Jim_Tardio

Just a reminder to those who collect Delta Sky Miles. They expire after two years with no activity.

I went to book a flight and found this out. I received no notice, and was bascically told that I should have read the fine print.

Of course this is true and its my own fault, but I won't be flying on Delta again.

I belong to several mileage programs and theirs is the only one that expires.

So if you've got an account with them make sure you keep it current.

WillTravel

Air Canada and United both expire. I think Continental has an expiry policy also.

luvtotravel

Jim, I'm so sorry to hear that you lost points. My Delta points, too, were expiring. They did notify me. I was able to keep them by making a purchase in their Skymall. As long as there is activity on the account they will keep you active. The purchase points (I made a $75 purchase of Lancome products with free delivery) kept my account active. Just a comment for those of you who are facing the same situation. I did the same thing with my USAIR account.

Mariarosa

Please note that USAir recently changed in January their miles expiration to 18 months without activity (I think it used to be 3 years).

AA Advantage is still 3 years, as far as I know.

BA is 3 years as well.

This is a good reminder to check the programs you belong to periodically and post some miles, even if you have not flown with them.

Dukey

Another "good idea" is to check out what actually qualifies as "activity" and what doesn't.

Barb

Do you have actually "fly" w/ Delta before the two years, or just charge stuff to your Delta mileage credit card?

luvtotravel

The one and only time I flew on Delta was years ago when I moved points to Delta from my American Express Rewards Program. I now keep a Starwood AmerEx card instead, but it was nice flying Delta's Business Elite. Other than that one point transfer, the Lancome purchase I made was the first activity.

Jim_Tardio

You don't have to actually fly with them to keep your account current. You can buy stuff, rent cars, etc...Just make sure you apply it to your account.

I'm in discussions with them because I have rented several cars in that time period through their affiliates...but, I didn't apply those transactions to my Delta account.

Again, totally my fault.

But, still I feel it's not a "friendly" policy. With the poor image that many airlines face these days, this doesn't help.

Meredith

When looking to see if I could use my parents' US Air miles last year, I happened to notice that their miles were set to expire in less than a month. My mom called up US Air and was able to "renew" their miles simply by updating their e-mail addresses in their profiles.

As Dukey mentioned, what qualifies as "activity" probably varies by airline. But for my parents, it was pretty simple, with no extra expense involved.

CarolA

While it doesn't impact international travel, SW's credits expire (and it's worst then the others if the "flight" credit isn't used it just rolls off so if you don't fly often it's hard to accumulate enough credits for a free flight)

rkkwan

While Continental has a 18-month policy, they have never enforced it, and are not enforcing it right now. So, all your Onepass miles are safe, at least for the time being.

Rastaguytoday

Alaska Air supposedly has FF miles that never expire.

However, they will delete your record of earning the miles.

Lost 60k because of this.

Jim_Tardio

Even though it was my fault for not keeping the account current, I won't be flying with Delta anymore.

I only found out about this when I went to book flights for a family gathering in Austria, Germany & France over the Christmas holidays. I logged in and saw "0" for my account balance.

I'll be booking with Lufthansa instead. And I'll be encouraging the rest of my group to do likewise.

That'll show em'

WillTravel

Apparently Lufthansa has a 36-month expiry policy.

Jim_Tardio

Yes, WillTravel...fortunately I'm still current with them.

It is difficult to stay active with these programs.

The best program I have is through Capital One's No Hassle Rewards.

MademoiselleFifi

A recent issue of Budget Travel magazine talked about this and listed many ways to keep these accounts active. Can't remember which issue exactly, but it was not long ago.

tod

There is also a 3 year expirey on our carrier South African Airways BUT every month when one's statement comes through the mail it list the miles as earned but also notes in LARGE PRINT....
"Miles Expiring" on ........such & such date. This is done way in advance which gives you time to think about how you would like to use them, or loose them!

hopscotch

Thanks for the heads up.

rkkwan

The US airlines aren't interested in you infrequent flyers keeping an account by flying a cheap fare every 3 years, or use a partner to do $10 of shoppping every 3 years.

They want to cut down the number of outstanding miles out there, which is a liability to their balance sheets.

That's why they want to implement these policies as quietly as possible. What's the point of implementing them, if all you can do is to buy $10 of stuff through a shopping partner every 3 years?

You need to think from the side of the airline about why they're doing this.

hopscotch

The way I see it a deal is a deal. If I fly or whatever to get miles under their program I don't expect them to come back later and say, "Um, er, well, we are canceling your miles because we changed the deal." Sure, their small print always says something to the effect that they have the right to break the faith but who reads that part of it? It looks like lawyer larceny to me. Caveat emptor.