Do you know the expiry rules for your Avios, airline miles and hotel points?

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

There is nothing more frustrating than finding that your miles have expired when you finally come to use them or add to them. This is most likely to happen with secondary programmes where you once dropped a few miles from a one-off promotion and then forgot about them.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic miles expire after 36 months of inactivity. I don’t mean flying activity, I mean ANY mileage earning or spending activity at all. It is very unlikely that an active collector like a Head for Points reader would be caught out by such a long time frame!

It is worth noting that if you are in a British Airways household account which contains a Gold, Silver or Bronze member, the Avios points of all members of that Household Account are protected even if they pass the three year point. This is the specific wording from the BAEC terms and conditions:

When do Avios points expire?

18.1.18. Notwithstanding Clause 18.1.16, in the event a Household Account has a Gold, Silver or Bronze Tier Member who has earned or redeemed Avios points within the last 36 consecutive months then the Avios points balance of the other Household Account Members shall not be subject to expiry in accordance with Clause 14.4. In the event a Household Account ceases to have as a Household Account Member any such Gold, Silver or Bronze Tier Member then the provisions of Clause 18.1.16 shall apply.

The full Virgin Flying Club terms and conditions are here. Mileage expiry is covered in clauses 2.6 and 2.7.

You can reset the clock with Avios or Virgin with a simple action such as buying 1,000 miles, doing a Membership Rewards transfer or doing a transaction via the Avios e-store or the Virgin equivalent.

One to keep an eye on, though, is British Airways On Business. On Business is the scheme for small businesses (or even one-man bands) which earns points for your company on cash ticket purchases. This is on top of the Avios points earned by the traveller.

I wrote an introduction to British Airways On Business here and here. You can get 1,500 bonus points for signing up via my referral code, which is in the article.

The key is that On Business points have a ‘hard’ expiry date of 2 years from the December after you earn them. This cannot be extended – you must spend them within 2 years. If I take a flight today, those points will expire on 31st December 2022 unless I spend them, and nothing can stop that expiry.

Lufthansa Miles & More works the same way. Your miles expire 36 months from being earned, at the end of the next quarter, whatever other activity you have in the meantime. This is one downside of using Miles & More as your default Star Alliance programme since it is very possible – if you only credit a few Star Alliance flights a year – that your miles may start expiring before you have built up enough for a decent redemption.

There are two ways of stopping your Miles & More miles expiring. One is to earn status in the programme, and the other is to get the UK Miles & More credit card and use it at least once a month. If neither of those options work, you can pay to transfer expiring miles to another member – although it costs the same as I consider the miles to be worth, so this isn’t necessarily worth it.

Perhaps the most complex of the Western European frequent flyer schemes is Flying Blue, the Air France / KLM programme. Unless you have status, you need to take a revenue flight with Air France, KLM or one of their SkyTeam or other airline partners every 24 months or you lose your miles earned from flying – whatever other activity you may have had in the meantime! Oddly, there are separate rules for miles earned via partners – any partner activity in 24 months keeps those alive.

If you have any American Airlines miles – and this is probably the most popular US scheme with HFP readers because of the ability to redeem on British Airways – take clear note of AA’s expiry policy. Your AA miles disappear after just 18 months of no activity. If you have no immediate plans for your miles, make sure you transfer a few hotel points to AA or credit a BA flight to AA every so often in order to keep them alive.

One way of tracking expiry dates is by using AwardWallet to monitor your miles and points balances. I explained how AwardWallet works here. If you pay for the premium version it will show you the expiry date of your miles alongside your total and send you warning emails as the date approaches.

The key takeaway is to keep on the ball. You don’t want your hard earned miles to disappear in a puff of smoke.

PS. If you want to know about hotel point expiry rules, I wrote a series of articles last year:

Category

Air France KLM and Flying Blue, American Airlines and AAdvantage, British Airways and Avios, Lufthansa and Miles & More, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Shoestring says:

31 Jan31 January 05:40

Iberia has a 3 years’ expiry rule with a nasty twist. If your a/c goes inactive (3 years no activity) – then any BAEC Avios you send there will be extinguished on arrival.
- Nick says:
  
  31 Jan31 January 06:15
  
  I wonder if the -9,000 figure still on my account with them, after the promotion fiasco, will be extinguished then too? 🙂
  - Shoestring says:
    
    31 Jan31 January 06:28
    
    probably true, as it happens – 3 years no activity = IB points balances go to zero
    
    only 2 more years to find out
- Marcw says:
  
  31 Jan31 January 07:02
  
  The same happens with BAEC, and Avios (By Club/AerClub).
  - Shoestring says:
    
    31 Jan31 January 07:36
    
    but far less likely to happen to HFP readers
    
    my IB strategy is now just to automatically send them 1000 MR points from any new card whenever the points start to build up, probably overkill but easy to repatriate them to BAEC – plus of course any easy opps such as the 100 points competition before Xmas
    
    AerClub? no need to keep any points there at all
    - marcw says:
      
      31 Jan31 January 08:04
      
      that’s likely the case.
      - Shoestring says:
        
        31 Jan31 January 08:35
        
        but do we need to keep AerClub alive by earning a point every 3 years? ie would Avios sent to a ‘dead’ AerClub a/c risk seeing the Avios extinguished on arrival?
      - marcw says:
        
        31 Jan31 January 08:59
        
        @Shoestring, that’s correct.
      - Shoestring says:
        
        31 Jan31 January 11:19
        
        that could catch out a lot of people who use AerClub as the middleman moving Avios
        IB—>AerClub—>BAEC
      - Shoestring says:
        
        31 Jan31 January 14:38
        
        I wouldn’t fret too much though – by the time 3 years comes up for most of us, there’ll either have been some points to grab or Amex will allow MR transfer to AerClub
Danny says:

31 Jan31 January 06:38

Isn’t it only those Flying Blue miles that are earnt through flying which expire if you don’t take another flight within 24 months? I seem to recall reading that different expiry rules apply to Flying Blue miles earnt through other means, including credit cards?
- Marcw says:
  
  31 Jan31 January 07:03
  
  Correct
PP says:

31 Jan31 January 07:06

For BAEC household account, does redemption by one member count as “activity” for all members (as all members balances is deducted pro-rata)?
- Shoestring says:
  
  31 Jan31 January 07:42
  
  yes
- Rob says:
  
  31 Jan31 January 09:07
  
  Yes
- tony says:
  
  31 Jan31 January 10:23
  
  There’s an important point here which just cost my folks 60k miles. If everyone in the HHA is blue, earning miles in one account won’t keep the others live. As you note, redeeming will have this effect as it’s on a pro-rata basis.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    31 Jan31 January 21:26
    
    If you phone BA will probably give them back. It’s not certain but I know they are kinder than some.
Alan says:

31 Jan31 January 07:15

That doesn’t look right for KLM, Rob. From their website:

“All your Miles are valid for life as long as you take an eligible flight on Air France, KLM, Aircalin, Kenya Airways, TAROM or other airline partners at least once every 2 years, or if you’re an Elite or Elite Plus member, or if you make a purchase with an eligible co-branded credit card at least once every 2 years. These “Overall extending activities” extend the validity of all Miles 2 years from the date of the activity.

You can also extend the validity of Miles earned with all other partners (car rental partners, hotel partners, and experience partners) for 2 years by earning Miles with any of these other partners. These “Partial extending activities” with other partners will extend the validity of Miles earned with any of these other partners by 2 years from the date of the activity. Please note, “Partial extending activities” do not extend the validity of Miles earned from “Overall extending activities”.”

It changed a couple of years ago. I’d therefore say M&M with their hard expiry is worse when it comes to European programmes. I’ve not seen the FB accounts show these different expiry dates though, has anyone else?
- marcw says:
  
  31 Jan31 January 08:06
  
  I agree with your observation… so far, any activity has extended the overall expiration date.
TigerTanaka says:

31 Jan31 January 07:40

Once again a comment on how bad Flying Blue is but I have never seen a proper HfP analysis of the scheme, or any flight/lounge reviews of KLM/AF. It’s probably not on your radar if you live in London but BA isn’t always an easy option if you live in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Hull or Teesside (or Leeds for that matter).

The mileage earning might be mediocre and there are limited additional earning opportunities for U.K. residents but eight cheap 4 segment short haul trips gets you gold (equivalent to BA silver). This means lounge access for all those business trips which is a big plus if you are hanging around at your local airport and then at AMS/CDG for your connection.
- marcw says:
  
  31 Jan31 January 08:10
  
  Flying Blue is a great scheme if you can benefit from monthly Promo Awards. It’s great for US to UK/EU, no taxes if booked appropriately. And you can redeem on a lot of partners, including oneworld airlines like Malaysia, JAL or Qantas.
  
  Also, in general terms, maintaining a tier is very easy. Climbing it is a little bit more complicated, whenever you get to a new tier, those XP are susbstracted.
  
  Finally, even with a lousy Silver (or whatever it’s called now) you get free luggage on basic economy.
  - Mikeact says:
    
    31 Jan31 January 09:58
    
    I totally agree, except perhaps the high mileage required against many redemptions. Another example of the Good Old Days gone forever.
- Lady London says:
  
  31 Jan31 January 09:29
  
  Hello Tiger 🙂
  so is that 32 segments needed? do they all have to be on AF/KL?
  - Mikeact says:
    
    31 Jan31 January 09:56
    
    You need to check carefully, it’s not at all clear cut……sometimes.
    I’d move over to the FB forum on FlyerTalk where there are a ton of comments…good and bad on this subject.
    - Lady London says:
      
      31 Jan31 January 17:06
      
      Ta. Will take a look especially if we hear the Virgin/KL/AF thing looks like happening.
  - marcw says:
    
    31 Jan31 January 10:57
    
    Not in the first year, because you need first 100 XP to get to Silver. Then 180XP to Gold. But then, you will only need 180XP to renew Gold (or 100XP to renew Silver). Roughly each short haul flight will yield 5XP.
- Harry T says:
  
  31 Jan31 January 09:49
  
  Would those four cheap segments have to be in J?
Alfie says:

31 Jan31 January 08:12

O/T question, I have biz return flights with Korean to Australia, which would be the best programme to credit to? I’m based in London.

Cheers
- Shoestring says:
  
  31 Jan31 January 08:26
  
  https://www.wheretocredit.com says
  Korean Air can earn miles on: Aeroflot, Aerolineas Argentinas, Aeromexico, Air Europa, Alaska Airlines, Alitalia, China Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Emirates, Etihad, Flying Blue, Garuda Indonesia, Gol Transportes Aéreos, Hawaiian Airlines, Korean Air, Middle East Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, Xiamen Airlines
  - Lady London says:
    
    31 Jan31 January 13:39
    
    Air Europa if you want to take a punt if your main currency is avios.
Don says:

31 Jan31 January 08:27

if anyone would like a code for a free upgrade to premium version of award wallet for the first time. Thanks.

free-yfhsjq
- Grimz says:
  
  31 Jan31 January 08:42
  
  Used thanks
- Nick says:
  
  31 Jan31 January 09:02
  
  I have a couple available, but please note that, as Don says, this is for FIRST TIME USER upgrade to premium:
  
  free-uqbdlx
  - sloth says:
    
    31 Jan31 January 09:11
    
    sorry, probably being stupid…do you mean for the first time upgrading from normal to premium or for first time users of the app completely?
sloth says:

31 Jan31 January 09:10

Eurostar – found last night that transferring the points from my partners account to my account has reset the expiry which is handy…