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British Airways claims to be one of the oldest airlines in the world, with its predecessors formed in 1919. Aside from operating the first ever international scheduled flight between London and Paris, the current form of British Airways was established in 1974 and is one of the founding members of the Oneworld alliance.
The British Airways Club is the airline's loyalty program. It uses Avios as its currency — along with other IAG members, Iberia and Aer Lingus, Qatar Airways, and Finnair. In terms of expiration, BA has a reasonably generous policy. Here is all you need to know about whether British Airways Avios expire — and what you can do to keep your Avios active.
Do British Airways Avios Expire?
Your British Airways Avios will expire if you don't generate qualifying activity in 36 months. Per the British Airways Club terms and conditions:
“Your Avios won't expire as long as you collect, spend, buy or share at least one Avios every 36 months. If you don't collect or use your Avios at all for three years, your Avios will expire and be removed, so remember to take action before that time's up.”
What about household accounts?
British Airways lets members combine Avios with other members of the same household. But how does that affect expiration? British Airways directly addresses this question on its website:
“Each member of a household account needs to collect, spend, share or buy at least one of their Avios every three years. If they don’t, all the Avios they’ve individually collected will expire.”
However, in practice, we've noticed that redemptions from any one account seem to reset the expiration date for all household members. That's because Avios are spent proportionally from all connected accounts — generating activity on all accounts. But we recommend checking each member's expiration dates to ensure that a redemption creates qualifying activity.
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Can expired Avios be reinstated?
Once expired, your Avios cannot be reinstated. However, several online sources suggest that if they expired recently (within 3 months), you may be able to get them reinstated by calling customer service. However, this is an unofficial policy, so don't hang your hopes on it.
How To Avoid British Airways Avios Expiration
You have plenty of options to avoid losing your Avios: Earn Avios, spend Avios, or transfer points into Avios. Doing any of these activities will extend your Avios expiration date.
But if you're in a pinch, the fastest way to extend your expiration date is to purchase British Airways Avios, transfer in Avios from another Avios-utilizing airline, or book an award flight (it doesn't have to be an expensive one).
If you've got time to plan ahead, here are even more ways you can avoid Avios expiration.
Earn British Airways Avios
British Airways Club offers a large number of ways to earn Avios, including:
- Flying with British Airways or one of its partner airlines.
- Stay with one of BA’s extensive list of hotel partners. From Accor, IHG, and Marriott to Airbnb and Avios Hotels, you can earn Avios on a vast array of hotel bookings.
- Rent a car with Avis or Budget.
- Shop with one of British Airways' shopping partners — including The Bicester Village Shopping Collection and Heathrow Rewards. It is worth noting that most of these partners are in Europe.
- Purchase Avios with a minimum of 1,000 and a maximum of 200,000 per year.
- Transfer Avios, sending up to 27,000 Avios to one member per year, up to a maximum of 162,000 Avios.
- Earn Avios for everyday spending when you pay with your British Airways Visa Signature® Card.
- Earn 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
- Earn 3 Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL.
- Earn 2 Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations when purchased directly with the hotel.
- 10% off British Airways flights starting in the US when you book through the website provided in your welcome materials.
- Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa card, you'll earn a Travel Together Ticket good for two years.
- Pay no foreign transaction fees when you travel abroad.
- Simply tap to pay with your contactless British Airways Visa Signature Card. Just look for the contactless symbol at checkout. It's fast, easy and secure!
- Member FDIC
- 3X Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL
- 2X Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations
- 1X Avios for every $1 spent on all other purchases
Redeem British Airways Avios
- Book award flights with British Airways or partner airlines.
- Book hotel stays.
- Rent a car with Budget or Avis.
- Redeem your Avios for a wide range of experiences across the world.
Transfer British Airways Avios
If you need to top up your BA account, you can always transfer some flexible points to the airline. You can transfer points from many of the major flexible point currencies to the British Airways Club:
As far as transfers go, flexible points are not your only option to boost your BA Avios balance. Avios are unique in that multiple airlines share the currency, and you can transfer them between the various airline programs. You can transfer Avios between all of the following programs.
- Aer Lingus Aer Club
- British Airways Club
- Finnair Plus
- Iberia Plus
- Loganair
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Vueling
You can check out our comprehensive how-to guide on transferring Avios between British Airways, Iberia, Qatar Airways, Aer Lingus, Vueling, Loganair, and Finnair.
Track Your Avios Expiration Through AwardWallet
The fact that British Airways Avios expire after 36 months is a double-edged sword. It is long enough to allow you to accumulate healthy Avios balances. However, it is also long enough for you to get complacent, and your expiration deadline creeps up on you and causes you to lose your Avios.
The easiest way to prevent this is to use AwardWallet to keep track of your Avios balance. This way, you will receive a timely reminder if your Avios are about to expire.
You can add your British Airways Club account to AwardWallet. If your Avios are about to expire, we'll give you a heads-up. We'll even show you when your Avios are set to expire.
Related: How To Track Your Rewards Using AwardWallet
Our Take
British Airways Avios has one of the more generous expiration policies compared to other global airlines. 12- and 24-month expiration policies are typical, so the fact that British Airways Avios expire after 36 months is quite generous. It gives you time to take action to keep your Avios balance alive. Couple this longevity with some excellent redemption sweet spots, and Avios are an attractive option.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: British Airways Visa Signature® Card (Rates & Fees)
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