How do I keep my points from expiring?

Most airlines will have an online rewards point or loyalty program portal. You can sign into this portal and see how many points you have, as well as when they are going to expire. As a bonus, this portal can also tell you about any special deals, or any privileges of reaching a new level in the program. Some of the programs hdve points that will just expire over time and there’s nothing much you can do about it other than use them. Some points will require you to keep using the airline to keep the point active. Some points will not expire, those are the best points. Once you know which are which, that will give you a better idea of how not have your points expire on you and still use them for that trip you want to take.

Rules rules rules

As much as we hate to follow the rules, if you want to keep your mileage safe, you need to follow the rules and not break any of the terms and conditions of the airline. While terms and conditions are not actually laws, they can still give them the right to take away all of your hard-earned mileage points. Generally, in the terms and conditions, there is going to be an arbitration clause, which roughly translates to… you aren’t going to win. If you don’t mind losing your mileage program or your points are all going to expire, you can take the risk if you like and see if you can sell your points on many of the brokerage websites.

Loyalty

It’s a bit of six of one and a half dozen of another whether you spread your travel over multiple airlines or stick to one. If you stick to one, you will generally accrue more award points and have a better experience and have less chance of your points expiring being a valued customer. However, the counter to that argument is if they take away your reward points or close the program, you have nothing left. If you spread across a few different airlines, at least you have some points left. Even if you’re a loyal airline traveler, sometimes you still have to travel on a different airline because the flight that you want is not available. So, in that case, we would suggest you join that airlines travel program as well, it never hurts to have too many.

Use an airline Credit Card

Another good way to keep all your points expiring, assuming that the airline allows you to keep them, is to keep the account active by getting one of the airline credit cards that accrue points for you. Then every time you use that credit card you are updating the system and you are still an active member accruing points. We would only suggest doing this on an airline that you use all the time as most airline cards also have an annual fee which can make a dent into the savings that you are making using your airline points.

What if they cancel the program?

It occasionally happens but sometimes airlines will cancel their travel rewards programs, so what do you do when that happens? If you are on top of things and have an updated email, they will usually fire off an alert to let you know that they’re canceling it and give you a chance to use your points or transfer them to somewhere else. If you don’t follow up, you will lose your points and that’s that. The best way to handle this is not to be a points hoarder. save up your points and then use them.

Probably the best way not to lose your points or your mileage is you just go ahead and use them. Don’t be a hoarder. If you hold points for too long, there’s always a chance that they could change the airline program or even cancel it, and then you lose everything. It seems like the loyalty programs are made for you to be loyal to the airlines and not so much for the airlines to be loyal to you. So, the best thing you can do is keep on top of your account, make sure you know when they expire, and use them long before that. happy traveling.

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