Frontier giving erroneous expiration dates for miles
 

Being quite leery of Frontier these days, I have been calling them every month and asking when my points expire. They have been telling me each time that they expire 4/1/16. TODAY, when I tried to use them they said that they had expired on 11/16/2015.
Then they told me if I booked a revenue fare this month, that they would not expire. I thought about it and called back, and they said that that was not the case. This is the tip of the iceberg with this company. I could go on, but they certainly don't care, so why bother.

When did you last earn any new points?

Frontier announced that Beginning March 7, 2015 points would expire six months after the last points earned.

A date of 11/16/2015 implies the last points were earned on 5/16/2015, after the change in the program.

A date of 4/1/16 means the last points were earned on 10/1/15 again after the change in the program,

Likely these points pre-date the change in the program and the date was never updated in their computers.

Previously points expired after 18 months. 4/1/16 would mean the points were earned 10/1/2014. However when Frontier announced the change in the program they also said:

I have had the same issue with a wrong Frontier Early Returns mileage expiration date, however, they provided me with an erroneous expiration date via the website.

I checked the website in early October and the expiration date on my miles was listed as April 30, 2016. When I logged in on December 1, 2015, the website indicated that my 25K+ mileage had expired on November 10, 2015.

I called Frontier's customer service line to see if I could straighten out this situation. I went through the first line customer service manager and they did not acknowledge their error on the website and they would not credit back my miles. The kept quoting the 18 months expiration policy. The next level of customer service management was tasked to call me back for further discussion. I have not yet heard back from them.

They made the mistake by misinforming the consumer. I would have taken action to preserve mileage if I was given the correct date. I would like to know if others have experienced this issue...I'm not done with them.

Seems to be a typo in here somewhere.

When did you last earn points?

I don't know when I last earned points. When I attempt to review my flight history on Frontier.com by clicking "Past Trips" the website states "You have no past flights." Obviously, I have a history of earning over 25K of mileage with them. When I click on "Search more history" back to 2002, the search returns nothing.

I also find it interesting that my account now shows 0 points and the expiration of the 25K of mileage on November 10, 2015 no longer appears. It is now as if I have no history whatsoever with Frontier. This change has occurred since I called their customer service line twice and had an extended discussion about this situation.

I have not yet received a call back from their management with an explanation after three days. I am growing impatient with this situation. I was hoping they would do the right thing and work with me on a reasonable resolution. Looks like they are sticking their heads in the sand and covering their tracks. I am not done with them.

Yes, that date in original post was incorrect. I have have corrected it to April 30, 2016.

I'm uncertain what Frontier will or should do in these situations. It seems clear they are not communicating accurate information and this is not the only problem with their website, as you found with the history search. But on the other hand their announcement of program changes was pretty specific so customers were on notice of the change in expiration dates.

There was a recent major change in the appearance of their site but I haven't had time to check whether they fixed any of the bugs I have found.

The exact same thing just happened to my account with them. Had 41,039 miles last week with an expiration date showing June of 2016. I logged in today and it shows 0 miles. I called in and they said miles are expired. They even acknowledged that they are aware of the erroneous miles expiration date when customers login, yet they are not honoring that date. I filed a BBB complaint just now at https://www.bbb.org/consumer-complai...nt/get-started . We will see how it gets resolved.

By the way the rep on the phone said that if i pay $30 to purchase 1,000 more miles she would reinstate my miles as a courtesy, since they are aware of the problem. I said that is not fair, given the error was on their part. I will see where it goes with the BBB. If not my brother is an attorney and i will just have him send them a letter and may just take it to small claims as a matter of principle since this seems to be a widespread issue affecting all members.

BBB doesn't have much power. Not really sure who could so anything about it, but giving false info on mileage expiration, tricking customers into losing their miles is pretty low. I don't mind the low cost model, but deceptive business practices isn't right.

Apparently they have some power. Two days after i sent the complaint in to the Denver BBB, my miles are back :)

I have also filed a complaint with BBB. I'll report back on my result.

The expiration date on my account was showing 0/0/0001 for a long time, then all of a sudden this week it was 1/1/99.
I have called in various times and have been given different expiration dates after consulting with a manager.
I totally expected my miles expiring on 12/31/15 - 6 months after the last activity - and rushed to make a booking this week.
However, I realized that in the rush I had made a mistake and cancelled the booking within the 24-hr cancel period.
Low and behold, to my pleasant surprise the miles returned instantly into my account and the expiration date has been reset to 6 months out into 2016.

Would anyone know if this new reset date can be trusted as legitimate ?

There is clearly someting wrong with the expiration dates on the website. Frontier is clearly aware of the problem. They have expired some of these miles when they are used. If you are aware of the published rules why take the chance? If they fix the error in the website tomorrow what are you going to do?

You can call in, wait on hold for 25 minutes, and ask the rep when your miles expire. Don't trust the website. That is what the rep told me. you have to call in. My mom's expires in june according to the rep, when i called in she said, no they expire in april.

I'm taking a screenshot of everything. Frontier can't be trusted and the website is clearly not working properly. Have screenshot for wife's account with a 500 mile (positive) adjustment that posted on August 21. No new activity since then. On October 4 expiration date was listed as 2/21/16. In early December, the account showed expiration date of 6/4/16. Today expiration date shows as "6 months from last positive accrual" which is absolutely useless since the search history function doesn't work.

Suggest using your miles or transferring them elsewhere...and then steering clear of giving Frontier any business in the future.

Same thing happened to my wife.

48,000 miles, with an expiration date shown in February 2016. I checked several times last summer, every time it showed the 2/16 expiration date. Now I check, it shows zero miles. I'm pissed.

Will call them tomorrow and demand they reinstate her miles through the Feb date as previously shown. If they won't, I'll call BBB, CFPB, and will take them to small claims court. I might go there and make a scene, too. Perhaps go piss on the carpet in their corporate office. Find where the CEO lives and go defecate on his doorstep...

Do I smell a class action lawsuit? I think I do.

What complete slime bags.

This is what I did: .... My account was back to it's old self - showing no expiration date. I called in for the umptiest time on 12/30 and was told the miles would in fact expire the next day.
Since I am currently 16 hrs ahead of W-Coast time, I had plenty of time to prep and was able to make a flight booking and transfer the rest (about 48k) to my IHG (hotel) account, in MHO the best transfer possible.
The transfer went smoothly, completed within 24 hrs and the ER account is showing 0.
Good riddance and a great clean-up start for the new year - I feel good about it :D

Say what? How do you transfer to IHG? I'd be all over that...

Due diligence .... just read my prior post ;)

Ah, thanks, but not interested in taking that big hit. Appreciate the response however.

Just got off the phone with them. I told them the details, and said that it appears this problem is well documented and widespread (said I googled it and found many complaints from others). I told the CS agent that since it was their mistake, I expected that they would reinstate the "expired" miles with the previously-shown expiration date in February 2016, and asked if he could do that.

Yes, it took 30 minutes to get to speak with someone, but after being transferred one time, I ended up with someone who (more or less) acknowledged the problem, and (after another 15 minutes on and off hold) said he would have the miles re-instated and the expiration date previously shown (in February 2016) restored within 24 hours. No runaround, no pushback at all.

So, it appears they will Do The Right Thing. As long as that does happen, I will be pleasantly surprised. Will keep my fingers crossed and check tomorrow. Will update this thread with the results.

About 10 hours later, just checked online. Miles have been restored. ^

Now, time to stir the activity/accrual pot...

My complaint through BBB resolved the issue. My miles were restored to the account.

Looks like the website no longer shows specific expiration dates. Now displays this:

"Expiration: 6 months from last positive accrual."

Now if only the search function worked properly you might be able to figure it out for yourself.

Same issue
 

I'm having this same issue with my husband's account. He had ~35k miles that in December the website said expired March 18, 2016. I went online 2 weeks ago to start planning travel to use the miles, and his account says 0 miles. He called and was told the policy switched from 18 months to 6 months of inactivity. He was told if he flew within two months they'd reinstate the miles. That is total crap as they are his miles and this is their error to just take them and not notify us of the change. :td:
It sounds like you've all gotten your miles back with a phone call or BBB compliant. I guess we'll call again and hopefully get someone else. Any other advice? I don't have a screenshot from December, though we do have a statement from September (I know, old) showing the miles value and March expiration date.

Call back. Be reasonable, but firm, and lead the call.

FWIW, it was never suggested that I needed to fly with them within 2 months. That's BS.

Here's how I approached it:
When I ran that by an agent, he just asked for the account info, what miles I was supposed to have, and put me on hold (off and on) for a while. He finally came back and said the miles would be re-instated within 24 hours. They were.

I suggest you try the same approach: here's what happened, here's what I expect you to do, can you do that now please? be polite, but firm, and give them an opportunity to do the right thing. I was prepared to escalate to all sorts of things, but that wasn't necessary.

Good luck.

I had the same problem with Frontier. I had over 88,000 miles that they said expired in February and they were gone. I called Frontier and got the response longleaf got. I then complained to BBB. BBB was great. The miles are back in my account.

Update!
 

Short version: Miles (supposed to be) reinstated within 24 hours!

Long version: Called Frontier and I was told the exact same thing as last time (his miles expired b/c 6 months of no activity, we could fly within 2 months to get them back). I threatened BBB complaint, the lady passed me on to her manager. Manager said exact same story as the first lady, I threatened BBB complaint, she talked w/ her manager, and now they're promising miles will be reinstated within 24 hours. She said I'll have two months to use them (which amazingly is the EXACT same date that the stupid website told me for months on end was the date the miles would expire...March 18, 2016!!!). So I asked if his account online would say that date as the expiration date, and she said 'no, it'll say six months from last activity'. Ohhhh their website is so functional and helpful! Ha! Then she said 'so that will be sometime in April'. What in the heck is she talking about?!?! How is two months from now April? I don't know, but I'm booking travel tomorrow and closing this account. Thanks for the help.

I cashed out my miles today for hotel vouchers. I can't trust these people.

Cashed out my miles 4 days before what I assumed was the *real* expiration date. I knew the exact day I had flown with them and that date, plus 6 months was to be January 20. Found that at Points.com I could use my 9,160 miles for a $25 gift card.

Six month expiration is completely stupid. I have no miles with them now. My family all had their miles expire (they didn't have enough for even a free gift card).

With no miles to "support," I have just one fewer reason to ever fly with them again. Combine that with the fact that these $19, $29, etc. fares are "sucker" fares, because you have to upgrade them with "the works" to make it even marginally decent to fly with them. Its almost always cheaper at Southwest.

Further, you can earn miles a number of different ways with Southwest (Chase Sapphire, Chase SWA Card) and the miles/points will actually be *useful*. With fast expiration, I can't see the point of getting a Frontier MasterCard.

Somebody in the company must have either read or written the book "1001 ways to screw your customer and make sure he never comes back."

If Spirit is your primary competition, maybe this makes sense. But, when Southwest is your primary competition, this is just bad marketing and bad business.

If they are around in 5 years, I will be totally amazed.

This is one of the best reasons to get a Frontier Mastercard. If you use it occasionally you will keep adding miles to your account and keep them form expiring.

Can you clarify something for me?

I think you are saying that when your miles are reinstated, you have two months from that date to use them - or, I assume, to accrue additional miles (which would extend your expiration date by 6 months). Is this correct?

Here's the reason I'm asking...

As you may recall, my wife's account got into the same state: all last year, the expiration date shown on the website for her account showed a date in early February 2016. Then in late December 2015 I checked again, and it said they had expired. I called, got them reinstated (first week of January).

The day after they were reinstated, my wife applied for and was approved for the Frontier MasterCard. Our plan is to generate some more miles in her account - and thereby extending the expiration by 6 months - with her first credit card statement. That should post in early February.

If (as I think you suggested) their policy is to basically give you two months when they reinstate your (inappropriately expired) miles, then we should be good - early January (when her miles were restored) + 2 months = early March. By then the miles from her first CC statement should have posted.

So...I'm looking for clarification that they indicated you were basically getting your miles back, plus an extension of 2 months (2 months to either use them, or to accrue additional miles in your account, which would extend the expiration 6 months). That's what I'm expecting (otherwise, back to the BBB for me).

Thanks.

The lady on the phone indicated they would expire in two months from that day, which will be March 18. I asked if the website would state this when we logged on and she said that it would not, it would just say the completely unhelpful standard line: 6 months from last activity. So, I think you could make the case that when the points were reinstated that was 'activity', and that you should have 6 months from that. But I am sick of these yahoos, so the day that the points were reinstated we booked travel with the miles and we're done with his account.

My husband has 7,000 miles remaining after we booked our travel, so I inquired about transferring them to my account. I too have a credit card so my account will remain active (as long as they don't change that policy and tell no one, also!) as long as I keep using the card. Anyway, I asked if I could transfer the miles to my account, and the person I was speaking with said they used to be able to do that, now they can only transfer in instances of death or divorce. So his 7,000 miles are just going to waste.

Service Message - Frontier has a "one-time benefit" to get back your miles.

My miles mysteriously disappeared today, 2/17/16. I do not have a screenshot of my expiration date but as of Dec 2015, I had 86,XXX miles. Today I logged on to check in for my flight tomorrow and saw my mileage balance was 0!

I called and learned that:
1) Miles expire every 6 months now if no activity is posted. I did not know this.
2) My 86,XXX miles mysteriously expired yesterday, 2/16/16.
3) I never received notification that miles were expiring but the rep said I should have received it and he apologized for not receiving it.
4) Activity consists of flying Frontier or using the Frontier MasterCard.

This was all interesting BUT I had used the Frontier MC to purchase a flight on 2/4/16 which was 12 days before the expiration date. My flight leaves tomorrow, 2/18/16. The rep offered that I should call Frontier MC (Barclay) to ask about their process of letting Frontier know I used the card. What??

So I had used my Frontier MC to keep my miles from expiring but Frontier didn't know I used the card so they took my 86,XXX miles.

The rep apologized several times, was sorry for my inconvenience, and alluded to the fact that they were working on fixing some issues like this.

He said after I fly Frontier tomorrow I am to call them back and as a "one time benefit" to me, they will credit back my miles. Oh thank you (said sarcastically since according to their rules, my miles should have never expired).

I will burn up these miles as soon as I can and doubtfully ever fly with them again. Too bad as in the early to mid-2000s they were my favorite airline and I flew them twice a week for work. :(

I missed this one, and lost over 60,000 points , I am not happy with Frontier who used to be one of my favorite airlines. One a April 2015 flight I had to fight over being charged for luggage, they kept telling me this went into effect in Jan. 2015 I kept telling them I booked this BEFORE that date in Nov. etc.

Oh speaking of my points Frontier changed my return flight without notifing me
I was in a cruise ship when I seen the change that was made for my return one whole day earlier than my original booking , I would still be on my cruise. I was told if I could get on that flight it would be 5 days later. They REFUNDED my points and I fly Jet Blue home. Actually it was the maiden flight from FLL to CLE

So at the end of the day the points they refunded me are now lost anyways.

Converted Mrs. MileKing's 36K miles to PriorityClub points 2-3 weeks ago. A pathetic conversion ratio but better than nothing. Had seen expiration dates on her account of 2/21/16, 6/4/16, and I believe a few other dates prior to the recent "6 months from date of last activity" which is completely useless since the Frontier website does not seem to display activity correctly. No idea what date was actually correct and wasn't about to take a chance the miles would expire on some random date. And the requirement of activity every six months is more of a hassle than anything else. So, Frontier moves to the back of the line of airlines we will consider flying and they will now be treated as a carrier of last resort.

Ran into this same situation today. Zero miles on my account. I couldn't even log in using my FF number, but was able to get in with my email address. Thankfully, I knew about the 6 month expiration change, and have a screenshot showing my miles don't expire until the end of April. I'll be making this phone call shortly.

I'm mainly just quoting this post to bump it, because it has useful information. More useful info - different methods to redeem your miles other than flying frontier:
https://www.flyfrontier.com/ways-to-...yer/use-miles/
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23537041-post8.html

Logged into my F9 account and saw that it said my points were expiring in 10 days and panicked a little. That didn't seem right since it didn't feel like it was that long ago that I had my last activity, and I was correct. Last activity was less than two months ago (transferred miles from another account into mine.) Shown date doesn't match 6 months from any other activity I've had. Where they got the expiration date, who knows. If my miles actually expire on that random inaccurate date I'll be awfully annoyed.

So this isn't quite the same situation as most others, but the title matches. And now I have to waste time trying to figure it out. Not sure why they don't think a functional website is an important part of their business.

Not sure if transferring miles counts. perhaps only earning miles?

Perhaps, but then my miles should have expired already. I'd think it counts as "accural activity.". Miles were transferred into my account.