When you last used your co-branded hotel and airline travel rewards card in 12 to 24 months, your miles and points may expire, depending on the hotel's or airline's policy. However, there are several things you can do, like using your co-branded credit card, to extend the validity of your points and miles (more on that below).
Do reward points ever become useless?
Most major banks' standard travel and cash-back credit cards do not have an expiration date as long as your account is in good standing. Chase Ultimate Rewards® and Barclaycard points, for instance, never go bad. In some circumstances, Wells Fargo, US Bank, and Citi are the only exceptions (detailed in the second chart).
Do airline miles ever go bad?
Except for American Airlines and British Airways, most major airlines do not have a mileage expiration policy. You may prevent your miles from expiring in either of these programmes by actively using them to earn and redeem more miles.
When you close your co-branded credit card account, your accumulated miles will remain accessible in your frequent flyer account for up to a year after the account is closed.
If you have hotel points, will they ever expire?
Inactivity in a hotel loyalty programme usually results in the points being removed from your account. The date when the points are no longer valid is independent of the day they were acquired. Your points will never expire as long as you keep earning and using them. Between 12 to 24 months of inactivity is typical.
The Wyndham Awards programme is the only exception to this rule among large hotel systems; members can prevent their points from expiring after 18 months through account activity, but their rewards will still expire after 48 months regardless of account activity. One of Wyndham Rewards' biggest flaws is that they don't offer free nights.
Learn the ins and outs of prolonging the validity of your points and miles.
Keeping your points and miles from expiring is as easy as doing one of these few things:
Benefit from your accumulated miles or points
The best method to keep your miles and points is to use them. The best way to maximise the benefits of your loyalty programme and prevent the loss of your hard-earned points and miles is to use it frequently, even for inexpensive transactions. Likewise, using your miles to buy plane tickets, hotel rooms, credit card statements, or any of your program's other redemption possibilities will count as an activity and prevent you from losing your rewards.
Please use a credit card with a company name and logo on it.
Credit cards co-branded with airlines and hotels, such as the Hilton Honors American Express Card, allow cardholders to earn hotel loyalty programme points with every purchase. Such credit cards are helpful if you frequently use a specific airline or hotel brand. Just purchase before your points expire.
Go shopping through the online mall associated with your loyalty programme.
Find out if your hotel or airline reward programme has an online shopping gateway, and use it the next time you need to make a purchase. Using a shopping gateway will helps you save money but also helps you rack up rewards points, which means your existing points won't expire.
Move or convert points from one loyalty programme to another.
Chase Ultimate Rewards® and American Express Membership Rewards are two examples of loyalty programmes that let you transfer your points and miles to others. If your JetBlue TrueBlue points are about to expire, you may generate activity by transferring some of your Chase Ultimate Rewards® points over to your JetBlue account. (Note that you shouldn't transfer many points unless you plan to use them soon.)
Don't let your account get closed for any reason.
It's important to keep your account active, so your points and miles stay active. If you want to keep your accrued points and miles, you need to always make sure you pay off your amount in full and on schedule each month and don't close your account.
Make use of eating programmes to rack up points.
You can earn points with some loyalty programmes if you eat in or get takeout from restaurants participating in that programme. Eating out can be used to both racks up points and keep your points in good standing when you enrol in a dining program.
