BoeingBoy

$9 per account is a reasonable amount. For future reference, I'd suggest starting to add at least 1 mile to each account annually - a birthday, holiday, a time easy to remember. That way you'll never have to worry about miles expiring or spending extra money at the last minute to keep the accounts alive.

Consolidating accounts is something to consider - keep an eye out for sharing/gifting promotions. But $600 sounds like a lot just to keep from spending $4 or $5 per year to me.

Assuming minor children, if you do buy something to get activity in the accounts be careful and check that the activity will go into the children's accounts and not all into your's as the cardholder.

Jim

jsnydcsa

My kids have Dividend Miles accounts and received the emails from US saying, in substance, miles about to expire, pay the $9 fee or apply/use credit card, I logged in to each of the kids accounts hoping to pay.

I'd sign them up for credit cards but that doesn't sound like a good idea.

Where is that $9 preservation fee feature on a Dividend Miles Account after you log in? Can't find the feature. Any ideas?

jsnydcsa

Here we go, thanks Alama in PHX!

https://membership.usairways.com/ReactivateDividendMiles/LoginDMReactivate.aspx

swdke

Do US Air Dividend Miles Expire? I look at my account and I can't find an expiration date, but I am sure there must be. Or, do they not expire? If they do, how do I find out my expiration date? Thanks!

swdke

How do you find out your expiration date? Do I have to call USAir?

gruss

Miles in your account expire 18 months from the last account activity.

BoeingBoy

Miles expiration date? Just look at your account and find the date of the last account activity - miles going into or coming out of your account. 18 months from that date is your expiration date.

Jim

Greg P.

This has probably been mentioned already but I didn't see it.

I've been using Avis to keep several FF accounts alive on airlines that I don't frequently fly. When you book a car online, you can choose which FF account to post the miles to. From experience I can tell you that Avis doesn't seem to care whether you actually flew on that airline. It's easy and it doesn't cost a dime. And the miles usually post within a week.

Right now I am very happy that I kept my AA account alive this way.

BoeingBoy

For anyone who rents a car even a couple of times a year, an excellent suggestion - getting DM account activity without spending anything extra. There are a number of ways to keep a DM account active without spending an extra dime, with the credit card, hotel stays, and rental cars being three popular ones. Depending on where one lives there's also the dining program associated with DM, but being in a hub city makes a big difference there.

Jim

jmd001

What you write is of course totally correct. But the issue IMHO is why does one's account information no longer explicitly include the expiration date.

I kept ms. jmd001's account alive by paying the $9 fee. Since that payment did not result in any actual miles added to the account, one has to do some digging to find that info to confirm/calculate the new expiration date. Why can't the web page (again) simply display the expiration date as as part of one's account info? Oh well, it will be a moot point when the programs are combined ... which in my case will hopefully be before the current expiration date.

louie-m

Yes it would be helpful, but it is noted on the monthly statement sent by email.

BoeingBoy

Not being an IT expert - though there are several here - that's a question I can't answer. In my layman's mind it seems like a simple change to make. Hopefully the merged IT department will have such a feature on your DM account page.

In the meantime what I always suggest for non-FFs is to pick a date - holiday, birthday, anniversary, whatever is easy to remember and do something on that date every year that will produce account activity - just 1 or more miles going into your (or family member's) account. There are any number of ways to spend little to nothing extra but accomplish the goal of never having to worry about miles expiring again.

Jim

letsgomets

I saw some posts on another thread about another topic, so I thought I'd start this one to be on-point.

I'm close to MM status on AA and figured that my lifetime US miles would put me over the top. I stopped crediting my US flights to DM a few years ago when they forfeited my miles after 18 months of inactivity and wouldn't budge on reinstatement. The did NOT close my account, however. It's still listed as active when I go to the website.

I contacted DM to find out my lifetime miles and they said those were reset too due to my inactivity. Seems pretty outrageous. Do the DM T&C's even provide for that? I know that they always have the right to close an account, but they didn't. So what's the basis to pretend I never flew them in the past for purposes of lifetime qualifications?

Microwave

As US Airways is still operating as an independent airline, and this question relates specifically to the US Airways lifetime mileage calculations, this question is being moved over to the pre-merger US Airways forum.

~Moderator

BoeingBoy

You could try writing a letter to someone higher up the food chain at US than whoever you talked to - presumably res. Since miles expire (as clearly stated), there may not be a way to get them back other than proving how many you flew - when you forfeit your miles they wipe out all miles showing in your account regardless of the source or when earned. You may have to just put it down as the high cost of letting miles expire. A shame since miles are so easy to keep active but letting them expire was your choice.

Jim