Do Airline Miles Expire? Policies By Airline, Plus How To Extend Miles

I'm currently with CX and one way that I earn miles and not let it expire is by filling out their survey; you'll earn a certain amount of miles if you fill out the survey 80% of the time. I'm probably getting the numbers wrong, but it's close to it.

if you transfer avios between BA, Qatar, does it reset the expiration?

Noteworthy Aegean miles never expire ever.
Maybe less used by most of this audience, but Air Astana also has a Lufthansa-like strict expiration policy (24 months from the top of my head).

As far as BA is concerned, I assume the transfer from QR to BA falls into the category of an Avios earning.

Alternatively:
- any Uber ride would get you a few Avios (assuming your accounts are linked) and reset the expiry of the whole balance (and they credit instantly)
- from the shopping portal, you may earn Avios from Sainsbury purchases (the only catch is that it doesn't credit instantly, so I wouldn't count on it if mileage were to expire next month)

Regarding Avianca's LifeMiles, transferring miles to it will also reset the expiration date.

Extremely valuable post, thanks Ben.

For Canada, if I redeem and then cancel an award will that extend the miles validity? How much would a cancellation cost me.

I flew where Canada on revenue last month but credited it to United without thinking through the expiration policy.

An OK out for singapore miles is to transfer to Virgin Australia. It's 1.55:1, but there are some compelling redemptions via that program (esp on united).

If you have a family pool account (like with BA or AC), redeeming for one member resets expiration for everyone in the pool, correct?

Air Canada Aeroplan points expire after 18 months of inactivity. Any points earning or redemption activity resets the expiration of your points by a further 18 months.

Does doing charity donation resets this limit?

The best way to extend Avianca miles is to make a hotel booking through them for Lifemiles, and then cancel it. Worked for me this year.

Unless they have changed the rules, although Southwest Airlines points do not expire, the whole account does, which means that there is no place for the points and they disappear. Ask me how I know

Although I haven't done this specifically with Aeroplan, I have with several other programs and it has worked for all of them

The Asian star alliance carriers are a true disappointment.

I'd be interested in building my Star miles with Singapore or EVA, but their expiration dates make that a non starter.

I was close to having my American miles expire and I set up the dining advantage program linking my credit card. So, it becomes a no-brainer to constantly have a small amount of activity just by dining out.

Another easy way if you ever need it, is Shell rewards, which can automatically be converted to AAdvantage. So just buying gas at a Shell station and typing in your membership number at the pump, will refresh your mileage, and they appear on your AA account pretty quickly (says 2 weeks, but usually only takes 2-3 business days, in my experience).

Is "earning miles" the same as transferring credit card points into miles?

Correct me if I’m wrong but making a purchase with a cobranded Flying Blue credit card does NOT reset the clock (at least on previously transferred miles)

I had something odd happen to me with Cathay Pacific miles. Please bear with me, as my memory is not what it used to be!! I had planned a trip to Bali, and had used some Alaska miles for a Biz Class ticket on Cathay. I can’t remember exactly when it was, but it was during Covid. Bali closed down, and our trip was cancelled. I left the miles with Cathay. There was a point where Cathay had restrictions put on it by China. So I just let the miles sit there for a long time waiting for China to clear Cathay. I was then notified that my 70K or so miles were due to expire. And that I could order something from their “store” to get points so that my miles would not expire. I purchased something for over $50. But my miles disappeared from Cathay anyway. I (finally!) started investigating. I read that one had to buy something for over $600 (!!!!) on their site to meet the requirements for not losing your miles. At that point, I was furious with Cathay, and especially with myself. I gathered all the info together and was planning to fight back. But I never did anything to fight back, figuring that it wouldn’t help anyway since I hadn’t spent $600 in their store. A year or more later, I was checking out mileage that I had in all of my airline accounts. I discovered that the $70k miles had REAPPEARED back into my Alaska Account! I used those miles as quickly as I could!!! Has this happened to anyone else?

Does the donation of miles extend Lufthansa miles expiry? I see a program for donation on the Miles&More website, but no details if this would work...

The expiration of miles is a way for the airlines to make more money ensuring that you cannot use them after that time or forces people to use their miles sooner.

Afaik LH miles expire 36 months after they're earned, independently of activity

Breeze Airways points expire after 24 months after earned. Can not be extended, but never expire if you have their credit card.