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.