Tim Winship
Tim Winship, editor-at-large for SmarterTravel.com and author of Mileage Pro—The Insider’s Guide to Frequent Flyer Programs.
Unused frequent-flier miles can expire in 18 or 24 months in most airline programs if there is no activity in the account. Fortunately, it usually is possible to extend the expiration dates by another 18 or 24 months — and you don’t even have to fly or cash in miles to do it…
Make sure that each frequent-flier program you belong to has your up-to-date e-mail address. If you handle the frequent-flier miles for your whole family, use your e-mail address for your spouse’s and children’s accounts, too. Web sites such as Mileage Manager ($14.95/year, www.MileageManager.com) and MilePort (free, www.MilePort.com) can help track expiration dates in multiple frequent-flier programs all in one place — but none of them is perfect, so don’t rely exclusively on these sites.
Major airline programs have hundreds of corporate partners. Adding a few miles this way can extend the expiration date for all miles. Options…
Restaurants and bars. Buying a meal — or even just a drink — at a restaurant or bar that has partnered with your frequent-flier program will earn you miles. Register one or more of your credit or debit cards with an airline’s dining rewards program, then simply pay with this card when you dine or drink at any of the eateries on the partner list.
Helpful: If you belong to several frequent-flier programs or have multiple accounts in different family members’ names, consider assigning each of your credit and debit cards to a different frequent-flier dining program account so that you can pay with different cards to extend expiration dates as needed.
Online retailers. These partners often include the sites of large, well-known companies that you might have bought from anyway, such as WalMart.com, Sears.com, Borders.com and Staples.com. A few frequent-flier programs now also allow members to earn miles by making purchases in certain stores.
Airline-branded credit cards. Each time you use one of these cards, you push back your frequent-flier expiration date for that airline. But annual card fees can be hefty, ranging from $40 for an American Express JetBlue card to $375 for a United Mileage Plus Club Visa card.
Marketing companies. Some marketing companies will reward you with frequent-flier miles if you watch a few ads online or take a short survey.
Example: e-Miles offers miles in the Continental, Delta, US Airways, Alaska Airlines, Frontier and AirTran programs to those who watch a few online marketing videos and answer follow-up questions (www.e-Miles.com).
Reducing the miles in your account also automatically extends expiration dates. Among the options…
Subscriptions and other small purchases paid with miles, including magazine and newspaper subscriptions, flowers or gift cards.
Charitable donations of miles to a participating charity. The minimum donation typically is 1,000 miles.
Mile transfers from one member’s account to another’s will reset the expiration dates of the donor account and perhaps the recipient account as well. But be aware that programs tend to charge significant transfer fees — $30 to $60 or more.
