Expiring miles for diff airlines
 

Do you know of a chart that shows when miles expire with no activity for:

AA
Delta
Continental
NWA
UAL
Aeroplan
Grupo Taca

Chart? No.
But a check of each airline's website or a search in the relevant forum should answer the question.

AA = 3 years
DL = 3 years
CO = do not expire
NW = do not expire
UA = 3 years

The others - I do not know

Taca was 3 years but they just sent an email last month that made it look like it was annual expiration if you don't fly within 12 month period. I posted in the other N & S american airlines forum a question if anyone understands exactly what they are doing and got no response.


CO told me that no activity for 18 months was eligible for expiration but that they send a letter before doing anything and are much more flexable than that.

This is my understanding:

• AA - 36 months
• Delta - 3 calendar years (to 31 Dec on or after 36 months)
• Continental - 18 months with notice "formally," more lenient in practice
• NWA - 36 months
• UAL - 36 months
• Aeroplan - ?
• Grupo Taca - ?

The previous post about no NW expiration is wrong. "If no mileage from any source is posted to a WorldPerks member's account for three consecutive years, the account is subject to termination, including forfeiture of all accrued mileage."
http://www.nwa.com/freqfly/memrules/general.shtml

I don't know whether miles expire 36 months to the day, or to the end of the month, and don't plan to find out!

The one airline whose expiration policy has always confused me is Mexicana. Any definitive insight there?

While I'm not a regular Mexicana flyer, I went to their Web site, clicked Frecuenta, then "Frequently Asked Questions" in the menu at the left, then "When does [sic] my miles expire," the third item in the second column. The answer, in full: "With Frecuenta your miles never expire."

I suppose they could change this, but it seems pretty definitive for now. Is there conflicting information somewhere else?

I never quite got a definitive answer [url=http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=356421].

Other programs say miles don't expire, but that accounts can be closed due to inactivity. Someone thought this was the case with MX but I couldn't find reference to it online.

This was taken directly from the WorldPerks T&C on their website.

3. WorldPerks miles have no expiration date. However, consistent with the general terms and conditions of the WorldPerks program, Northwest Airlines reserves the right to change the WorldPerks program at any time without notice, including imposition of expiration limits or reactivation fees. If no mileage from any source is posted to a WorldPerks member's account for three consecutive years, the account is subject to termination, including forfeiture of all accrued mileage.

I do see the last statement regarding the "3 years". The last earning of WorldPerks I had was on my flights in February 2002. I did fly on NW last October 2004, but that was on a CO award ticket - thus I did not earn either CO or NW mileage. Does this mean my 62K+ WorldPerks will disappear at the end of 2005?

Assume that NWA Rule #2 (or - pick your carrier) will ALWAYS apply -- you know the one: "We'll do as we d*mn well please."

I'd suspect the 'expiration' is economics: the ongoing printing & postage of statements & advertising to inactive accounts has to be a killer. Electronic delivery may affect that.

All you can really do is keep up with the changes, and make whatever moves seem to protect your stash, at a price ($$, time or effort) you're willing to pay -- fly, buy, etc. -- no single best answer for everybody.

/.

From the One Pass T&C:

Mileage Expiration


Miles currently have no expiry date; however, Continental Airlines reserves the right to impose expiry limits or terminate the OnePass program, thus terminating your ability to claim rewards.


I do not see anything regarding "18 months"!

It's the same issue as with NW. If you look at the T&C clause right after the one you quote (the one entitled Inactive Membership), you'll see:
So while your miles may not expire, your account can. And that's just as bad. :D

I haven't flown NW since 1996, and my miles are still in my account.

BA did that to 3 friends of mine with those 10k Jaguar miles. We faxed in copies of what we had saved from the offer for them but they STILL said, Sorry, miles are gone for that same reason.

SICK.
:(MM

my advice: earn to burn. Use them and start over. Stay current and have only like 2-3 airline chains to concentrate on so you dont lose your mind.

NW do not expire
 

You guys got me worried.

I just called NW. It was changed in 1999 to no expiration.

I believe CO is the same (no expiration)

Look, this is just a semantics game played by NW and CO. Your miles do not expire, but your account can be closed and you forfeit your miles. This is not technically "expiration" but you lose your miles all the same. I already quoted the CO rules above. Here are the NW rules (also quoted by the_traveler above):
Try asking them about account closing due to inactivity and see what they say. If they still say no, point out the clause in the T&C and say, does this mean this is not valid? If they say yes, make sure you get it in writing!

Note this policy is actually worse than most other US airlines, but actually looks better on the surface. Most other US airlines only require mileage activity. NW and CO say they actually require mileage posting.

Miles don't expire, but an account with no activity over a period of time may be closed (thus forfeiting accumulated miles).

So it's confusing to say that miles don't expire, when you can lose all of your miles if you don't earn or burn.

The importance of the distinction is that when miles expire you need to use them within a period of time or those miles will be lost (but not other, more recently acquired miles).

I actually like the change, but it can be confusing to some members.

Note that 'expiring miles' (or actually credits) is what Southwest, JetBlue, and AirTran have ... use credits in 12 months or lose them. Note that you don't lose all your credits necessarily ... just those that are more than 12 months old.

Starwood has an interesting policy -- points don't expire (note that there's a wrinkle that deals with Starwood Vacation Ownership incentive points) but an account will be considered inactive and can be closed if there's no earning at a Starwood hotel or with a Starwood co-branded credit card within a 12 month period.

Can you elaborate on this I assumed Jaguar miles were good for 3 years. I have never used them but thought they were still good?

My BA miles expired recently (50K of them too). Thanks to some friendly advice from this site (and some plain old pleading), they were reinstated.

Or keep good records.

So your miles aren't "forfeited." ;)

It's easy enough to keep accounts alive, which is the subject of other threads.

My general rule is if i haven't used a mileage program in a while, I try to credit it the next time I use a rental car.

usually the rental car miles aren't really very significant in number, but they ARE enough to show mileage activity in an account, which generally means the account stays open another three years

Me too
 

I use the same approach for the same reason.

Renting a car for a day... if not for the weekend is the best way to show some mileage activity on the account.