AA New 18-month Mileage Expiration Policy (Jun '07)

trinity_in_texas · May 31, 07, 10:59 am

AA is announcing a new mileage expiration policy.
18 months of no activity will expire your miles.

http://www.aa.com/aa/pubcontent/en_U...Expiration.jsp

a_fman · May 31, 07, 11:02 am

Wouldn't surprise me with the newstories abouts the huge numbers of unused miles and the cost to the airlines of honouring the numbers of award tickets they hand out.
Still, it's not very hard to keep them going.....just donate the occasional few to charity or buy a few!

andrzej · May 31, 07, 11:04 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by trinity_in_texas

AA is announcing a new mileage expiration policy.
18 months of no activity will expire your miles.

http://www.aa.com/aa/pubcontent/en_U...Expiration.jsp

If one can't add or subtract 1 mile in 18 months they deserve what they get.

No problem here. I knew it was coming as soon as UA announced the same policy.

SquareDanceGuy · May 31, 07, 11:08 am

Cutting the no-activity time in half seems a bit drastic. However, I'm in favor of the move. All people need to do, to keep their miles, is get an AA credit card.

**JDiver** · May 31, 07, 11:27 am

IMO, they have been watching other airlines that have cut back miles longevity in unused accounts and figured it's working for them, and they can cut down their accrued obligations. If anyone complains, it will be someone who has not flown on AA in 18 months (or longer,) or even used an AA linked credit card, etc. From the AA perspective, no major losses, some significant gains, I'd guess.

aa4ever · May 31, 07, 11:27 am

So for each airline, now, it is:
US - 18 mo
AA - 18 mo
DL - 24 mo
UA - ?
CO - ?

Edited to add: this really doesn't affect anyone here, but it still annoys me for the idea.

SNA_Flyer · May 31, 07, 11:30 am

It won't be an issue for me with AA. Will be letting my parents know, however. They seem to let miles languish with several carriers, including AA.

I did loose all of my USAir miles (probably about 12,000) due to the same deal. Not that I'm broken up about it - I don't really have a love for that airline anyhow.

fti · May 31, 07, 11:32 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by aa4ever

So for each airline, now, it is:
US - 18 mo
AA - 18 mo
DL - 24 mo
UA - ?
CO - ?

UA is 18 months.

Per CO's website (been their policy for some time):
* Miles currently have no expiration date; however Continental Airlines reserves the right to impose expiration limits or terminate the OnePass program, plus terminating your ability to claim rewards. If you do not have activity in your OnePass account for a period of 18 months, Continental Airlines may close your account.

NW - NO EXPIRATION DATE (yet?!).

Quote:

Originally Posted by aa4ever

Edited to add: this really doesn't affect anyone here, but it still annoys me for the idea.

Same here. I have some dormant AA miles that I was planning on using later this year anyway. Still...

JonNYC · May 31, 07, 11:34 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDiver

...From the AA perspective, no major losses, some significant gains, I'd guess.

Those gains will certainly include the hefty fees that many will pay to "buy back" the expired miles from AAdvantage..

aamilesslave · May 31, 07, 11:36 am

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/fligh...les-usat_x.htm

List NW as 3 years.

Flaflyer · May 31, 07, 11:37 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNA_Flyer

I did loose all of my USAir miles (probably about 12,000) due to the same deal.

How to loose all? You can donate a thousand or so to charity on their web site every 18 months which counts as an activity. I know, I just had to do this with USAir. With 12,000 to start with, you can keep your account open and keep at least some of the miles for easily 6 to 8 years.

aamilesslave · May 31, 07, 11:37 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNA_Flyer

It won't be an issue for me with AA. Will be letting my parents know, however. They seem to let miles languish with several carriers, including AA.

I did loose all of my USAir miles (probably about 12,000) due to the same deal. Not that I'm broken up about it - I don't really have a love for that airline anyhow.

I hate loose miles

drtdk · May 31, 07, 11:43 am

I'm sure that this decision was driven by the accountants but 24 months would have been a fairer compromise.

edwin_p_morales · May 31, 07, 11:44 am

Hard to see the downside here for the frequent flier. The more miles that get cleared off the books the better off we are in relative terms.

brp · May 31, 07, 11:50 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by edwin_p_morales

Hard to see the downside here for the frequent flier. The more miles that get cleared off the books the better off we are in relative terms.

In theory, yes. I have a feeling that people who fall into this 18-month loss (or maybe looss, to use the apparent vernacular of this thread) scenario weren't much competition for frequent fliers on mileage redemption.

Cheers.