TexasMatthew

So I have an upcoming booking WAW-IAH that I used 53k FlyingBlue points for. The reservation was made August 19, 2018. If I cancel the reservation today (March 10, 2019) and pay to have the miles deposited back into my account, when will the miles expire? (1 year from today's date?) ... also, to keep the 53k points active, can I just fly a Delta domestic flight within the US and have it credited to my FlyingBlue account to keep the points from expiring and last forever?

Goldorak

TexasMatthew

Miles were transferred from Citi ThankYou on the day of the ticket purchase.

Norri

A delta domestic flight credited to FB will do the trick.

NickB

I must say that the new expiry policy that distinguishes between miles acquired from flying and other miles makes things rather complicated. My partner's last EQM/XP-earning flight was in Spring 17. Miles should therefore normally expire in Spring 19. He has, however, earned FB miles through car hire in Autumn 18. His online account gives the expiry date of his miles as two years from the car hire transaction (i.e. Autumn 20) rather than 2 years from the last EQM/XP-earning activity.
If he were to rely on what his account says, he would be OK not flying until 2020. I have a strong suspicion, however, that, if he does that, he will lose all of his miles except from the handful of miles earned through car hire.

I tried to go and double-check what the FB TandCs say but I am afraid that they are even more ambiguous, confusing and erroneous.
They define to "overall extending activity" and "partial extending activity" but the concept of "partial extending activity" is not used at all in the rest of the T&Cs, making it an empty concept.
The TandCs state that the validity of all miles will be extended for 2 years after the last "overall extending activity", defined as an XP-earning activity or "any other Earn Activity designated as an Overall Extending Activity in the Flying Blue Communication" (and they give Transavia flights and FB credit card payments as examples of the latter)..
They do not however state which activities and for how long are subject to "partial extending activity" other than stating that only miles earned after the last overall extending activity can be partially extended.

I think I understand what they intend to do and why with "partially extending activity" but the TandCs do not reflect that. This is just one big confusing mess.

NickB

As Goldorak says, re-depositing the miles will not extend their original life span.
If the miles were transferred from Citi (and assuming you had to XP-earning flights since then), they will be valid for two years from the date of transfer. So, if you did the transfer in March 18, they will be valid until March 20 and, therefore, if you take a DL (or other XP-earning) flight before then, their validity will be extended for 2 years from the date of the flight.

What I am unclear about, and others might wish to clarify, is the following scenario:
1) I book a reward flight using miles that were going to expire. Let us say, for the sake of argument, the miles are due to expire in April 2019 and, during March 2019, I book a reward flight for January 2020.
2) I then take an XP-earning flight after the original expiry date of the miles but before the date of the reward flight (let us say: July 2019).
3) I then cancel the reward flight (say, in August 2019).

In that situation, do the miles re-credit to the account or do they get wiped out immediately on redeposit? In other words, does the XP-earning flight after the original deadline for use of the miles prolong the life of the miles that were on life-support through their use for a reward flight or not?

WheelsFirst

Has anyone been able to figure out if the "partial expansion activities" policy on the AF website means that if you transfer say Amex points in June 2018 and then Citi points in June 2019, are both you Amex and Citi points going to expire in 2021 or will the Amex points expire in 2020 and the Citi in 2021 (absent taking a flight)? The account page states "xxx valid until June 2021" which makes me think the former, but that seems inconsistent with the rules as we generally think they are.

nwflyboy

Although my questions about FB miles expiration are more generic than the OP's in this thread, this seems like the most current/visible thread on FB miles expiration I could find - mods, feel free to move my post elsewhere if there's a better place for it.

I have 2 questions about FB mile expiration...

1. Will the purchase of something via one of the Flying Blue online shopping portals extend the life of one's FB miles?

2. I read many sources that say the only credit cards that can be used directly to extend FB miles are those available only to residents of France, the Netherlands and Switzerland -- for those folks, they can simply make a purchase on a Flying Blue co-branded card. I'm a US resident. But I see that there's an Air France KLM credit card issued by Bank of America (which sure seems to be available to US residents). It's not a terribly compelling card overall, but it does appear to earn FB miles. I would assume that if you have this card and use it, that use would extend the life of your FB miles...does it? This program seems to have lots of caveats and gotchas. Does anyone know if using this card does indeed extend the life of your FB miles?

Thanks.

irishguy28

The only thing that extends the expiry of ALL miles is to take a flight.

If you operate an FB account without taking flights, each tranche of miles will expire 2 years after being "earned".

Spending miles, booking award flights, cancelling award flights - none of these extend the lifetime of any miles.

irishguy28

You would have to check the T&Cs of the card.

I have never heard of this card and don't recall seeing it discussed on here before.

Flying Blue - like all programmes - is not one where you should leave miles languishing for extended periods. If you're not flying enough to keep your miles alive, then I really suspect that Flying Blue is not a good fit for you.

Goldorak

nwflyboy

Thank you, Goldorak, for the pointer and a clear, accurate answer.

FWIW, I did read the T&C for that card (which are pretty minimal), and there's nothing about the program in there - only things about interest rates, other bank-related items, etc. Typically, a bank issuing such a card has no interest in (nor knowledge of) what happens on the airline end - that's all in the domain of the airline. It's up to Air France to decide what triggers a reset of expiration dates and what doesn't, and while it might be nice to have the card-issuing bank pass along those details, I would not expect it (other banks generally don't). I asked because it seems well-documented that those residents of France/Netherlands who hold a co-branded Air France credit card do get this benefit (that is, using their card resets their expiration dates). It seemed logical that the Bank of America card would do the same - but was looking for confirmation. I do plan a couple paid flights on AF coming up, but it's probably not something I expect to do on a regular basis, so wanted to know what options I had for keeping miles alive.

Thanks all for the input.

Changye

All of my miles for FB were acquired from transferring miles from Citi ThankYou and Amex MR.

Can I just transfer more miles to extend the expiration date as all of my miles are due to transfer activity?

IoViaggio

I dont think so. You have to fly a segment on AF/KLM or a partner like delta (use your flying blue #). Alternatively I believe the cobranded credit cards count

fifty_two

the answer to your question has been given already in this forum (not only in this thread) , you are not the first one here to ask . Maybe we should create a FAQ sub-section = https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/31406087-post9.html

As IoViaggio , irishguy28 and many others said , flying is the only option .

Adding more miles or buying candies won't help. Also , regardless of the program , transfering miles without any plans in the very near future is a very bad idea and a big mistake , you are at high risk of expiration or devaluation