Keep Your Frequent-Flier Miles Alive!
August 14th, 2007 by Helen Sarkanova
Your frequent-flier miles may expire sooner than you thought! Airline companies have recently announced a change in policies concerning their frequent flier programs. Many of the major U.S. airlines are changing the period of time for which your frequent flier miles may remain inactive. US Airways have decreased the length of the expiration period for inactive accounts from 36 to 18 months. Delta has brought the expiration period down to 24 months, while United Airlines and American Airlines frequent-flier accounts may sit dormant for no more than 18-month. With the expiration periods getting shorter, it is now even more important to take steps to preserve you hard-earned miles and use them to your advantage.
There are many ways how to keep your frequent flyer account active. In general terms, some sort of activity on the account is required to prevent the miles from expiring. Consider the following suggestions:
Take a paid flight on the airline. Alternatively, you can take a flight with the airline’s alliance partner.
Redeem your miles. There are many possibilities as to what you can exchange your saved frequent-flier miles for. These include, but are not limited to, redeeming miles for a flight or an upgrade. Most major programs allow their members to cash in as few as 400 miles for a magazine subscription, let’s say.
Rent a car. Even though some car rental agencies may charge you with an addition fee for crediting the miles towards your frequent flier program, the charge may be worth paying if it can save your miles from expiring.
Stay in a hotel that offers miles in a carrier’s program. If you are used to credit your hotel stays to your frequent-guest account, you might have to sacrifice at least one of them for the sake of keeping your frequent-flyer miles.
Purchase an item using a credit card that awards frequent-flier miles. Buying even a one-dollar chocolate bar with one of these cards may be enough to keep your account active!
