Dec 31, 2013, 10:45 am
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
Sep 20, 2022, 1:48 pm
#571
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: ORD | Chicago O'Hare
Programs: UA-LifetimePremierGold, PLT: Bonvoy, IHG, GLD: Enterprise, Budget
Posts: 247
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.
Last edited by nsx1164; Sep 20, 2022 at 1:59 pm Reason: found out no longer valid.
Sep 20, 2022, 1:53 pm
#572
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: ORD | Chicago O'Hare
Programs: UA-LifetimePremierGold, PLT: Bonvoy, IHG, GLD: Enterprise, Budget
Posts: 247
Sep 28, 2022, 12:55 pm
#573
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: YEG
Programs: UA Gold
Posts: 322
Cutting and pasting from someone else's post in another thread:
No need to spend any money. Just book an award to anywhere. Wait till it tickets and the miles are deducted. Then cancel it. Miles will be redeposited, taxes refunded, and expiration date reset.
No need to spend any money. Just book an award to anywhere. Wait till it tickets and the miles are deducted. Then cancel it. Miles will be redeposited, taxes refunded, and expiration date reset.
Nov 6, 2022, 6:34 am
#575
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,438
Nov 6, 2022, 10:47 am
#576
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SEA/YVR
Programs: DL, AS, AA, AC, HH,
Posts: 15
Really?
JJeffrey,
My AA points expire on Dec 10th. I had a flight booked to Fiji in late November that would have reset my expiration date but that flight isn’t happening now so I’m getting somewhat desperate. I’m fine w donating some miles as I have done so often, but your suggestion below intrigues me. Do I understand you correctly that TODAY I could simply book a short one way flight say ORD to MKE on say, Nov 15, wait a week or however long it takes for it to be both ticketed and deducted from my AA account, and then once that has taken place, I go back online to cancel that flight, wait a few days or whatever, and I’d be refunded the 8,000 AA miles as well as my $8 (taxes etc)
Or do I need to cancel this bogus flight within the 24 hour period after I made the booking? I live in YVR btw; I only picked the ORD-MKE one-way route because it was the shortest route that occurred to me on short notice, etc. I’d obviously have no intention of ever taking this flight.
Thanks for hearing me out on this rambling question/scenario, much appreciated.
Cheers,
Jeff
My AA points expire on Dec 10th. I had a flight booked to Fiji in late November that would have reset my expiration date but that flight isn’t happening now so I’m getting somewhat desperate. I’m fine w donating some miles as I have done so often, but your suggestion below intrigues me. Do I understand you correctly that TODAY I could simply book a short one way flight say ORD to MKE on say, Nov 15, wait a week or however long it takes for it to be both ticketed and deducted from my AA account, and then once that has taken place, I go back online to cancel that flight, wait a few days or whatever, and I’d be refunded the 8,000 AA miles as well as my $8 (taxes etc)
Or do I need to cancel this bogus flight within the 24 hour period after I made the booking? I live in YVR btw; I only picked the ORD-MKE one-way route because it was the shortest route that occurred to me on short notice, etc. I’d obviously have no intention of ever taking this flight.
Thanks for hearing me out on this rambling question/scenario, much appreciated.
Cheers,
Jeff
No need to spend any money. Just book an award to anywhere. Wait till it tickets and the miles are deducted. Then cancel it. Miles will be redeposited, taxes refunded, and expiration date reset.
Prevent AA miles / account from expiring / expiration & spend for other than flying
Prevent AA miles / account from expiring / expiration & spend for other than flying
Nov 19, 2022, 10:19 am
#577
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,438
JJeffrey,
My AA points expire on Dec 10th. I had a flight booked to Fiji in late November that would have reset my expiration date but that flight isn’t happening now so I’m getting somewhat desperate. I’m fine w donating some miles as I have done so often, but your suggestion below intrigues me. Do I understand you correctly that TODAY I could simply book a short one way flight say ORD to MKE on say, Nov 15, wait a week or however long it takes for it to be both ticketed and deducted from my AA account, and then once that has taken place, I go back online to cancel that flight, wait a few days or whatever, and I’d be refunded the 8,000 AA miles as well as my $8 (taxes etc)
Or do I need to cancel this bogus flight within the 24 hour period after I made the booking? I live in YVR btw; I only picked the ORD-MKE one-way route because it was the shortest route that occurred to me on short notice, etc. I’d obviously have no intention of ever taking this flight.
Thanks for hearing me out on this rambling question/scenario, much appreciated.
Cheers,
Jeff
My AA points expire on Dec 10th. I had a flight booked to Fiji in late November that would have reset my expiration date but that flight isn’t happening now so I’m getting somewhat desperate. I’m fine w donating some miles as I have done so often, but your suggestion below intrigues me. Do I understand you correctly that TODAY I could simply book a short one way flight say ORD to MKE on say, Nov 15, wait a week or however long it takes for it to be both ticketed and deducted from my AA account, and then once that has taken place, I go back online to cancel that flight, wait a few days or whatever, and I’d be refunded the 8,000 AA miles as well as my $8 (taxes etc)
Or do I need to cancel this bogus flight within the 24 hour period after I made the booking? I live in YVR btw; I only picked the ORD-MKE one-way route because it was the shortest route that occurred to me on short notice, etc. I’d obviously have no intention of ever taking this flight.
Thanks for hearing me out on this rambling question/scenario, much appreciated.
Cheers,
Jeff
Nov 19, 2022, 10:49 am
#578
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SEA/YVR
Programs: DL, AS, AA, AC, HH,
Posts: 15
We ended up employing this wonderful strategy a few weeks ago. Here’s how it played out for us (my wife and I each did this, because each of our aa miles were set to expire in three weeks).
On November 8th we went to aa.com and booked our faux ORD-MIK trip for Nov 23rd. We picked this route because it used up the least amount of miles and it only cost us $7 each in taxes. And we selected that date because it was far enough away in case we had to deal with any potential delays in getting our miles reinstated etc. We didn’t want to be in the position of potentially begging for miles to be reinstated on a past tense trip.
Our flights was ticketed an hour later and our miles were deducted from our account balances immediately.
Approximately 23 hours later we cancelled our tickets online.
Six days later our miles had not yet been reinstated and our $7 credit had yet to appear on our credit cards. So we called the airline and explained the situation and they took care of it. A few hours later our original aa miles balance had been restored and most importantly, our NEW aa miles expiry date had been established, meaning we now had two more years before the miles were set to expire (this was obviously the entire point of the exercise).
Just yesterday our $7 was refunded to each of our credit cards.
Bottom line: this was a superb suggestion from JJEFFREY and it played out wonderfully for us. We are tremendously appreciative for this tip.
On November 8th we went to aa.com and booked our faux ORD-MIK trip for Nov 23rd. We picked this route because it used up the least amount of miles and it only cost us $7 each in taxes. And we selected that date because it was far enough away in case we had to deal with any potential delays in getting our miles reinstated etc. We didn’t want to be in the position of potentially begging for miles to be reinstated on a past tense trip.
Our flights was ticketed an hour later and our miles were deducted from our account balances immediately.
Approximately 23 hours later we cancelled our tickets online.
Six days later our miles had not yet been reinstated and our $7 credit had yet to appear on our credit cards. So we called the airline and explained the situation and they took care of it. A few hours later our original aa miles balance had been restored and most importantly, our NEW aa miles expiry date had been established, meaning we now had two more years before the miles were set to expire (this was obviously the entire point of the exercise).
Just yesterday our $7 was refunded to each of our credit cards.
Bottom line: this was a superb suggestion from JJEFFREY and it played out wonderfully for us. We are tremendously appreciative for this tip.
Dec 31, 2022, 12:32 am
#580
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Denmark
Programs: TK Elite
Posts: 11,779
Not the expiration of your miles as there will be no activity in your account from traveling on an award ticket (but the purchase of the award ticket will extend the miles for the holder of the account that was used to purchase the ticket)
American Miles extension
Feb 4, 2023, 11:59 pm
#584
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Washington, D.C.
Programs: AA, but I play the field
Posts: 1,440
+1 for the Aadvantage Shopping portal. Sign your credit card up for Aadvantage Dining and have a meal. Donate some miles to charity.
Last edited by ZenFlyer; Feb 5, 2023 at 12:00 am Reason: deleted expired Award Wallet offer
Feb 5, 2023, 12:06 am
#585
Join Date: Jun 2021
Location: DFW
Programs: AA ExP, Globalist
Posts: 129
The clock's reset with any activity against your miles account, which means Armus is mostly correct (insofar as he/she means booking an award flight and immediately cancelling it given the absence of any penalty presently in doing so), but there's plenty of other options available to keep your miles from expiring:
https://millionmilesecrets.com/guide...from-expiring/
https://millionmilesecrets.com/guide...from-expiring/