Last edit by: Prospero
Preventing AAdvantage Miles and Accounts from Expiring:
What can I do? Alternatives for miles use and discussion.
To check your miles expiration date: Look for the Wallet link on the website or in the app.
AAdvantage members who are under 21 are not subject to mileage expiration if their birthday is associated with their account.
But note:
ANY account activity, earning or using miles, will extend the expiration date of all AA miles by an additional 18 months.
When days count, be aware: it's the transaction date, not the posting date, that counts to extend miles' validity. It can take some time for miles activity to fully post, including the new expiration date. But, read on. Be aware of some vendors’ delayed posting, however.
For other relevant threads and resources see:
aa.com and Others:
Using or getting rid of miles
FlyerTalk:
Here are some suggestions from members on how to prevent miles from expiring easily and/or automatically. Please post your suggestions here.
For previous posts on this topic, please see ARCHIVE: Prevent AA miles / account from expiring / alternate use of miles
Nov 12, 2020 - Formatting % font size
What can I do? Alternatives for miles use and discussion.
To check your miles expiration date: Look for the Wallet link on the website or in the app.
From AAdvantage Terms and Conditions: "AAdvantage members must have mileage earning or redeeming activity once every 18 months in order to retain their miles. If your account has no qualifying activity in any 18-month period, all miles in the account will expire. Qualifying activity extends the expiration date of all unexpired mileage credit in your account for 18 months from the date of the qualifying activity. Qualifying activity is defined as redeeming any AAdvantage award or accruing mileage credit on any eligible American, American Eagle® or AAdvantage airline participant as well as accruing mileage credit with participating hotels, car rental companies, credit cards, telecommunication providers and other service providers offering AAdvantage mileage credit." Gufting or donating miles, doing anything that will cause an increase or decrease in the number of award miles in an AAdvantage account resets the expiration clock by 18 months.
But note:
Pausing AAdvantage® mile expiration through June 2021
You’ve worked hard to earn your AAdvantage® miles, and we recognize you may need more time than usual to keep them active. We’ve paused the expiration of miles through June 30, 2021. If your miles are scheduled to expire on or before June 30, 2021, they will now expire in July 2021, if there’s no additional activity in your account before then. You can find the expiration date of your miles in the Wallet section of your AAdvantage® account.
You’ve worked hard to earn your AAdvantage® miles, and we recognize you may need more time than usual to keep them active. We’ve paused the expiration of miles through June 30, 2021. If your miles are scheduled to expire on or before June 30, 2021, they will now expire in July 2021, if there’s no additional activity in your account before then. You can find the expiration date of your miles in the Wallet section of your AAdvantage® account.
When days count, be aware: it's the transaction date, not the posting date, that counts to extend miles' validity. It can take some time for miles activity to fully post, including the new expiration date. But, read on. Be aware of some vendors’ delayed posting, however.
"Activity date" is how the airline sees it, but beware that the date as reported by the shopping portal vendor can be a "gotcha." From my own experiences of various online vendors, the "activity date" reported can be the date you placed the order, OR the date your order was "received", OR the date your order was "processed", OR the date a transaction "hold" was placed on your credit card, OR the date your credit card company actually approved the transaction, OR the date your order was shipped, OR the date it was picked up (if in-store, for example), OR...etc., etc. And, don't forget time zone differences, too, if your cutoff date is very close (is it the time zone/date of where you ordered, or the vendor's website server, or the vendor's physical store, or...?) In other words, each online vendor may define and report the activity date to the airline in ways you didn't expect. I have seen an instance, for example, where the reported activity date was almost 2 weeks past the actual date I placed the order, simply because a part was on back-order, thus the full order was not "completed" and therefore the credit card not billed until later. Another example is flower delivery, especially if the flowers aren't scheduled for delivery until much later. Buyer beware -- the airline will refer you to the vendor for clarification.
aa.com and Others:
- Link to AA restricts expired miles reactivation within 18 months of expiration (2019) thread
- Link to How to Reactivate / Restore Expired Miles – Reengagement Challenge thread
- Link to Miles for Opinions surveys - not many miles, but it resets the clock.
- Link to Car Rental partners
- Link- Business and Financial: Earn AAdvantage miles when you buy, sell, or move your home with American HomeMiles by SIRVA, BankDirect, Fidelity, Lifelock, Network Solutions, PreFlight parking, Regus, etc.
- Link Buying, Gifting, Sharing AA Miles (Points.com)
- Link- Charities: Contributing Money (Earning Miles): Susan G. Komen, National Cancer Research Foundation, USO
- Link- Financial and Business: Earn AAdvantage miles when you buy, sell, or move your home with American HomeMiles by SIRVA, BankDirect, Fidelity, Lifelock, Network Solutions, PreFlight parking, Regus, etc.
- Link - Home and Health: DIRECTV, Energy Plus, Everything Energy, because Energy, Reliant, Spafinder Wellness 365
- Link to ALL Hotel partners
- Links to Hotel Bookings via pointshound.com, rocketmiles.com and Kaligo.com
- Link - Retail And Dining: AAdvantage eShopping Mall, AAdvantage Dining Program, FTD, Teleflora, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Vinesse Wine
- Linkaa.com - Reactivating expired miles (for fee)
Using or getting rid of miles
- Redeem Miles:- Link
Includes Hotel rooms and auto rentals, Newspapers, Gift Cards, Lifelock.
Includes link to Link to Use AA Miles: (redeem for car rentals and lodging) - Link - Charities: Donating Miles Miles for All Who Serve, Miles for Kids in Need, Miles of Hope.
Here are some suggestions from members on how to prevent miles from expiring easily and/or automatically. Please post your suggestions here.
- Sign up and register a credit card with AAdvantage Dining, go dine at an enrolled restaurant. (Sign up with your email address for notifications for 3 miles per dollar spent instead of one mile; dine 11 times in one year and earn 5 miles per dollar.)
- Make any purchase through https://www.aadvantageeshopping.comthat earns AA miles.
- Another easy/cheap route is ordering photos from Walgreens.com. It specifically says in the terms "photo orders picked up in-store are eligible." Prints are as cheap as US$0.29, but I'd purchase at least $1 worth to make sure you get your miles (2miles/$1).
For previous posts on this topic, please see ARCHIVE: Prevent AA miles / account from expiring / alternate use of miles
Nov 12, 2020 - Formatting % font size
Prevent AA miles / account from expiring / expiration & spend for other than flying
#511
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2004
Location: DFW/DAL
Programs: AA Lifetime PLT, AS MVPG, HH Diamond, NCL Platinum Plus, MSC Diamond
Posts: 21,422
op is in europe, survey site membership is limited to United States.
The 40th anniversary promotion just ended, if op won points there they should be deposited by August.
Also there was another promo back in December 2020 for 100 miles, checking the travel blogs weekly may help next time:
https://thepointsguy.com/news/americ...ift-promotion/
The 40th anniversary promotion just ended, if op won points there they should be deposited by August.
Also there was another promo back in December 2020 for 100 miles, checking the travel blogs weekly may help next time:
https://thepointsguy.com/news/americ...ift-promotion/
#512
Join Date: Apr 2011
Programs: Marriott Ambassador, AA ExecPlat, Amtrak Select Exec, former WN apologist
Posts: 1,426
Haven't tried it myself but looks like Award Wallet is giving people 5 AA miles for their first blog comment. Might be something to try.
https://awardwallet.com/blog/earn-bo...or-commenting/
Other than that donating miles counts too. You could donate 1,000 miles and that would reset your clock.
https://awardwallet.com/blog/earn-bo...or-commenting/
Other than that donating miles counts too. You could donate 1,000 miles and that would reset your clock.
#513
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 24
Thank you everyone for all your great feedback and suggestions. It seems the easiest free option would've been to participate in the 40th Anniversary promotion but I literally missed it by a couple of days.
I tried to conduct the surveys option but for whatever reasons, there is no survey available to me even after I completed my profile, not sure if it is because I am located in the EU as someone had suggested.
In the end, I went with the Award Wallet option and completed a couple of posts in the blog. Now just awaiting for the miles to be posted in my account. 5 miles is nothing but it does trigger an activity, which should do the trick.
Thanks again for all of your help!!
I tried to conduct the surveys option but for whatever reasons, there is no survey available to me even after I completed my profile, not sure if it is because I am located in the EU as someone had suggested.
In the end, I went with the Award Wallet option and completed a couple of posts in the blog. Now just awaiting for the miles to be posted in my account. 5 miles is nothing but it does trigger an activity, which should do the trick.
Thanks again for all of your help!!
#514
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Columbia, SC
Programs: a little here, a little there
Posts: 1,443
Thanks chicago747! I did award wallet, and the 5 miles posted within about a week! Good to go until the Contest miles post!
#516
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: PHL
Programs: AA Plat Pro
Posts: 173
Keeping AAdvantage Miles from expiring
I have a <<lot>> of miles which will schedule to expire in early 2022. Because of COVID, I have not flown since Feb 2020, and not clear that I will have any trips in 2021.
So is there some way to "preserve" the miles? With UA, I have one of their credit cards that has preserved my miles over the years. Is there a way to do this with AA? Or if I make a merchandise or gift card purchase with AAvantage miles, will this "reset" the expiry?
So is there some way to "preserve" the miles? With UA, I have one of their credit cards that has preserved my miles over the years. Is there a way to do this with AA? Or if I make a merchandise or gift card purchase with AAvantage miles, will this "reset" the expiry?
#517
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: ORD
Programs: Once a somebody now a nobody
Posts: 514
I think since early 2022 means you luckily have a lot of time. I think the easiest and cheapest way to extend is to go through AA's shopping portal. You can buy normal household goods at places like Walgreens.com or Walmart.com and that will earn you a few miles. All you need is 1 mile to extend the expiration date.
https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/
https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/
#518
Join Date: Dec 2019
Programs: AA: Exec Plat; AC: 75K; JX: Explorer; HH: Dia; Bonvoy: Gold; Wyndham: Dia
Posts: 299
I think since early 2022 means you luckily have a lot of time. I think the easiest and cheapest way to extend is to go through AA's shopping portal. You can buy normal household goods at places like Walgreens.com or Walmart.com and that will earn you a few miles. All you need is 1 mile to extend the expiration date.
https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/
https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/
#519
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Columbia, SC
Programs: a little here, a little there
Posts: 1,443
Haven't tried it myself but looks like Award Wallet is giving people 5 AA miles for their first blog comment. Might be something to try.
https://awardwallet.com/blog/earn-bo...or-commenting/
Other than that donating miles counts too. You could donate 1,000 miles and that would reset your clock.
https://awardwallet.com/blog/earn-bo...or-commenting/
Other than that donating miles counts too. You could donate 1,000 miles and that would reset your clock.
#520
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 124
Awardwallet no more
Sadly it looks like American has severed ties with Awardwallet, from the email Awardwallet just sent out.
Not only are they removing AA accounts from their monitoring service, but the 5 AA miles for comments is dead, too...
For reference:
AwardWallet is no longer able to offer American Airlines miles for comments posted on the blog.
Not only are they removing AA accounts from their monitoring service, but the 5 AA miles for comments is dead, too...
For reference:
AwardWallet is no longer able to offer American Airlines miles for comments posted on the blog.
#521
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,815
Sadly it looks like American has severed ties with Awardwallet, from the email Awardwallet just sent out.
Not only are they removing AA accounts from their monitoring service, but the 5 AA miles for comments is dead, too...
For reference:
AwardWallet is no longer able to offer American Airlines miles for comments posted on the blog.
Not only are they removing AA accounts from their monitoring service, but the 5 AA miles for comments is dead, too...
For reference:
AwardWallet is no longer able to offer American Airlines miles for comments posted on the blog.
#524
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,666
Can someone confirm that this works for mile expiration extension? (ticket with miles, cancel and redeposit?)
Also, for those people with no activity in the last 18 months, can somebody tell me what is the exact expiration date in 2022 shown in your account, after the July across the board AA extension?
Also, for those people with no activity in the last 18 months, can somebody tell me what is the exact expiration date in 2022 shown in your account, after the July across the board AA extension?