When Do Airline Miles Expire?

Earning airline miles can require dedication: sure, you’ll earn some through flying but there’s a good chance you also went out of your way to complete partner offers or earn rewards through specific credit cards. With extra effort required on your part, it would be a shame to see them disappear before you can redeem them.

While some airlines have eliminated expiration dates entirely, that isn’t always the case. You can usually expect your miles to expire one to three years after you earned them—though sometimes they’re easy enough to extend.

Air Canada

Air Canada Aeroplan points expire after 18 months of no activity. However, any qualifying activity—including earning, redeeming or transferring points—will reset the clock and extend the life of your miles by another 18 months. Additionally, if you have a co-branded Aeroplan® Credit Card, your points will not expire as long as the card is kept open. If you hold Aeroplan elite status, your miles will likewise not expire.

If your miles do expire, Aeroplan offers a handful of ways to reinstate them as long as you take action within six months of miles expiration. You can buy back your miles, take a qualifying flight with Air Canada or get an Aeroplan credit card.

Air France / KLM

Flying Blue miles have a complicated expiration policy: miles earned through flying are treated differently than miles earned through partner activity (such as converting credit card rewards or crediting hotel stays).

Miles earned from flying expire after two years, but may be extended by taking another flight and crediting those miles to Flying Blue. Flights operated by Air France, KLM or partner airlines qualify. Miles expiration is also extended by two years when you make a purchase with an eligible co-branded credit card. If you’re an Elite or Elite Plus Flying Blue member, your miles do not expire. Partner activity will not extend the validity of miles earned by flying.

Miles earned through partner activity also expire after two years and will be extended by any type of activity in your account, including but not limited to flying.

American Airlines

American Airlines AAdvantage miles are valid for 24 months. Any type of qualifying activity will extend the life of your miles.

Customers under the age of 21 are not subject to mileage expiration. However, the 24-month policy will apply as soon as they reach 21 years old, even if the miles were earned as a child.

AAdvantage® co-branded credit card holders are exempt from mileage expiration as long as the card account is open.

All Nippon Airways

ANA Mileage Club miles expire after 36 months. There is no way to extend them for most members. Expiration is paused for Diamond Service members, with the clock resuming if and when they lose Diamond status. Million Miler members will never have miles expire during their lifetime.

Avianca Airlines

Avianca LifeMiles have one of the shortest expiration policies among frequent flyer programs. For general members, miles are valid for 12 months after account activity (for elite members, 24 months). Credit card holders also have 24 months, however, Avianca no longer offers any U.S.-based cards. Mileage extension is tricky with Avianca since only mileage accrual is regarded as eligible activity that lengthens the validity period. Using miles does not extend the expiration date. Avianca states that transfers from partner programs is not a valid accrual. However, a transfer from another member counts. This means that the easiest ways to extend expiry without flying, is to either purchase miles, have another member transfer miles to you or credit your hotel stay or car rental to LifeMiles.

British Airways

British Airways Executive Club Avios are valid for 36 months from the date of last activity. Any activity will extend their validity.

Delta Air Lines

Delta SkyMiles do not expire.

Emirates

Emirates Skywards miles expire at the end of your birthday month three years after they were earned. For example, if you flew in June 2023 and your birthday is in August, your miles would expire on August 31, 2026.

Activity in your account does not extend your miles’ validity, but you have the option to pay to extend them an additional 12 months.

Etihad

Etihad Airways Guest Miles expire 18 months after last activity. Qualifying activities include earning, spending and buying miles. The first qualifying activity in a month resets the expiry date, so that’s something to keep in mind when calculating the exact expiration.

Etihad Platinum Guest members are not subject to miles expiration as long as their status is valid.

Iberia

Iberia Plus Avios expire after 36 months of no activity. Nearly any activity in your account will extend their life, such as flying or transferring in credit card points. However, transferring Avios to or from another member will not extend the mileage expiration date. If you have more than 36 months of inactivity, you will permanently forfeit your Avios.

JetBlue

JetBlue TrueBlue miles do not expire.

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways Avios expire 36 months after your last activity, whether earning or spending. Expired Avios can be reactivated anytime during the next 12 months for a fee. This extends the expiry date by 36 months. There’s no expiration for Qatar Platinum members as long as status is maintained.

Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles expire three years after they were earned, regardless of whether or not there is additional activity in the account. Expiration dates may be extended six months for a fee, but there is no way to get the miles back if they have already expired. PPS Club members—customers who spend a minimum of 25,000 Singapore Dollars on premium class flights with Singapore Airlines annually—are exempted from expiration rules.

Southwest Airlines

Southwest Rapid Rewards do not expire.

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles expire at the end of the third calendar year after earning through flights, hotel stays or car rentals. Other activity on your account will not extend their validity, though you can optionally pay to extend them for an additional three years at a rate of $20 for each increment of 1,000 miles. Once expired, miles cannot be reinstated.

United Airlines

United MileagePlus miles never expire.

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic Points do not expire.

Types of Activity To Extend Your Miles

Not all programs extend the validity of your miles with account activity but many do. When that’s the case, typically any type of activity—earning or redeeming—can reset the clock and establish more time before having to commit to using your entire stash of miles. In some cases, you may get away with earning or redeeming a single mile to qualify.

Traditionally, flying and crediting flown miles to your account was the obvious answer to how to extend your frequent flyer miles. Today though, you’ll need to be careful before assuming this is the best choice: some basic economy fares no longer earn miles.

Other activities that may extend your miles include:

• Crediting hotel or rental car reservations to your airline account
• Redeeming some of your miles toward award flights
• Redeeming miles toward other awards, such as hotel reservations or magazines subscriptions
• Making purchases on an airline-branded credit card
• Transferring flexible credit card rewards to your airline account
• Transferring miles to or from another member’s account
• Shopping through an airline shopping portal
• Joining an airline’s dining network and making a restaurant purchase
• Donating miles to partner organizations
• Buying additional miles

There may be other ways to extend the life of your miles in addition to these.

For any type of points activity, don’t procrastinate. Qualifying activity must fully post to your airline account before expiration in order to extend the life of your miles, regardless of the transaction date. With a few exceptions, many of these transactions could take days or weeks to post to your account.

If you are concerned about your miles expiring, you can use an app like AwardWallet to track and warn you when your expiration date is creeping up.

Bottom Line

Since every frequent flyer program sets their own policies on mileage expiration, it’s important to keep an eye on dates to ensure you can redeem rewards before they expire. Luckily, it’s usually easy to confirm dates in your online account. More importantly, it’s often easy to extend miles if you need more time to solidify travel plans before cashing in your rewards for another trip.