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As much as we would like our points and miles to last forever, that's often not the case. More often than not, loyalty program points and miles expire. Some loyalty programs are stingy, only giving you six months' validity. Other programs offer mileage validities of up to 10 years!
The best programs are those whose points and miles do not expire as long as your account is open. In these, you can focus on earning and redeeming your miles without worrying about losing them to expiration.
We've put together this post to give you a single point of reference. Here, you can find the expiration policies of major loyalty/rewards programs. Click through to the individual posts for each program's expiration policy details. We have over 70 posts covering expiration policies for every major program — from Accor to Wyndham and Aegean to WestJet.
However, the easiest way to keep track of your expiration is by tracking loyalty programs through AwardWallet. We'll give you advance warning before your points and miles expire, giving you plenty of time to act.
Don't have an AwardWallet account yet? Sign up for free and track unlimited rewards programs and travel plans!
Get in touch via the comments if there's a program that you care about missing below. We will do our best to add a detailed post about how to avoid expiration in that program.
Page Contents
- Airline Frequent Flyer Program Expiration Policies
- Hotel Rewards Expiration Policies
- Car Rental Rewards Expiration Policies
- Bank Rewards Expiration Policies
- Other Rewards Programs
- Three Types of Points and Miles Expiration Policies
- Can You Reinstate Expired Miles?
- Are All “Qualifying Activity” Requirements the Same?
- Do Expiration Policies Change?
- Final Thoughts
Airline Frequent Flyer Program Expiration Policies
U.S. airlines
- Alaska Mileage Plan: Miles do not expire; however, your account can be deactivated for inactivity.
- American Airlines AAdvantage: Miles expire if you have no earning or redemption activity on your account in 24 months.
- Delta SkyMiles: As a rule, Delta SkyMiles do not expire; however, in certain situations like account misuse, your account can be closed and your balance forfeited.
- Frontier Miles: Miles will expire if your account has no accrual activity in the last 12 months.
- Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles: Miles do not expire as long as your account remains open.
- JetBlue TrueBlue: Points do not expire so long as your account remains open.
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards: Points do not expire as long as your account remains open.
- Spirit Airlines Free Spirit: Points expire if members have no earning or redemption activity on their account for 12 months.
- United Airlines MileagePlus: Miles do not expire as long as your account remains open.
Track your points and miles expiration for 630+ loyalty programs and get email alerts before your miles expire by signing up for a free AwardWallet account.
Other airlines in the Americas
- Aeromexico Rewards: Points do not expire.
- Air Canada Aeroplan: Points expire if your account has no earning or redemption activity for 18 consecutive months. However, Aeroplan expiration is currently paused.
- Avianca LifeMiles: Your miles will expire if your account has no accrual activity for 12 months.
- Azul TudoAzul: Points expire 24 months after earning; unlike many other programs, their validity can not be extended.
- GOL Smiles: GOL miles expire, but their validity depends on your status when you earn the miles. Validities vary from 36 months to up to 120 months.
- LATAM Pass Miles: Miles are valid for 36 months; however, those earned from flights with associated airlines are valid for three calendar years.
- LATAM Pass Points: Points are valid for 36 months from the flight date on which they are earned.
- WestJet Rewards Dollars: Base dollars do not expire. However, bonus dollars expire per the deadline specified in the promotion in which they were earned.
European airlines
- Aegean Airlines Miles + Bonus: Miles do not expire as long as your account is active. Keep your account active by taking an Aegean flight once every five years.
- Aer Lingus AerClub Avios: Miles expire after 36 months of the earning date with no activity on your account. Book hotel stays car rentals, or experiences to keep your Avios active.
- Air Europa SUMA: Miles expire after 24 months of inactivity
- Air France–KLM Flying Blue: Miles expire if you have no qualifying activity on your account for two years. Note that flying activity is required to extend the expiration of miles earned via flying.
- British Airways Executive Club: Avios expire if your account has no activity for 36 months; expired miles cannot be reinstated.
- Finnair Plus: Avios expire if you have no redemption or earning activity on your account for 18 months.
- Iberia Plus: Avios expire after 36 months if you have no earning or redemption activity on your account.
- Lufthansa Miles & More: Miles expire after 36 months from their earned date.
- TAP Portugal Miles & Go: Miles expire three years after the date they were earned. However, some bonus miles can expire one year after they were earned.
- Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles: Miles expire three years after the date they were earned.
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: Points do not expire.
Middle East, Asia, and Oceania airlines
- Air Asia BIG Points: Points expire 24 months after they were issued; once expired, they can not be reinstated.
- Air India Fling Returns: Points expire after 24 months of no flying activity; taking a flight extends the expiration by 24 months.
- Air New Zealand Airpoints: Unused points expire on your account opening anniversary four years after being earned.
- ANA Mileage Club: Miles expire 36 months after they are earned; there is no way to extend your mileage validity or reinstate them once they expire.
- Asiana Airlines Asiana Club: Depending on your status when you earn the miles, they expire after 10 or 12 years.
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles: Miles expire if your account has no qualifying activity for 18 months.
- Emirates Skywards: Miles are valid for three years from the date of travel at the end of the calendar month they were earned.
- Etihad Guest: Etihad Guest miles expire if you have no activity on your account for 18 months. Etihad Guest Platinum members' miles do not expire.
- EVA Air Infinity MileageLands: EVA Air Infinity MileageLands miles do expire at the end of the month 36 months after they were earned.
- Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank: Miles expire 36 months after they were earned at the end of the month they were earned.
- Korean SKYPASS: Miles expire ten years after they were earned; however, miles earned before July 1, 2008, never expire.
- Malaysia Airlines Enrich: Points expire three years after they were earned, at the end of the month they were earned.
- Qantas Frequent Flyer: Points expire if your account has no qualifying activity for 18 months.
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club: Avios expire if you have no earning or redemption activity on your account for 36 months.
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer: Miles expire 36 months after they are earned, at the end of the month they were earned.
- Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus: Miles expire three years after they are earned, at the end of the quarter in which they were earned.
- Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer: Points expire if you do not earn or redeem points on your account for 24 months.
Hotel Rewards Expiration Policies
Accor Live Limitless
Accor points expire if you have no qualifying activity on your account in a 12-month period. According to Accor, any activity that earns at least one point will count towards extending the validity of your Accor points.
Hilton Honors
Hilton points expire if a member has no qualifying activity on their account for a consecutive 24-month period. For expiration purposes, Hilton classifies various activities as qualifying, including earning, redeeming, and purchasing Hilton Honors points. Any of these will reset your points expiration clock. If your points have expired, you can pay to have up to 1,000,000 points reinstated at a rate of 0.25 cents per point.
IHG One Rewards
IHG points expire if the member doesn't have qualifying activity on their account for 12 months. To keep your points from expiring, all you need to do is earn or redeem points at least once every 12 months. The only exception to the points expiration policy is IHG One Rewards elite members with elite status.
Marriott Bonvoy
Marriott points expire if you have no qualifying activity on your account for 24 months. To keep your account active, you need to earn, redeem, or purchase Marriot Bonvoy points at least once every 24 months. Once forfeited, there is no way for members to reinstate their expired Marriott points.
Radisson Rewards
Radisson Rewards points expire if you have no activity on your account for a period of 24 months. Fortunately, there are many ways to earn or redeem Radisson Rewards points, including spending on co-branded credit cards and transfers from bank programs.
World Of Hyatt
Hyatt points expire if you have no qualifying activity on your account for a 24-month period. In terms of what counts as qualifying activity, earning, redeeming, and transferring points will count towards extending the validity of your points. You don’t have to worry about your points expiring if you have a Hyatt credit card.
Other hotel programs
- Best Western Rewards: Points do not expire, letting you focus on building your balance and planning your redemptions.
- Brilliant by Langham: Points expire if you have no earning or redeeming activity for 24 months.
- Choice Privileges: Points expire if you have no qualifying activity on your account for 18 months.
- OneKeyCash: OneKeyCash expires if you have no eligible earning or redemption activity on your account for 18 months. Some promotional rewards may have shorter validity depending on the offer.
- Sonesta Travel Pass: Points expire if your account has no activity for 24 months.
- Wyndham Rewards: Points expire after 18 months with no activity on your account.
Car Rental Rewards Expiration Policies
- Avis Preferred: Points expire if you have no activity on your account for 12 months.
- Hertz Gold Plus Rewards: Points expire if your account has no redemption or rental activity for 12 months, but each point has a finite lifespan of five years.
- Enterprise Plus: Points expire if you do not have at least one rental activity on your account every 36 months.
- National Car Rental: Rental Credits do not expire. However, things change once they are converted to Free Days.
- National Car Rental Free Days: Free days credits are valid through December 31st of the following year.
Bank Rewards Expiration Policies
- American Express Membership Rewards: Points do not expire as long as your account is open and in good standing.
- Capital One Rewards: Capital One Rewards do not expire as long as your account remains open and in good order.
- Citi ThankYou Points: Citi ThankYou Points can expire depending on the card they were earned with. Card-depending points expire after three years, five years, or not as long as your card is open.
- Chase Ultimate Rewards: Points do not expire as long as your account is open and in good standing.
- Discover Cashback Bonus: Bonus does not expire even if you close your account.
- Wells Fargo Rewards: Points won't expire as long as your card is open.
Other Rewards Programs
- Amazon Rewards Card Points: Points do not expire as long as you are a cardholder.
- Amtrak Guest Rewards: Points expire if your account has no activity for 24 months.
- CVS ExtraBucks Rewards: Points expire 90 days from the end of each calendar quarter following their date of issue.
- Disney Vacation Club: Points expire at the end of your “use year.”
- Honey PayPal Rewards: Points will expire if you don't earn at least 10 points within each consecutive 365-day period.
- OpenTable: Points in an account expire if that account hasn’t had a seated reservation for 12 months.
- Starbucks Rewards: Stars expire after six months at the end of the month in which they were earned.
Three Types of Points and Miles Expiration Policies
Every loyalty program has its own set of rules governing points expiration. While each program will have its nuances and unique set of criteria, expiration policies generally fall into one of three categories:
- Points that never expire, regardless of how long you have held them or lack of activity on your account.
- Points that will expire on a given date.
- Points that expire unless you take specific action to stop them from doing so.
Points and miles that never expire
These are the easiest programs to deal with and the simplest in which to build up large balances. Simply put, your points will not expire regardless of any activity or inactivity on your account. These types of programs offer you peace of mind of knowing that you can safely accrue points and miles without the risk of losing them. This lets you build up a balance towards a huge redemption opportunity.
Examples of programs with miles that do not expire include Delta SkyMiles and United MileagePlus.
However, even programs with no expiration policy can have other rules that could result in your points being lost. These rules include things like prohibited behavior or a repeated lack of response to a communication from the program. Or, in some cases, if your account is inactive for several years, some loyalty programs will terminate your entire account. Keep this in mind.
Just because a program does not have an expiration policy does not mean your points are there forever.
Points and miles that expire regardless of activity
The flipside of “never expire” points and miles expiration policies is “expire no matter what”. Some loyalty program miles/points have a fixed validity — meaning miles will expire a certain amount of time after being earned. You can do nothing to extend your points' validity in these programs. Once their lifespan is over, the miles expire and are gone.
An example of this is Emirates Skywards. In this complicated program, Skywards miles are valid for three years. Earning or redeeming miles won't change the expiration date.
Points and miles with an Extendable validity
By far, the bulk of points and miles expiration policies fall into this category. Points and miles are valid for a specific period of time (generally between 18 and 36 months). During this time, you need to complete a “qualifying activity” to reset the clock on your points. If the validity period elapses without you completing the required “qualifying activity,” your miles will expire and be forfeited.
As a rule, “qualifying activity” varies, but it generally means earning or redeeming points or miles with the program.
Can You Reinstate Expired Miles?
Your mileage will vary here (pun intended). Several programs allow you to reinstate expired points for a fee while other programs won't let you reinstate expired miles at any cost. In the latter case, if you call the customer service number, an agent might be able to reinstate your points or miles for you free as a gesture of goodwill. So, it does not hurt to ask.
For the programs that allow you to reinstate your points or miles for a fee, beware that it's typically expensive and the reinstatement window is typically limited. For instance, you can only reinstate points that have expired in the past six months. Another limitation is that there may be a restriction on the number of points you can reinstate at a time or per year.
Another thing to keep an eye out for is that the reinstated points may have a short validity. If you plan to pay cold, hard cash to reinstate some points, make sure you have a pretty quick use for them.
In short, it is best not to allow your miles to expire in the first place.
Are All “Qualifying Activity” Requirements the Same?
Programs requiring qualifying activity to extend the validity of your points each have their own criteria on what counts. Quite often, what counts in one program does not in another — and vice versa.
For instance, some programs will accept transfers from credit card points or even point purchases as qualifying activities that will reset the expiration clock on your points. Others may not accept this and insist that only points earned or redeemed directly with the program itself are what counts towards resetting your expiration clock.
If your loyalty program requires you to complete certain “Qualifying Activities”, ensure that you read all the fine print so that you are totally informed about what counts and what doesn’t count. This helps to avoid unpleasant surprises.
Do Expiration Policies Change?
Yes, airlines and hotels may update their loyalty program terms and conditions — including their points and miles expiration policies. For example, Hertz recently made an unannounced change to its expiration policy, dropping the Hertz Gold expiration policy from 18 to 12 months.
However, these changes aren't always negative. In quite a few recent cases, airlines have made improvements to their expiration policy. An example of this was when United abolished its expiration policy entirely. After that change, United miles don't expire.
Even if the change is not a radical one (like the United example above), it may be a minor tweak like disqualifying particular activity from resetting your mileage validity clock. This could be problematic if you were counting on using this newly-disqualified method. If that was your preferred method for keeping points alive, and it no longer works, you could wind up losing points to expiration.
So, it is best to stay on top of the changes to your rewards programs.
Remember, one of the easiest ways to keep track of all your points' expiration dates to keep them alive is to use AwardWallet to track your programs and notify you of impending expiration.
Final Thoughts
While putting together a spreadsheet to track points and miles validity is excellent, it is tedious. Whether you are a member of one program or fifty, your best option is to use AwardWallet to track the validity of your miles. Using AwardWallet, you will get timely reminders about when you have some points or miles about to expire.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Does anyone know if I use my American Airlines credit card a few days before my mileage is set to expire, will it reset based on the day I use the card, or will it wait until the statement date, in which case my miles will expire?
It won’t be until your statement date. Thankfully AA has extended its mileage expiration pause through 6/30/2021: https://awardwallet.com/blog/aadvantage-award-fees-eliminated-miles-expiration-paused/
My award wallet 5 points didn’t extend my AA points exp date, still going to expire in march
Thanks Irene! I was building my spreadsheet and using your list above (thanks again, this site is awesome!) to note how often I need to use credit cards to keep my points active.
The list above shows:
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards – Miles don’t expire!
and the awardwallet article that you linked shows:
Yes, Southwest Rapid Rewards expire if you have no qualifying earning activity on your Southwest Rapid Rewards account in a 24-month period.
Yes, we got the point Paul! Thank you for bringing it to our attention 🙂 It should be updated.
Thanks for this! Your list at the top says that Rapid Rewards points never expire. They do expire after 24 months of no activity. Thanks again!
Hi Paul,
Southwest Airlines states the following on their website:
No, your Rapid Rewards points do not expire. However, if you choose to close your account, the points in your account will be terminated.
So, your points shouldn’t expire according to their rules. But we do mention the 24-month period of inactivity in the next post:
https://awardwallet.com/blog/southwest-rapid-rewards-points-expire/
This is a super convenient post! I’m bookmarking this page for sure and checking in every few months, or even near the end of 2020 hoping for a 2021 update! 🙂 Thanks Howie!
Thank you Awardwallet for helping me simplify my life!
Great article. Two additions would be nice.
In addition to “how to fix it”, at least a (12 months) to indicate length of expiration would be nice vs. clicking every link.
Also, how about Wyndham Rewards? They have two expiration policies, one soft, one hard.
Thanks for your feedback. We grab the expiration date from the Wyndham website. Please contact our support team if you have any questions related to Wyndham expiration policy:
https://awardwallet.com/contact
I was more intimating that Wyndham Rewards should be added to the article.
Thanks for replying.
I’ve found that for United, using the MPX app (like the author stated) to make a $15 Uber purchase is a great way to extend the life of your miles for another 18 months. I did this for both my kids’ accounts last year. While it’s not quite as easy as leaving a comment here to extend your AA miles, it’s about as painless as you can get for United.
thanks so much for this, this site has saved me so many miles!
Thanks, great tips!
Hi, is there a way to customize the expiration reminder in terms of : email/text, how far ahead of expiration, number of reminders etc?
You can select to receive expiration reminders by desktop and mobile push notification and email via the ‘My Profile–>Edit Notifications’ and we send notifications 90, 60, 30, and 7 days prior to expiry.
Virgin Atlantic?
Although my American Airline miles are set to expire soon, hopefully just by this mere comment I will be able to save them. Just by commenting I can earn 5 AA miles and reset all of my miles! Thank you for the excellent tip Award Wallet!
My award expiration (particularly hyatt/mariott) show different expiration dates than on actual points portal. How do we confirm which is correct?
I’d be hard-pressed to say that Hyatt or Marriott don’t know when your points expire. That said, I don’t know where on Hyatt.com you can find the expiration date of your points. AwardWallet calculates the date based on qualified activity to extend your expiration.
If you update your accounts do you see refreshed expiration dates? If you’re still seeing data that doesn’t match up, please contact support directly: https://awardwallet.com/contact
This is great! All this info in one place. I do also LOVE that AwardWallet reminds us of expiring points!
Great information for reference and hopefully saving from miles expiring. Thanks AW
Love that my Delta miles don’t expire, but with recent award spikes they really became useless.
I had a problem with my spirit-miles…they expired..and back here in Germany it’s really difficult to keep them active by earning miles – for the next time, what would you suggest to do?
Move on. Spirit’s expiration policy is aggressive and if you’re not actively flying on them expiring miles will happen.
super helpful- thank you 🙂
One of the reasons I keep my CSP card is to preserve my miles and points with UR transfers. I haven’t had a need to use SWA or Hyatt lately and don’t carry their cards so I transfer 1000 miles or points to an account, keeping it active for a couple more years. I use the card the rest of the time on UAL transfers, keeping my account active and saving for a big trip in a couple of years. Of course, Awardwallet plays a big role keeping me up to date with all my account balances and expiration dates.
@greyhk says: “Thanks. These expiration dates can sneak up on you sometimes.”
If you don’t remain engaged on some level, they will most certainly, inevitably go poof.
Wow, so glad I have found this excellent service. I have wayyyyyy too many different award programs to keep track of and was trying to combine them and filter into each other some how so I would only have 3 or 4 to worry about. No I don’t have to as I will input them all here !! Will be telling everybody I know about this site as it is fantastic. Thank you !!!
Great set of links, sometimes it becomes overwhelming and you forget about some points. Thank goodness for awardwallet to keep track!
I did not know about it. It is very useful as it helps improve relationships with companies around the world. I’ve lost several miles, now I’m not losing anymore.
Do marriott points earned from the nfl game a few months ago keep the account updated?
No, they do not.
I am so happy I found Awardwallet – I have personally paid twice to reinstate miles from kids’ accounts. It’s easy to keep track of my own, but for my kids, and my elderly parents, it’s much harder, especially when multiplied by several airlines. I recently declined to sign the kids up for one airline FF program, since I knew we probably wouldn’t fly them in the next few years. I also didn’t realize Jet Blue miles don’t expire. Thanks!
I am moving my points from SPG once a month and it changes expiry date
I heard a rumor that Jet Blue points earned through the amazon referral DID expire. Is there any truth to that?
No.
This is interesting. I didn’t know that Delta miles never expire!
Thanks. These expiration dates can sneak up on you sometimes.
Lufthansa’s Miles and More policy annoys be because if you’re a basic member without a credit card, points expire after some period, regardless of more recent activity.
Delta has justifiably taken a lot of flak for their loyalty program. But at least their miles don’t expire.
A handy resource. Thanks!
AW is a lifesaver for poinrs expiry, I completely forgot about one accoubt recently ahdvwas able to safe a hoard of Mike’s due to the notifications.
Great info
Sadly I have lost miles this way
Good reminder, I also use Award Wallet for all points and exports.
I really like Delta for this.
I use automatic conversion of Le Club points to airline miles since I’ve had them expire before without being able to do anything about it.
Bookmarking this for reference. Thanks.
Important information to keep handy. I definitely don’t want to lose any points or miles due to neglecting or overlooking. Work too hard to earn them.
Best Western!!
They never expire. Added to the post.
AwardWallet is a lifesaver to avoid miles expiration, specially with the AA miles!
This was a great reminder. I used to hoard my miles/points, but with inevitable devaluations and expirations nowadays I use them more liberally. Of course, I keep a few tucked away for a rainy day, but overall I try to use them. Thanks for this reminder blog. It was quite helpful!
YOU ARE ALL DOING A GREAT JOB AT AWARD WALLET
Thanks? 🙂
Great list for reference, but AwardWallet is my “brain” for this data.
Also, was not Club Carlson (indicated above) now been re-branded as Radisson Rewards?
Yes! I’ve updated that.
Nice to have these reference links in one place…thanks!
Last I knew, Citibank Thank You points expire 60 days, I think, after the bank or credit card account in which they were earned is closed, even if you have other Thank You point accruing cards. You have to call the Thank You number and the CSR will tell you the number of points associated with the closed account so you can use them.
If you have multiple ThankYou Rewards earning accounts (which you shouldn’t — get them consolidated to a single account) if you no longer have a ThankYou Rewards earning card associated with a ThankYou Rewards account, then, yes, they will expire.
Thanks for the handy set of links. while most are known by memory these days (or logged in Award Wallet), this is still good info to keep around.
This is a good reminder of the fact that my points expire. Although I track them in Award Wallet, just earning points is not enough to keep some of these points from expiring. I’m going to have to pay particular attention to my Hertz points. Although I rent cars monthly, I have very little brand loyalty. All the elite benefits are the same and I prefer the cheapest car rather than upgrades. (The opposite of what I want on airlines!) I’d hate to have my points expire though. Earn and burn is the motto here. Thanks.