 miles (subject to 7.5% Federal excise tax), plus a $30 processing charge per transaction, per account
* This offer is available through December 31, 2010</i>

I go to the shopping area of all the airlines and buy myself a gift card to one of various stores listed.