Qatar Airways Privilege Club has just adjusted its mileage expiration policy for the better. This follows a similar change from Etihad Guest recently, though Qatar Airways’ policy is even more generous.
In this post:
Qatar Airways’ old mileage expiration policy
Different loyalty programs have different policies on mileage expiration. Generally speaking mileage expiration policies fall into one of three categories:
- Miles never expire
- Miles don’t expire as long as you have at least some qualifying activity every so often
- Miles expire a certain amount of time after they’re earned, regardless of whether or not you have any activity
Historically Qatar Airways Privilege Club has fallen into that last category, as Qatar Airways miles expired after about three years.
More specifically, they expired at the end of the “semester” (either June 30 or December 31) in which Qmiles were earned. In other words, miles earned in April 2017 would have expired at the end of June 2020.
I always found this to be a frustrating policy. You could be really engaged in the program but still have miles expire.
Qatar Airways 777
Qatar Airways’ new mileage expiration policy
Effective immediately, Qatar Airways Privilege Club miles no longer expire as long as you have at least some qualifying activity once every 36 months.
Any activity for earning or spending miles will reset the expiration of your account, and give you a further 36 months. This could be as simple as redeeming miles towards an award redemption, or transferring points from Citi ThankYou or Capital One.
Qatar Airways miles now expire after 36 months of inactivity
Bottom line
Qatar Airways is finally improving its mileage expiration policy. Short of having a policy of miles never expiring even without activity, Qatar Airways’ policy is as good as it gets. Your miles won’t expire as long as you have at least some mileage earning or redemption activity every 36 months.
Given how easy it should be to have some account activity, I consider this to be a very positive change.
Are you happy to see Qatar Airways Privilege Club change its mileage expiration policy?
Their points are worth garbage compared to other programs
I wish Qatar would issue a card so as you check in, you are sure to receive your points.
@Ben, the old policy had a special consideration for Platinum members like me (I have been so for the last 5 years in a row). The rule was that as long as I keep the Platinum status, the miles never expired.
I was on their site earlier (before I read this post) looking for ways to create some activity on QR. Shopping portals are usually a good way to spend or buy, and I eventually found their shopping center, yet NOT ONE of the stores can be shopped online. All are simply listed by their Doha street or mall address.
@Ben - can you pls explain the logistics of what you mean by "This could...
I was on their site earlier (before I read this post) looking for ways to create some activity on QR. Shopping portals are usually a good way to spend or buy, and I eventually found their shopping center, yet NOT ONE of the stores can be shopped online. All are simply listed by their Doha street or mall address.
@Ben - can you pls explain the logistics of what you mean by "This could be as simple as .... transferring points from Citi ThankYou or Capital One."
Thanks!
Although Qatar announced service to Toronto a few weeks ago, there are no flights after this month. It appears they were just trying it out for a month. Any update on this?
Funny that's the same as BA. Are OW trying to harmonise before they bring in new entrants? Apparently the Alliance-Wide Upgrades that were mentioned earlier are going to be miles-based, not voucher-based like SWUs, maybe they're trying to align on a few topics before that goes ahead?
I really wish ANA would do this! Sucks with the 3 year expiration policy. I was set to use ANA miles that were going to expire when COVID hit and now I most likely will have these miles expiring this year. :(
Yeah that's a good change. You should link to their bonus for new members.