travel light

I have a small surplus of FB miles obtained from transferring from amex for a flight.

They expire 20 months from deposit unless extended by a paid flight or use of their specific card, correct?

Any uses for them?

irishguy28

The "Spend Miles" section of the Flying Blue website shows you every possible use.

seawolf

1. Is expiration date shown online? I'm logged into flyingblue.com and on dashboard. Don't see expiration date as Ivory.
2. Also by expiry due to no level miles in 20 months, do they mean expiry of miles that have been there for 20 months or even expiry of miles transferred in last month?
3. Anybody tried redeeming award and then subsequently cancelling award and redeposit? Do those miles expire on original schedule or does that reset the 20-month clock?

Ditto

KLM website shows expiry date, you can try there.
All miles will expire, and no, booking an award and cancelling will not help.

seawolf

Logged into Miles overview in KLM.

I only see under Miles expiry information

So it appears question 2 is no, not all miles will expire.

Guess I will have to call FB to find out when they actually expire. I just looked at FB, KL, and AF sites. Looks like AF gives the most transaction history.

mlm

Am I understanding correctly that if I obtain a Flying Blue American Express card and use it for everyday purchases (not flights) it will protect my FB points from expiring? Is this card available to USA residents?

brunos

I believe that this is not fully correct.

Let's assume that you had several miles from flights 19.9 months ago or more, and no more qualifying flights ever since. But you had some recent miles obtained from hotels, car rental or cc transfers. When you hit 20 months all the miles earned prior to 20 months ago will disappear. I might be wrong but I believe that other miles earnings within 20 months will remain until their 20 months validity or a new qualifying flight.

irishguy28

I believe that to be correct.

Any miles earned prior to the last flight, 20 months previously, are gone.

The miles earned since - by hotel stays/car hire, etc - will remain valid.

Mirk

Yes


No

wuzziduzziman

Why do you think it's not available for US residents? Having an address in France or the Netherlands is *not* a requirement of the co-branded AMEX. You only need a bank account in one of the 2 countries.

irishguy28

US residents are not typically able to meet the requirements necessary to open a Dutch or French bank account.

The vast majority of US residents would find the obstacles towards opening such an account make the statement correct.

wuzziduzziman

Much better^

CyBeR

No. Once you hit 24 months (recently changed) of no qualifying activity (i.e., qualifying flights, spenditure with the AMEX card) all the while not being elite, *all* your miles disappear. Of course if you earn *new* miles since then, those will stay until you hit another 24-month inactivity period. It's only the miles that disappear, not the account.

seawolf

As you indicated, looks like there is a change now from 20 to 24 months.

However, when I login to KLM and look under Miles Overview, it states (similar to post# 20):
The bolded sections clearly contradicts your interpretation.

I suggest those with miles closed to expiration should take a screenshot on KLM Miles Overview because the FB T&Cs are not clear.

irishguy28

That's not correct.

Award Miles are valid for at least 24 months (was 20 until the recent change). But your miles have their validity extended as long as there is a qualifying flight (i.e. level miles were earned) in the previous 24 (was 20) months.

Let's say your last flight was 24 months ago. Sure, all the "older" miles will expire. But the miles you earned last week for an Avis rental are not yet 24 months old. So the basic rule of Award Miles remaining valid for 24 months must first be exhausted before these "young" Award Miles can be removed from your account.

The earning of miles by hotel stays or car rental does not extend the lifetime of previously-earned miles - only FB Amex spend or Level Mileage earning can do that. But the Award Miles earned by hotel stays or car rental are no different than the Award Miles earned by flying, and they can only be removed from your account after they have aged to 24 (was 20) months old.

Also, it takes at least 5 years of total non-activity for an account to be closed.