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.