LifeMiles Is Adjusting Their Mileage Expiration Policy

This will definitely keep me away from collecting lifemiles. Having miles expire after only 12 months is horrible and then only adding miles extends it? This is very consumer unfriendly.
DL miles don't expire (although they aren't worth much).
AA miles are valid 18 months while redeeming miles will extend your miles.
Southwest only counts adding miles to reset the clock, at least they give you 2 years.

Any updates on how long it takes for a Citi TY points transfer? When they were announced as a transfer partner, reports were that it was taking a few days.

@lucky
Can we get a full chart on who expires when? Please???

I read the T&C on the new rules. It's unclear to me whether buying miles to prolong the expiration date is considered something that will cut it. It seems that flying on Avianca and/or having their credit car will be valid activity.

with a strong promoter for Life miles , didnt you get any tip that they would screw their members like this?

I used to love Lifemiles but nowadays there are worthless! They rarely have availability, when they do they send you on a very long an complicated route, plus they amount of miles necessary is totally out of proportion. It´s a shame, since I usted to take great advantage of this program, but it seems like Avianca and Lifemiles are both going downhill.

I too would question whether buying resets the clock, as buying is not "earning."

If that is the case, then it is not such a minor change as portrayed above.

if buying miles resets it then i.think its fine.

From LM's info:
"Accrual of miles means any transaction that increases the balance of the accrued miles in the member´s account.......... the following accrual activities do not extend the validity of the miles in the member´s account: 1) the birthday bonus or any other miles bonus that may be given by the LifeMiles Program and LifeMiles LTD so establishes.; 2) the migration of points or miles from other loyalty programs to the LifeMiles Program made as a consequence of the union of both loyalty programs or the migration of one member from another loyalty program to the LifeMiles Program; and 3) the merger of accounts of the LifeMiles Program, including those derived from a member´s duplicate accounts."

Based on this, I would say buying LM will extend the validity.

" In the case of the transfer of miles from a member´s account to another, the activity in the account of the transferring member will extend the validity of the miles that are kept in its account for twelve (12) months or twenty-four (24) months if it has an Elite Status, from the date of the transaction."

Transferring from another account also counts. So it's possible to simply create an account for your wife/dad and transfer back and forth 1000 for a fee if $30. Do it during the 100% transfer bonus and you get extra 2000 miles.

They are also charging $0.033 per mile when you need more(less than 60% of what you need) for award ticket.

Can't you do not to charity like 1 mile and reset expiration. You certainly could as I used it like 1.5 years ago.

I'm not 100% convinced buying or transferring will count as earning. We shall see. Might have to credit a partner flight once a year.

I guess I'll transfer 1000 miles from Citi in early April to extend the validity of all existing miles till April 2020.

@Alex, are we sure that transferring Citi TY points will extend the validity?

@someguy, I believe under current rules any activity extends the validity

The terms exclude "any other miles bonus that may be given by the LifeMiles Program" from extending validity. It's not clear to me that miles purchases are excluded from "any other miles bonus"....

Wow, I knew you were probably making quite some cash with selling their promotions. However, I had not assumed it would be either that much nor so easy to buy your opinion.
This is definitely a major downturn and a huge disadvantage - yet compared to other programs you write about it even feels greedy how apologetic you are for them.
While I fully understand that this is mainly business for you, there is a fine line of trust in objectivity that your readers place into you which one shouldn’t cross. This smells like pure promo à la tpg. What a pity.

It's a big deal (not a "very minor one"), and it's a negative deal. I know bloggers have been enraptured with this program, but I can almost never find seats, even when they are available for specific flights when I search on United and Aeroplan. I agree with Ben1982 - credibility matters, and I don't see much here.

What if you reject the change?

Its a big negative devaluation!

Enough to stay clear for a longer time.

@Lucky and fellow readers: please keep the rest of us posted on your success in extending your expiration date with mileage purchase. Also, if anybody comes up with other creative ways to extend the validity of their LM balances, that would be appreciated as well. If I come up with or hear anything, I will send it in.

Also, anybody complaining that "they've been had" by purchasing LifeMiles: we all have access to the T&C's and we all know there's a risk the rules will change mid-stream. I have a hefty lot of miles here that I don't regret purchasing. Now I just have to play by the (new) rules to keep them until I use them. BTW: I have found that last-minute redemptions are fairly easy to come by - basically fire sale premium seats for Avianca and its *A partners.

It's on thing for OMAAT to splash this story, but there is no journalistic follow-up for the readers, like whether additional purchases of miles re-sets the expiry clock. Is there a new article in the making on how best to manage this new unwelcome development?

Can anyone with experience please confirm if transfers (Amex, etc.) do in fact extend validity? My miles expire in April. Thanks

I have not done Amex but transfer from Citi recently extended the expiration date.

just bought some miles , but no extension

I just transferred AmEx to Lifemiles and my expiration did NOT extend. This is bullshit.

Transferred Citi Thank You points and this didn't extend the expiration either.

Any recent datapoints on which accrual methods actually work to extended the miles from expiring?

I just transferred AmEx to Lifemiles and my expiration did NOT extend.....wasted 1000 points.

Is buying miles going to extend the expiry date?

Yes transferring doesn’t extend it. You have to either buy or earn miles thru travel.

My transfer from Amex yesterday extended the expiration date by a year. It took about 24 hours after transfer for the expiration date to update on my account. Hope this helps!