mileage expiration dates
 

I am a little confused on how to keep my miles "active" - I generally do air-travel often enough - that I either use all my miles or they stay active. I have a lot of Delta miles and might not be able to use them till 2012 - right now it states that my miles expire May 31, 2011 - how can I be sure to keep them active?? Do "some" expire while others will remain active? I am confused on the process...
thanks in advance,

You just need activity in your account. Fly, claim miles, buy something with a DL credit card, etc.

rkkwan - I have a delta Amex that I really do not use - but could - I DO use the skymall or something of the like to order things (like the mother's day flowers I sent) and QVC items ect and get points that way - does that keep it active?

Yes, and and all miles will expire like 18 months from the date of last activity.

Great - thank you SO much. I will continue to shop via that way - extra points as well as keeping it active.

For me, it's as simple as transferring 1,000 points from my AMEX Membership Reward account.

MomDDTravel

activate your miles for free:

I. join points.com
https://www.points.com/acquisition/n...0511-80001-015

II play games online and add miles to your account
http://club.live.com/Pages/Home/HomePage.aspx

aby

SO that keeps it active as well? That is why I have so many miles... I transfer all of them from my Amex Plat account.

Until the end of May, Delta has a bonus of 15% for transferring Amex points. Of, course there is always a small fee to transfer.
https://www.delta.com/marketing/mybonus/index.jsp

To keep your miles active, use Delta's online shopping mall. Just link through there to where you want to shop. You can spend just a couple of bucks on ITunes to reset your expiration date.

Do you have a NWA ff account? If not, sign up for one on NWA website (yes, I know they are merging with Delta, but do it anyway). Wait a few days for your account to activate then takes this online test for 400 bonus miles. The link for this and the answers are on this thread.
http://www.fodors.com/community/air-...perk-miles.cfm

After you set up your NWA account and take the bonus miles test, go to Delta and link your NWA account and your Delta account for 500 bonus miles (can only be credited to Delta ff account). You will be able to transfer the miles between your accounts. NWA will be gone by the end of the year, but you might was well get these 900 ff miles. The linking bonus ends May 31.
https://www.delta.com/skymiles/about...index.jsp#link

After you set up your NWA account

Kybourn that is a great tip! Thank you so much - I will give it a try - why not?

I just signed a relative up for NWA last week and took the test for him so I know it's still working. I also made my daughter take it (she already had NWA and Delta ff accts) about two or three weeks ago. I'm in the process of reactivating my relative's Delta acct (he let it expire in Jan!) and plan to link his accts for the miles. We plan to go to Italy with our miles so I will be transferring from his AmEx to Delta (you can't transfer AmEx to NWA)to get the 15% bonus. I took advantage of the 30% bonus that Delta/AmEx had back in December.

FYI - Transferring/sharing miles between NWA and Delta does not reset your expiration date, but earning the bonus miles for linking the accts should.

I just transfered miles from Amex to Delta - I am saving them for Italy in 2012. (I know a long way off) ... I wonder if I got the bonus miles - did you need to click on a certain link?

Yes, I gave it above. Call them and see if you can get it anyway. Tell them you forgot you needed to sign up first.
https://www.delta.com/marketing/mybonus/index.jsp

Neither linking nor earning the bonus miles will extend your miles . . . I just lost over 51,000 miles on Delta thinking it would. I'm really unhappy!

Sandy (in Denton)

Sandy - what do you mean? That using skymiles to earn points with shopping with not extend? Or doing the linking with NorthWest?
Thanks,
Dawn

MomDDTravel, I linked my NW miles in Mar, they were not due to expire for a long while. I received 500 bonus miles in Mar and another 500 in Apr for linking. On May 1, all my miles were zapped. I knew my Delta miles were expiring in May but I thought I read someplace that the linking and bonus miles would extend them.

I have written Delta twice and received a "too bad" message each time. I have written them again protesting the expiration of my NW miles (since they were not expiring in May) . . . am waiting for a reply.

I am VERY unhappy, as I had enough for a free ticket (over 50,000 miles) . . . and I have another trip booked with them for this July.

Sandy (in Denton)

sandy - I would call Delta and see if you can reinstate them if they expired recently. I know you can do it on the website if you pay, but I don't think the fee is worth it. Just tell them you thought that the bonus miles was going to extend expiration of your miles or you would have done something else to keep your account active. I called to reinstate my relatives account and I could tell she would have reinstated his miles if it hadn't been so long (5 months).
http://www.delta.com/skymiles/manage...ndex.jsp?src=d

A follow up to my probelm . . . I just received an email from Delta (after my third letter) that as a goodwill gesture they will reinstate my NW miles. It is too bad about my Delta miles and 1,000 bonus miles but I'm just letting those go.

Sandy (in Denton)

Sandy - I would still call. You might get someone nice that will fix it since it was so recent. If not, ask for a supervisor. Tell them about your upcoming trip, etc. I'm surprised about the NWA miles. I didn't think they had an expiration date at all.

kybourbon,

I checked my balance this a.m. and they also let me keep the 1,000 bonus miles. I'm just going to let the Delta miles go, I didn't have that many, it was my fault that I didn't keep a good enough eye on them. But . . . the NW miles were a different matter. I really feel it was the right thing to do to reinstate those (and not just as a goodwill gesture).

I've also checked the balances and expiration dates on all my accounts . . . put everything on a spreadsheet, and made an autodate on my calendar to check them all monthly!

Thanks,
Sandy (in Denton)

sandy - I was assuming your 51,000 miles that expired were on the Delta account, but I guess they were on your NWA.
Since you are traveling with them in July (Delta?), that will reset your expiration date.

>>>On January 1, 2009, the SkyMiles program mileage expiration policy changed from a two-year policy tied to the end of the calendar year to a rolling 24-month policy for all SkyMiles members. Miles will expire 24 months after a member’s last qualifying activity rather than at the end of the year. To ensure a smooth transition to this 24-month policy, miles will not expire earlier than April 30, 2009. You can check your February online statement or log into your SkyMiles account beginning February 1, 2009, for your updated expiration date.

An example of the 24-month policy: if a member’s last qualifying activity took place on August 31, 2009, the member’s miles will expire on August 31, 2011 – not on December 31, 2011.

A qualifying activity occurs when a member earns, receives or redeems miles. Examples of qualifying activities include:

* Earning miles when flying Delta or a partner airline
* Using a Delta SkyMiles Credit Card
* Earning miles through Delta’s more than 100 SkyMiles partners
* Buying or transferring miles
* Redeeming miles for magazines, upgrades, Delta Sky Club™ memberships, Medallion Marketplace® merchandise, or Award Travel
* Winning mileage bids on SkyMiles Online Auction
* Transferring Membership Rewards®, Hilton, Marriott or Diner's Club® partner points to miles
* Donating miles to one of several SkyWish charities<<<<

I just received 1 "expiration extension" mile in my DL account possibly to prevent what happened to Sandy from happening in the future. I checked several relatives' DL accounts and the only ones that received the extra mile were ones that had NW accounts linked.

The entry was backdated to April 29th and I wonder if this has the effect of restoring miles that expired on April 30th.

Holding my breath here . . . but today, I received a notice from Delta that one of the legs on my July trip had changed (flight number changed). When I went out to Delta to look at the "new" seats they had put us in, I noticed I now have 89,000+ miles! 89,000! How did that happen!

I looked at my mileage awards and it appears they have given me a "bonus" of 51,000+ miles! Is it a mistake? Is it a goodwill gesture? [51,000 is the total of my Delta and NW miles that they originally zapped.]

I'm feeling really good about Delta!

Sandy (in Denton)

Sandy,
Did you have this entry in your account?

29 Apr 2009 Expiration Extension (posted on 28May2009) 1

If so, I think that's what restored your previously expired 51K miles. That's what I was wondering about in my earlier post.

I think it's very nice of them to do that since they'd clearly stated that transferring miles from NW to DL did not reset your DL expiration.

Patty - I guess I'm not understanding the expiration. Why would anyone's miles be expiring? Wouldn't if just depend on account activity? Have expiration dates/timelines changed?

DL's expiration policies haven't changed. It's still 24 months from last activity. I think what happened was that there was confusion as to whether earning the linking bonus or transferring NW miles to DL would reset the DL expiration. From my understanding, neither would. However it appears that DL has since changed their T&C so that the act of linking does reset DL expiration.

<i>The linking of a WorldPerks and SkyMiles account will extend the mileage expiration date on which your miles expire in your SkyMiles account. The SkyMiles account expiration date will be updated 4-5 weeks after SkyMiles and WorldPerks accounts are linked.</i>

Which is probably why they retroactively credited 1 mile to each DL account that was linked to a NW account. Previously someone could've linked accounts, transferred NW miles into DL and had them immediately expire.

Delta keeps changing the date for the 500 bonus miles for linking your NWA and Delta accounts. I reminded my daughter when it was supposed to expire in April and when she logged on it had been extended until the end of May. They've just extended it again until the end of June.

whoo hoo - just took the quiz, and linked my accounts, after setting up a NWA acc't. 900 miles, oh yeah!

<b> Thank you for the tip!</b<

Oh thank goodness kebyourbon! You just made my whole day. I only have FF miles with NWA, none with Delta. I meant to link my NWA FF miles to Delta and didn't get it done. Reading the bonus miles to link the a/c's until the end of June is fantastic.

However I am still bummed out, I think. I have the US Bank CC which I use for everything and earn FF miles with NWA. I don't want a Delta AmEx card at the tune of $95.00 annual fee. My US Bank Visa card does not have an annual fee.

I have notices from US Bank they will be issuing a new credit card (same a/c no. that I presently have) that will be a Visa FlexPerks card. It is suppose to be good for 150 airlines including Delta. Plus good for hotels etc. including statement credit. No annual fee. I need to go to flexperks.com and read up on this. Life is getting too confusing, lol!

<i>My US Bank Visa card does not have an annual fee.</i>

Do you have the Worldperks Visa that gives 1/2 mile per $1 spent (the one that's not the Signature or Platinum card)? The cards that give 1 mile per $1 have an annual fee unless you have a special arrangement with US Bank.

Though not really advertise, the Delta Options Amex also has no annual fee with the same 1/2 mile per $1 earning rate https://www217.americanexpress.com/c...ARDS/105/0/0/0

Flexperks points can be used to "buy" tickets similar to other pay with points programs but you can't transfer those points to your frequent flyer account.

Ah Patty, thank you!!! I just finished reading the flexperks.com website a bit ago and that was one question that I had that was not addressed, could I transfer Flexperks points to my FF A/C. Although mailings from US Bank has made their new CC sound great I wasn't impressed when I read the information on their website.

Patty, I have never paid an annual fee for a credit card in my life..well that is for a personal CC, did for a business CC's of course.

I will now read the AmEx website you so kindly posted for me.

I told my daughter today I was so confused but I imagined if I went onto the Airline Forum on Fodor's my questions would be answered. Again, thank you so much!

Hello again Patty! I just read the AmEx website you posted for me. That will work perfect! I will appply tomorrow. Again thank you so much for taking the time to help me with what I thought was a frustrating situation.

I'm not familiar with flexperks, but when I've had points with other cards that were good for travel, they required quite a bit more points to get a flight.

You're welcome, LI! You may also want to consider applying for the Delta Gold Amex as the first year is free, getting a sign up bonus and downgrading to the Options Amex before the end of the first year. There are various offers:

http://www.nwa.com/features/smcclead...kyMilesAMEX50K

https://www201.americanexpress.com/c...24/34268/b/293

The only other issue is that Amex has been known, especially lately, to give out very small credit lines. Good luck!

FYI - AmEx bonus transfer has increased to what they offered last December. If you transfer points from AmEx to Delta from now until July 31, you will get a 30% bonus. You have to register first to get the bonus.
https://www.delta.com/marketing/setyoursights/index.jsp

I called American Airlines yesterday regarding my miles that expired in January. (Yes, I procrastinate at times.)

Anyway, they have a Retention Challenge that allows me to recover my lost miles if I fly 1,500 miles within a certain amount of time. It just so happens I'm flying next week with them so I will get all of my miles back! And no fee.

Thanks so much for posting this thread. I have the same problem with expiring miles on Air France (Flying Blue.) Does anyone know if the suggestions made for Delta miles would work? Any other suggestions re: what is a qualifying activity to extend the miles?

I don't know anything about the Flying Blue program, but don't think they have as many qualifying activities. I didn't see any links to shopping on their website or much partners. The only cheap one seems to be an online photo album.
http://www.clicalbum-flyingblue.com/...p?lang=english

I would look on flyertalk.com under their award programs. There will be lots of experts there. You can just read threads about Flying Blue as they don't tolerate newbies very well.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/flyin...rance-klm-594/

tvy, I would call their rewards program department and ask them what you need to do to keep your miles current.