No one likes when their hard earned points and miles expire. Fortunately, some programs, like Hawaiian Miles, Southwest Quick Reward And United MileagePluseliminated mileage expiration in the past few years.
However, your rewards from most loyalty programs can still expire. Some may expire if you don’t keep your account active, while others may expire within a certain period of time after you earn them.
Generally it is in your best interest to keep your points and miles from expiring. However, some programs allow you to restore your rewards after they expire. So in this guide, we’ll highlight a few ways to get your rewards back after they expire.
Should you pay to recover your points and miles?
In general, it can be expensive to restore expired rewards through the redemption option. You need to carefully consider whether this cost is worth the potential value you could derive from your restored rewards.
reference TPG . Monthly Valuation to get an idea of the approximate value of your points and miles. If your cost-per-point or recovery mile exceeds these valuations, redeeming your expired rewards is generally not recommended.
Related: Dumping after dumping, 8 TPG employees share their favorite redemptions that still exist
How to recover expired miles?
Some airlines allow you to restore miles for a fee after they expire. Each airline has its own fee structure; some charge a flat fee, while others charge theirs based on the mileage you recover.
Airlines that don’t have a published recovery policy can still show travelers flexibility on a case-by-case basis. For instance, a few years ago, some TPG readers reported that British Airways had reinstated their expired Avios without any charge. Therefore, you should contact your airline to see about restoring expired mileage, even if it doesn’t have a published policy.
Now, let’s explore some of the major airlines that offer the option to restore expired points or miles.
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Air Canada plane
- Expiration Policy: 18 months from last activity; extensible with activity.
Air Canada plane Points expiration has been paused until September 30, 2024. But if your Aeroplan points expire after this pause ends, you can restore them by paying 1 cent per point plus the fees and taxes 30 dollars.
Another option to restore your points is to fly Air Canada within six months of expiration. If you do, Aeroplan will restore your expired points. You can book your flight after your points expire, but travel must take place within six months after your points expire.
If you are under 18, have Aeroplan elite status or are a primary cardholder on an Aeroplan co-branded card such as Credit Card Aeroplan®Your points will not expire.
Related: 5 best ways to redeem 75,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points
American ALAdvantage
- Expiration Policy: 24 months from last activity; extensible with activity.
American ALAdvantage Members can pay a reactivation fee to recover their miles. If you lost your US miles that are about to expire within the last 24 months, visit American website to check your options.
While Americans don’t disclose what they charge to reactivate expired mileage, Travel Summary reported these charges for 113,864 miles that expired in July 2022:
- 5,000 miles: $60.
- 10,000 miles: $100.
- 15,000 miles: $150.
- 25,000 miles: $225.
- 50,000 miles: $400.
- 75,000 miles: $550.
- 100,000 miles: $700.
- 113,864 miles: $1,000.
If you less than 21 or be an eligible primary cardholder on a co-branded card American AAdvantage credit cardYour mileage will not expire.
Related: Best use of American Airlines miles
Avianca Life Miles
- Expiration Policy: 12 months from last activity; extensible with accrual operation.
Avianca Life Miles $10 per 1,000 miles, plus taxes, to recover miles.
If you are an Avianca elite member or have an Avianca credit card, your miles will expire 24 months after your last activity, up from 12 months for regular LifeMiles members.
Related: Use Avianca LifeMiles to save on United domestic short-haul bonuses
Emirates Skywards
- Expiration Policy: At the end of your birth month three calendar years from the date of travel; does not extend with activity.
You can recover up to 50,000 Emirates Skywards miles for 12 months by paying $20 for every 1,000 miles, but you must pay within six months of the expiration date. With a reactivation fee of 2 cents per mile, we recommend that you do not pay to reactivate your Skywards miles since Valuation of TPG Emirates Skywards miles are fixed at 1.2 cents per mile.
Platinum members are exempt from mileage expiration.
Miles Border
- Expiration Policy: Six months from the last activity; extensible with accrual operation.
If your Miles Border expired, you can restore them for between $50 and $500, depending on mileage.
| Border mileage | Recovery fee |
|---|---|
| 1 to 25,000 miles. | $50. |
| 25,001 to 50,000 miles. | $100. |
| 50,001 to 75,000 miles. | $150. |
| 75,001 to 100,000 miles. | $200. |
| 100,001 to 125,000 miles. | $250. |
| 125,001 to 150,000 miles. | $300. |
| 150,001 to 175,000 miles. | $350. |
| 175,001 to 200,000 miles. | $400. |
| 200,001 to 250,000 miles. | $450. |
| 250,001 miles or more. | $500. |
Based Valuation of TPG, Border Miles are worth about 1.1 cents per mile. So calculate your reactivation cost per mile and your expected redemption value. In some cases, you should reactivate expired Border Miles.
Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles
- policy expires: 36 months from the date of income; does not extend with activity.
You can extend the validity of Turkish airline miles in three years if you pay $20 for every 1,000 miles. Like Emirates, Turkish Airlines’ 2 cents per mile fee for extending their miles is significantly higher than our 1.3 cent pricing for Turkish Airlines miles.
Miles do not expire
As mentioned, some airline loyalty programs have eliminated mileage expiration. These programs include Alaska Mileage Plan, Delta SkyMiles, Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles, JetBlue TrueBlue, Southwest Quick Reward And United MileagePlus.
Related: TPG’s guide to getting started with points, miles and credit cards
How to restore expired hotel points
Hilton title is the only major hotel rewards program that allows you to recover expired points.
Hilton Points will expire if you don’t have any qualifying account activity for 24 months. But you can restore expired Hilton points on Hilton’s website. In general, restoring Hilton points costs 0.25 cents per point. But a few FlyerTalk users reported that Hilton customer service was able to restore points at no charge.
Related: 8 ways to maximize Hilton Honors redemptions
How to keep points and miles from expiring
While some loyalty programs allow you to restore expired rewards, it’s best to keep your points and miles from expiring right from the start.
Many programs extend the expiration of points and miles by activity, so one of the easiest ways to keep rewards from expiring is to keep earning and redeeming them. For example, you can:
Related: What happens to your points and miles after you die?
bottom line
It’s usually not ideal to pay to recover expired points and miles. When deciding whether to reinstate your rewards, focus on determining if the value you can get from your rewards is worth the cost of reinstatement.
Remember, it’s best to prevent your points and miles from expiring in the first place, as that will save you trouble and recovery costs.
Additional reporting by Ariana Arghandewal.
