Long-term Lifetime Miles Planning
 

Guns??? That was a joke, right?

Did I sound like I was joking? Or are you just trying to derail this thread into OMNI/PR territory?

Maybe I missed it, but did the OP indicate where the children live? Wouldn't that make a difference?

I would take free tickets over speedier and lounge access any day. I can always leave a few minutes earlier to get through the lines and most lounges are not that great anyway in my opinion. I wouldn't base my entire strategy on getting to check luggage faster or getting a free coke and cookie or whatever.

How should I know? It's an odd investment-planning suggestion.

Just stay clear of the programs in which your miles or points expire due to inactivity.

DL is the only ffp with no expiry I know off. Expect there are others.
Some ffp's have a hard expiry for redeemable miles. 3 year hard expiry is common:- that is after 3 years they expire if you have not used them

Huh???

I recommend the exact opposite:

I'd say seek out the programs where your miles or points don't expire as long as you have activity (and just figure out how to easily do activity).

What you need to stay clear of is the program in which you miles or points expire despite activity (ie, they "hard" expire, no way to defer expiration at all).

And be careful of those airline programs (LAN being an example) where your miles expire unless you have paid flights on that airline every so often; if that's an airline that only flies where you rarely go, that could be tricky. There are also programs where your miles expire unless you hold a particular credit card, and especially if that credit card has an annual fee (or if you don't qualify for that credit card), that may be tricky.


The dubious advice you gave translates to "stay clear of all airline programs other than Delta and stay clear of all hotel programs other than Best Western". Because AFAIK those are the only two programs where your miles/points are safe despite inactivity.

As far as hotels programs, to the best of my knowledge, Marriot Rewards has no expiration and you won't lose your points due to inactivity. And unlike other programs, they have a lifetime elite program. Once you qualify, you can be Silver, Gold or Platinum for the rest of your life. I'm lifetime Gold, and the only reason why I'm not lifetime Platinum is because I'm 400k shy of 2 million pts. Otherwise, I have the necessary qualified nights, which I believe is over 1000 nights with Marriott.

SPG has a lifetime program also. There's also a (very high) revenue based Hyatt lifetime program. Hilton might have something similar.

Hilton has recently announced that a lifetime program of some sort (at the very least Lifetime Diamond) is coming soon, but the details on how to qualify have not yet been announced.

Hilton points EXPIRE if you don't have activity. For someone who travels on a regular basis it's no big deal. I should know, I was Marriott Platinum and Hilton Diamond at the same time for many years, but in the event of a career change or for someone who doesn't travel very much, you will appreciate the programs in which your points never disappears.

For those based in the US, anyway, it's not that hard to generate Hilton activity. They have a Rewards Network dining program as well as two no-annual-fee credit cards (one from Citi, one from Amex). Just do the occasional "dine" in their dining program or the occasonional purchase on your no-AF credit card, perhaps every 6 months or so, and you'll be fine. Or, if you have a lot of HHonors points, transfer the minimum to an airline once in a while (that works wherever you're based), and generate activity at that airline at the same time (in case you also have an airline where your miles might expire due to inactivity)!

Although what has been said above is true, for me, it's just easier to focus just on the programs that never expires. You really appreciate the programs that never expire regardless if there is activity or not in the event you stop travelling as a pro. Therefore Marriott has won my loyalty, along with DL. These are the only two programs I focus on. I like to keep things simple. Doesn't mean I won't fly another airline or stay at a different property, just means that I really don't care about their points since it will never equate to anything for me these days. Once your glory days are over, most of you will understand.

I see where you are coming from, but many people here will disagree strongly with this. FF programmes are constantly devalued (viz BAEC just recently) so you should operate in an environment where you are 'forced' to ear and burn. Building up some massive mileage balance is daft.

What glory days? :confused: I do zero work-related flying (zero business travel period) most decades (the extremely occasional conference or trade show upstate or in the next state over being the only exception). I do kinda-work-related (but personally paid) hotel stays (my choice to reduce the number of long commutes per week). Most of my 2.5 million airline miles (that's current balance, not lifetime accumulation) have come from credit card signups (since 2003), with a bit from hotel programs. And in some hotel programs (like Hilton), almost all my points have also come from credit card signups. (I tend to forget that Hilton points expire with 1 year of no activity, because I usually apply for the Citi Hilton 50k card at least twice a year!)

So for airline miles, for my glory days to come to an end, all my ability to churn has to come to an end. Yes, if I move closer to work, or retire (not near that), or change work, my earning of hotel points in a few programs through those kinda-work-related stays could end.

But since I currently belong to 7 or 8 airline programs (AA/US, AS, BA, DL, LAN, UA, and WN -- I did also belong to Frontier but I'm letting my 340ish miles there lapse, given their devolution toward a ULCC), I'm using to keeping miles alive. But each of those except BA has a dining program, and I belong to each of those dining programs, so just trying to keep up VIP Status (via 11 dines a year) at each is "natually" enough activity to avoid expiration at all of those airlines. So BA and LAN are the only ones that require any thought at all. Given that BA only requires activity once every 3 years, it takes a lot of inattention to let it lapse. LAN is only one that's tough, as it requires a paid flight on LAN every 3 years (no other kind of activity seems to count). So I have to pace my Latin America trips just right. (Late this year, I'm flying to EZE on an award, and then with a day or two in Buenos Aires at each end, I'll book a paid coach intra-Argentina LAN flight to Bariloche, which is in the Lakes District area where most of my vacation time will be spent. The longhaul award is already booked; the shorthaul piad flight I'll book closer in.)

The two hotel programs that I stay at too rarely (and can't easily churn points into) that I might have to watch are SPG and Club Carlson. For SPG, I have the credit card for now. And once I get the no-AF credit card for Club Carlson (to get one free night on every award stay of two or more nights) that problem will go away too. (That reminds me: With no-AF credit cards, especially those that have long credit history or keep something -- like Amtrak points -- from expiring, I have to make sure I use each card at least once or twice a year so the bank doesn't close my credit card account for inactivity! That's actually a little more work for me, than keeping my airline or hotel accounts up with activity, since it's harder to know for sure how often you have to use a credit card before the bank will close it for inactivity.)

And then there's one hotel program that I belong to that has "hard" expiration (WyndhamRewards, at 4 years). So that takes a bit of monitoring in the long term.