How can you stop your British Airways miles expiring?

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How do you extend the expiry date of your British Airways miles?

Today I want to take a look at what you can do to stop your BA Avios points (British Airways frequent flyer miles) from expiring. It is so easy that you would be crazy to let it happen.

Avios is the air miles reward currency used by British Airways Executive Club. It is also used by other frequent flyer programs (Iberia and Aer Lingus are just a few).

For every eligible flight with British Airways or its partner airlines you earn a certain number of miles. You can see your Avios miles balance in your British Airways Executive Club account.

Unfortunately, Avios do not last forever. In reality, they do – because your Avios shouldn’t be expiring if you are on the ball.

Here is the rule. If you do not earn, spend, purchase or share at least one Avios every 36 months they will expire. However, if you keep your account active and have any miles earning transaction going through your account every three years, your British Airways points will never expire.

This means that it is very easy to keep your account active as all you need to do is earn or spend at least one Avios point every 36 months. This is easy even if you are not a regular flyer. British Airways has a lot of partners, including high street brands, to allow you to earn Avios on your daily spending.

It shouldn’t be hard – once every three years – to take a British Airways or a partner flight, credit a hotel stay to BA, credit an Avis car rental, transfer some points from Tesco Clubcard / Heathrow Rewards / American Express Membership Rewards etc. Spending Avios also counts as activity on your account.

As a last resort, go to this page of ba.com and buy the minimum 1,000 Avios. This will reset your expiry date for another three years.

In reality, anyone who is even vaguely interested in keeping their British Airways miles balance alive should be able to find a way to earn or spend just 1 Avios point every three years. This is enough to keep your BA points from expiring.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works. You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 1.8 million monthly page views. Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios? Click here to read our latest news stories, click here to join our email list and click here to read our ‘Avios Redemption University’ series.)

How to get 20,000 Avios from Amex Gold or 30,000 Avios from Amex Platinum (December 2021 offer)

The sign-up bonus on American Express Preferred Rewards Gold converts to 20,000 Avios and the card is free for the first year. You can apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

You don’t qualify for the Amex Gold bonus if you have a British Airways American Express card. You DO qualify for the bonus on The Platinum Card, which converts into 30,000 Avios. You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

If you have your own small business, the best way of earning Avios is via the Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa. It has a sign-up bonus which converts to 10,000 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also look at the British Airways Accelerating Business card, because it currently has a limited time offer of 60,000 Avios when you sign up by 14th November. You can apply here.