How to stop frequent flyer points expiring

When do points expire?

Asia Miles

After 18 months of inactivity (for miles earned from 1 January 2020) or after three years at the end of the equivalent month in which they were earned (for miles earned up until 31 December 2019).

Marco Polo Club

Every 12 months. A Marco Polo Club membership lasts 12 months and upon renewal, upgrade or downgrade, your club points automatically reset to zero. 

How to keep points active

• Fly in eligible fare classes with Cathay Pacific and other Oneworld airlines including Qantas (points are calculated based on a combination of airline, cabin, fare class and distance travelled).
• Buy products and services from Asia Miles’ online store.

Changes to the program due to COVID-19

The Marco Polo Club is automatically renewing Green, Silver, Gold and Diamond tier memberships that expire in 2021 for another 12 months.

When do points expire?

Never. However, to maintain or upgrade Premier statuses, members must continue earning points.

How to maintain status

• Earn or redeem miles by booking or upgrading an United Airlines flight or with one of their airline partners, including Air New Zealand. 
• Book a hotel or rent a car.
• Buy miles.

Changes to the program due to COVID-19

United Airlines has extended their Premier status through January 2022 for current members and also reduced the requirements to achieve Premier status, making it easier for members to meet or keep their status level.

When do points expire?

After 18 consecutive months of inactivity.You can also reactivate miles within 18 months of their expiry.

How to keep points active

• Earn or redeem miles by booking or upgrading an American Airlines flight or with one of its airline partners, including Qantas.
• Book a hotel on the American Airlines website.
• Redeem points on any of the above.
• Donate points to a charity or ‘gift’ some to someone.
• Buy more points.

Changes to the program due to COVID-19

American Airlines has paused expiration of AAdvantage miles for members until 30 June 2021, and adjusted qualification thresholds for various tiers to make it easier to retain or upgrade tier level.

When do points usually expire?

After 36 consecutive months of inactivity. 

How to keep points active

• Earn or spend points by flying with British Airways or one of its partner airlines, including Qantas, booking a hotel or holiday or renting a car or buying products through British Airways. 
• Buy or ‘gift’ points to top up your account.

Changes to the program due to COVID-19

Memberships with end dates between July 2020 and July 2021 automatically receive an additional 12 months beyond their end date. Also, the number of tier points required to retain and upgrade tier levels has been reduced by 25%. 

When do points expire?

Four years from the date accrued. Airpoints of Elite and Gold tier members do not expire but Airpoints need to be accumulated to retain tier status.

How to keep points active

• Book or upgrade an Air New Zealand flight or with one of its airline partners.
• Convert rewards points from an eligible credit card.
• Book a hotel or hire a car on the Air New Zealand website.

Changes to the program due to COVID-19

Eligible Airpoints members with Elite, Gold or Silver tier status have had their current tier extended for 12 months as of 2021.

When do points expire?

Depends on your tier status. If you have Bronze, Silver and Gold memberships, from August 2020, miles are valid for 18 months plus an additional 18 months with any eligible miles transactions per month. 

Platinum members’ miles will never expire but members will need to earn enough miles to retain their tier status.

How to keep points active

• Earn or spend miles by booking a flight with Etihad or one of its airline partners, including Virgin Australia. 
• Boost or buy additional miles.

Changes to the program due to COVID-19

Etihad has reduced its Tier Miles and Tier Segments requirements to 80% until 30 June 2021. In addition, last year eligible members received bonus Tier Miles every month.

When do points usually expire?

Depends on your tier status. Blue, Bronze, Silver and Gold members’ Skywards Miles expire three years from the date of travel. Platinum tier members’ Miles don’t expire but members will need to earn enough of them to retain tier status.

How to keep points active

• Book a reward ticket, valid for up to 12 months so even if you can’t travel before your Miles expire, you can still redeem them now for a future trip.
• Pay to have your Skyward Miles extended for another year when they are within three months of expiry (USD$20 for 1000 Skyward Miles).

Changes to the program due to COVID-19

The current tier status for all Emirates Skywards Platinum, Gold and Silver members has been extended to 2022 along with the validity of Skywards Miles, which can now be redeemed up to 11 months in advance on flights, upgrades, accommodation and experiences. 

When do points expire? 

KrisFlyer

After three years at the end of the equivalent month in which they were earned – or 18 months if there’s been no activity since enrolling in the program.  

PPS Club

Members need to earn and ‘spend’ 25,000 PPS points each year to maintain their status. PPS points will expire after three years. Members can also earn KrisFlyer points, which don’t expire if they remain a PPS Club member.

How to keep points active 

• Book or upgrade an eligible booking class with Singapore Airlines and partner airlines, including Virgin Australia.
• Buy products and services from KrisFlyer’s online store.

Changes to the program due to COVID-19

Following an earlier extension at the start of the pandemic, KrisFlyer Elite and PPS Club memberships that expire between March 2021 and February 2022 will be automatically renewed for an additional 12 months. KrisFlyer miles due to expire between January and June 2021 will also be extended for six months.

When do points expire? 

After 24 consecutive months of inactivity. 

How to keep points active 

• Use a Virgin Velocity-earning credit card for everyday purchases.
• Connect your Flybuys card with your Virgin Velocity account.
• Shop for products on the Virgin website.
• Book a flight, or accommodation and/or a rental car with select Virgin partners.

Changes to the program due to COVID-19

The Velocity frequent flyer program was put on hold on 21 April 2020 as the company went into administration. Now operating under new ownership, Virgin’s Velocity program has been reinstated and the hold on expiration lifted on 15 May 2020.

When do points expire?

After 18 consecutive months of inactivity. 

How to keep points active 

• Book an eligible Qantas flight between now and the end of 2021 to extend your frequent flyer status for an additional 12 months. 
• Use a Qantas Points-earning credit card for everyday purchases. 
• Connect your Everyday Rewards card or your BP Rewards card to your frequent flyer account. 
• Shop for products on the Qantas website.
• Download the Qantas Wellbeing app and connect it to your fitness app or device to earn daily frequent flyer points without spending money.

Changes to the program due to COVID-19

Last year, members received 12-month status extensions and ‘Status Credits’ boosts so they could retain their tier level and have more opportunities to earn points on the ground. As of January 2021, members can extend their status expiry by a further 12 months by buying an eligible Qantas flight.

Collecting frequent flyer points has become something of a favourite pastime for many Australians. But with travel restrictions limiting where we can travel, you may find it harder to keep your existing points active for use in the future. 

Here we look at how 10 airline frequent flyer programs have changed since COVID-19 – and provide expert advice on how to keep your points from expiring.

Tip: When the COVID-19 pandemic grounded most air travel, most airline loyalty schemes offered extensions or a pause on points expiring. But this is subject to change as global restrictions on travel evolve. Always check the terms and conditions of the program you are enrolled in.

Know when your points expire

Frequent flyer points have an expiry date. Your whole points balance will disappear if you don’t add to your points or use some of them within a specified time period.

It’s important to stay on top of your points and take action before they expire.

“Customers should be aware of their points situation and what the possible expiry might be,” says Ian Jarratt OAM from the Queensland Consumers Association. “They need to be active and not leave these things to the last minute.”

Check your airline’s policies

Don’t think that all airline loyalty programs operate the same way. What you can and can’t do to extend the life of your points really comes down to the policies of each program. 

For example, one airline may allocate you points on the same day you buy a flight. Yet another may not apply your points or recognise your ‘account activity’ until after you’ve taken that flight, making it impossible to achieve valid ‘account activity’ at short notice.

It’s important to read the fine print on each promotion and check your loyalty program’s terms and conditions. 

“Consumers need to be very clear what they have to do and what’s regarded as a ‘qualifying transaction’ to be able to get points that will keep their existing points alive,” says Jarratt.

You don’t have to spend big on flights

For some loyalty programs, earning points regularly to ensure account activity is easier than you think.

“There are some simple ways that you can get or spend just a few points, if you want to hang onto your points,” says Jarratt.

For example, depending on what program you’re with, you can earn points by using an app, swiping your membership card while buying petrol, or transferring points from other programs like Everyday Rewards or Flybuys. 

You can also use a frequent flyer credit card to earn points, but not every card delivers great value. Rewards credit cards usually have higher than average interest rates, so if you don’t pay them off in full, you’ll end up paying more than the value you get from the rewards.

To spend or not to spend?

Should you be spending your points during this time of flux, or leaving them to sit in your account, waiting for the resumption of international travel? 

“It’s hard to know which is better,” says CHOICE travel expert Jodi Bird. “The risk of locking away points for future use is that even if the airlines don’t expire the points, they could still devalue them by changing those points to buy less value.” 

If you do want to use your points before they expire, Bird says your options may be limited. “If they’re due to expire before the end of this year, then it’s unlikely you’ll be able to use the points on international flights,” he says.

So, what you decide to do with your points right now really depends on your circumstances. 

“In terms of the monetary value of various uses of points, it’s widely agreed that the greatest value is using points for high-cost international and domestic flights and seat upgrades,” says Jarratt. 

“But, when travel gets back to some sort of ‘normality’, if I can’t use them for those things I’ll likely look at using them for other things, including gift cards to use to buy groceries.”

Frequent flyer program expiry policies

Are frequent flyer credit cards still worth it?

Frequent flyer credit cards let you earn points for every dollar you spend and some even offer sign-up bonuses of up to 150,000 frequent flyer points.

But not every card delivers great value and some even leave you worse off (this was true even before the COVID-19 crisis). So if you can’t spend the points because of the current travel restrictions, should you hold onto your card?

If you have an existing rewards card for which you’ve already paid the yearly fee, it might be worth hanging on to it rather than cancelling early if it means you’ll end up paying another yearly fee for another card. 

But this advice only applies if you pay your card off in full each month. Rewards credit cards usually have higher than average interest rates, so if you don’t pay them off in full, you’ll end up paying more than the value you get from the rewards. If you’ve been affected by the pandemic financially and are struggling to make repayments, you might be better off switching cards to one with a lower interest rate.

“Banks market their rewards programs to lure people into purchasing expensive credit cards, often using the trap of 0% balance transfers. However, be careful. As the balance transfer period ends, the interest rate of these cards often skyrockets above 20%,” says CHOICE banking consumer advocate Patrick Veyret.

“It’s simply unfair the rates banks charge people on frequent flyer credit cards. While the cash rate is at historic lows of 0.25%, there is no justification for the big banks to continue charging interest rates of frequent flyer cards in excess of 20%.”

What can I do if I think my points have been unfairly devalued?

“The first thing you should do is contact the airline or hotel group directly,” says Ian Jarratt OAM from the Queensland Consumers Association.

“Do it in a professional, non-aggressive way – always try to be an assertive rather than an angry consumer.”

If your complaint relates to a hotel, contact your state or territory consumer protection agency or the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Airline loyalty program Ts & Cs 

We’ve provided links to each loyalty program’s terms and conditions so you can check which rules apply to you. 

• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Velocity Frequent Flyer
• KrisFlyer; PPS Club  
• Cathay Pacific Marco Polo Club
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• Air New Zealand Airpoints
• British Airways Executive Club
• AAdvantage
• United Airlines Mileage Plus