There was a time when you could let your frequent-flier miles sit dormant forever, but no longer. Now the miles expiration clock has begun ticking faster than ever. As the airlines are wanting to get those liabilities off their books…some 14.2 trillion airline miles are now in existence, at 2 cents value per mile that’s a $280 billion currency!

There was a hodgepodge of expiration policies until 1999, when most major carriers adopted a three-year rule. Then US Airways announced last fall that inactive frequent-flier mileage would expire in 18 months, down from 36. Delta set a 24-month clock. United and American Airlines then implemented an 18-month expiration.

It’s now estimated that upwards of 75% of airline miles are not redeemed. With the new policies that figure will climb…which should be unacceptable.


Don’t Kiss Your Hard-Earned Miles Goodbye


Here’s the action(s) to take so you can hold onto your miles:

1) Take a short, quick flight on the airline or one of its alliance partners.

2) Redeem miles for a flight or another award such as a magazine subscription.

3) Use a credit card that awards frequent-flier miles.

4) Stay in a hotel that offers miles in the carrier’s program.

5) Send flowers through FTD; In some programs you earn miles to keep your account alive, but be sure to ask first.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 28th, 2007 at 9:58 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.