AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.
Offers for the American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card, Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®, Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard®, Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®, Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard®, AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® and Citi® / AAdvantage® Gold World Elite™ MasterCard® are not available through this site. Some offers may have expired. Please see our card marketplace for available offers
American Airlines AAdvantage miles expire after 24 months of inactivity. AAdvantage cardholders and members under 21 are exempt from this policy.
Here's the full American Airlines expiration policy, what you can do to keep your AAdvantage miles active, and how to avoid AAdvantage mileage expiration entirely.
American Airlines AAdvantage Mileage Expiration Policy
American Airlines AAdvantage® miles expire if you have no earning or redemption activity on your account in a 24-month period. Per the AAdvantage® FAQs page:
“Just earn or redeem miles on American or with an AAdvantage® partner at least once every 24 months. We’ll automatically extend your mileage expiration date 24 months from the date of your most recent qualifying activity.”
There are two exceptions to the AA mileage expiration rule. AA members under the age of 21 are not subject to the mileage expiration policy. In addition, you aren't subject to expiration if you are the primary account holder on an AAdvantage co-branded credit card.
Expired AAdvantage miles can be reinstated for a fee.
Track your points and miles expiration for 620+ loyalty programs and get email alerts before your miles expire by signing up for a free AwardWallet account.
American Airlines Expiration Exemption for Cardholders
If you hold an AAdvantage co-branded credit card, your miles do not expire — even if you don’t actively use the card. Eligible American Airlines co-branded cards include:
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard®
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®
- Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard®
- American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card
With these perks, it's easy to justify the annual fee of $99, waived for first 12 months.
- Free checked bags for you and up to 4 companions on domestic itineraries
- Priority boarding to help you win the race for overhead bin space
- A 25% discount on inflight food, beverage, and Wi-Fi purchases
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent at restaurants
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent at gas stations
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases
- Earn 1X mile for every $1 spent on all other purchases
How to Keep AAdvantage Miles From Expiring
Any earning or redemption activity resets your expiration clock for another 24 months.
You can earn AA miles in any of the following ways to ensure your existing miles don't expire:
- Fly with American or one of its partners and credit the miles you earn to your American Airlines AAdvantage frequent-flyer account.
- Stay with one of the AAdvantage® hotel partners, including big chains like IHG, Hyatt, and Marriott.
- Rent a car from an AAdvantage® car-rental partner.
- Join the AAdvantage® dining program and eat at participating restaurants.
- Click through the AAdvantage eShopping portal before making online purchases.
- Take a cruise or book a vacation with an AAdvantage® partner.
- Spend on your American Airlines credit cards.
- Take online surveys.
- Buy AAdvantage® miles. Posting time ranges from instant to 48 hours.
- Transfer points from Marriott Bonvoy, Bilt Rewards, and several hotel programs to AA.
American Airlines also regularly has special offers and promotions, which let you pick up extra miles as a one-off and keep your account alive.
Redeeming your AA miles
Redeeming your miles will also extend your mileage validity. However, the principal value is redeeming them for flights, especially if you can take advantage of one of American Airlines' sweet spots. Other redemption options typically offer less value than flights. However, you can still do some good and keep extending your AA miles' validity by donating some miles to a good cause.
Keep Your AAdvantage Miles Active Automatically
Wouldn't it be great if you could earn AAdvantage® miles every month without lifting a finger? The Bask Mileage Savings Account earns AAdvantage® miles instead of cash interest. You'll earn 1.75 AAdvantage® miles for every dollar saved annually. And since Bask Bank deposits miles in your AAdvantage® account on a monthly basis, you'll never have to worry about generating activity to extend your expiration date.
Opening a Bask Mileage Savings Account is hands-down the easiest way to permanently eliminate “stop my American miles from expiring” from your to-do list. There's no limit to the number of miles you can earn, and it's quick and easy to set up. Check out our breakdown of why earning miles through Bask Bank is better than earning cash interest.
Reinstate Your Expired AAdvantage Miles
You can reinstate your expired miles for a fee by calling the AA customer care line; you can also do so online. However, data points online suggest you can reinstate expired miles only under the following conditions:
- You can only reinstate miles that have expired in the last 24 months.
- A maximum of 500,000 miles can be reinstated in a single transaction.
- You can only make one reactivation transaction per batch of expired miles; any miles that expired at the same time and are not reactivated cannot be reinstated later.
Unfortunately, AA is very opaque about what it charges for reinstating expired miles. However, AA says the rate to reinstate your miles depends on the number of miles being reinstated. If you are wondering about out-of-pocket costs, we found the following data point from Travel Summary about reinstating AA miles.
| Number Of Reactivated Miles | Cost Of Reactivation | Cost Per Mile To Reactivate |
|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | $60 | 1.2¢ |
| 10,0000 | $100 | 1.0¢ |
| 15,000 | $150 | 1.0¢ |
| 25,000 | $225 | 0.9¢ |
| 50,000 | $400 | 0.8¢ |
| 75,000 | $550 | 0.73¢ |
| 100,000 | $700 | 0.7¢ |
| 113,864 | $1000 | 0.88¢ |
One thing to note is that the data is from 2022, so the price of reinstating your miles may have changed since then.
Using AwardWallet to Track AAdvantage Mileage Expiration
You can use AwardWallet to track your loyalty program balances and expiration dates for over 620 loyalty programs. But unfortunately, American Airlines isn't one of them. That's because American Airlines took legal action in 2021 to force AwardWallet to stop helping members track their AAdvantage account balances and expiration dates.
Unfortunately, AwardWallet users cannot use the workaround that Delta, United, and Southwest members can use to let AwardWallet track their accounts. Sound unfair? Feel free to sign the Change.org petition that one AwardWallet user created.
Bottom Line
American Airlines isn't leading from the front regarding mileage expiration policies. Its main U.S. competitors — Delta, United, and even Southwest — eliminated mileage expiration. That said, AAdvantage members have several ways to ensure their miles don't expire. Hopefully, AA will follow suit and eliminate mileage expiration entirely in the near future.
Page Contents
- American Airlines AAdvantage Mileage Expiration Policy
- American Airlines Expiration Exemption for Cardholders
- How to Keep AAdvantage Miles From Expiring
- Keep Your AAdvantage Miles Active Automatically
- Reinstate Your Expired AAdvantage Miles
- Using AwardWallet to Track AAdvantage Mileage Expiration
- Bottom Line
