UK Flyer 1

When I access my account and I see nnn,nnn miles start to expire on X date, I guess that they might not ALL expire, and that they will do so in separate parcels? how is it possible to discover how many packages of miles discover first as the calendar date moves forward?

KLflyerRalph

IIRC, ALL miles will expire if you don't have a single ST flight in 20 months.

GuillaumeD

That is correct. You can also extend the validity of your miles with AF/KLM AMEX, IRCC
FFP can have three expiring miles policies:
1. The easiest, miles will never expire, (like DL)
2. All miles will expire at the same time if you did not have any qualifying activity for a certain period of time (AF policy)
3. Miles you have earned are to be used within the next XXX months. I do not know of there is FFP that use this policy.

cityflyer369

I agree. It does not make sense to have parcels expiring with Flying Blue as ALL your miles will be valid for another 20 months when you take at least Skyteam flight. (This is different from other programs in which miles expire a certain amount of time after you have earned them, no matter what.) Due to the 20 months rule, "parcel expiry" is not possible. Where should the parcels come from?

cityflyer369

LH M&M has policy 3 unless you have their credit card.

FBI

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UK Flyer 1

Very useful responses thank you.

So for safety 'book now'. I am sure expiration denotes book by the expiration date even if it is a flight in the future?

cityflyer369

You need to fly, not just book, before your expiry date.

UK Flyer 1

Goodness Gracious - this is highly pertinent - thank you for the clarification.
The harshest expiration possible

< So if I made a reward booking now for travel commencing after the expiration date, does the booking somehow disappear, or does he system prevent me making the booking. I must have this just a bit wrong >.

Strategy Proposal
Would this work? Book two one ways, one travel date before the expiration date, and one after. Would taking the first flight somehow breathe some life back to the account to keep the second one alive.

cityflyer369

Don't confuse 2 things:
1. If you want to extend the validity of your miles, an award ticket will not do. You need to fly on a paid ticket before the expiry date. The rule is: your miles are valid for 20 months unless you have a paid Skyteam flight, in which case all your miles will be extended for 20 months after the date of the flight. One little flight segment before the expiry date will be sufficient.
2. If you just would like to spend your miles before they expire, you can book an award ticket with them. In this case, you do not have to fly on the ticket before the expiry date. (Be careful though: you are likely to be restricted with making any changes to your ticket after the expiry date of your miles.)

more4less

and, if I am not wrong, the paid Skyteam flight has to accrue miles.
A couple of years ago I had a paid AZ ticket = 0 miles

cityflyer369

Yes. You could state the rule in the following way: you have to collect at least 1 level mile to extend the validity of your miles for another 20 months.

(While this might sound a tough rule for some people I think it is absolutely okay. Flying Blue is a Frequent Flyer Program after all. If you do not even fly with Skyteam once every 20 months on a ticket that gives you level miles, you hardly count as a frequent flyer, innit?)

Roger

Yeah, yeah, that's the Flying Poo mantra. It makes the programme unique among major FFPs. Not even other account movements such as redemptions, hotel stays, car rentals etc etc have any impact on FB miles expiry.

Want a laugh? I put my FB details on awardwallet.com which claims to monitor FFPs. According to them, my FB miles expire a whole year later than I think they do. They claim to have checked with the FB website.

Awardwallet.com are very wrong. It seems that a FB redemption has produced this theoretical one year extension. FTers will know that that's not the case. If only - that would make FB appear normal and, er, just a little more competitive.

P.S. Shouldn't this discussion be in the Flying Blue forum?

cityflyer369

It's a bit unique in the sense that only paid flights count. On the other hand there are many programs (typically outside Europe and the US) in which miles expire after a certain amount of time, no matter if you fly with them.

carnarvon

MH's "Enrich" FFP uses 3).