Each frequent flyer program has different policies regarding how long their miles remain valid for, ranging from strict 36-month expiry to programs with no expiry at all. In the case your miles are just about to expire or do expire there may still be opportunities to extend or recover them either by paying a nominal fee or completing a simple activity or challenge set by the airline.
Let’s take a look at the two most popular frequent flyer programs in Australia first and how they handle points when they expire.
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Expired Qantas Points don’t always have to be lost for good, with Qantas often extends an olive branch to its Frequent Flyer members to allow for their Qantas Points to be reinstated. Typically issues a three-month challenge, during which you must earn at least 2,500 new Qantas Points from a minimum of two different sources.
This unpublished offer is generally available within six months of your points expiring and can only be requested by contacting Qantas directly by phone. As an unpublished benefit of the program, participation in this challenge is entirely at Qantas’ discretion.
Velocity Frequent Flyer
Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program does not offer a points reinstatement policy, neither by paying a fee nor completing a challenge.
However, Velocity Points may be reinstated on a case-by-case basis, with the Velocity Team considering the personal circumstances that prevented points activity from occurring. To request a reinstatement, you must contact Velocity Frequent Flyer directly by phone.
For families, Velocity also offers a Family Parental Pause option, allowing you to pause points before they expire. You must be proactive and request this pause before your points are due to expire.
KrisFlyer – Singapore Airlines
Each KrisFlyer mile you earn has a hard expiry of 36 months, so staying on top of your KrisFlyer redemptions is essential, otherwise, your miles will be lost for good. Fortunately, KrisFlyer provides an option to extend your miles just before they are about to expire.
You can choose to extend your miles on a one-time basis for a service fee of 1,200 miles or USD 12 for every 10,000 miles, or part thereof. This will extend your miles’ expiry date by six months, and if you hold Silver or Gold membership status, KrisFlyer will extend your miles by 12 months.
While we don’t recommend extending miles as an ongoing strategy, this option is far better than losing your miles entirely. KrisFlyer makes the process simple, as it can be done entirely online.
Qatar Airways — Privilege Club
Qatar Airways Privilege Club has a simple and generous policy that allows Avios points close to expiring or that have expired within the past year to be revalidated and credited back to your account. The great part is that once they are credited, these points receive an additional three years of validity, giving you plenty of time to use them for flights, upgrades, or other rewards.
The revalidation service is fully online, making it simple and convenient to restore your Avios balance for a service fee of USD 0.015 per Avios.
Emirates Skywards
Each Emirates Skywards Mile you earn comes with a strict 36-month expiry, which means unused Miles instantly lose their value. Fortunately, the program allows you to reactivate up to 50,000 expired Miles per year at a cost of USD 20 per 1,000 Miles for any miles that expired in the last 6 months. While this option can help recover some of your lost points, it isn’t particularly generous compared to other frequent flyer programs in terms of both the number of miles you can earn back and the high cost.
Before deciding to pay the reactivation fee, it’s important to carefully crunch the numbers and consider whether you’ll come out ahead.
There are several other airline loyalty programs that allow you to extend your hard-earned miles, each with its own method of doing so.
EVA Air – Infinity MileageLands
Miles can be reinstated within six months of their expiration date for a service fee of USD 10 per 1,000 miles, with a maximum of 150,000 miles eligible for reinstatement per year; these miles are restricted to redemption on EVA Air, UNI Air, and Star Alliance partner flights, and once reinstated, they receive a fresh 12-month of validity.
Vietnam Airlines – Lotusmiles
Expired miles can be reinstated within six months of their expiration by purchasing them in 500-mile increments at a cost of USD 5, and once reactivated, these miles will expire again after a further six months.
Air Canada – Aeroplan
Aeroplan has a generous policy for reinstating expired points: they can be bought back for a fee of 1 cent per point plus a $30 transaction charge, or alternatively, flying on Air Canada within six months of expiry automatically restores all expired points, even if the booking is made after they have lapsed. Once reinstated or newly earned, the points follow the standard 18-month inactivity rule.
American Airlines – AAdvantage
American Airlines allows expired miles to be reinstated; however, you’ll need to call to see what’s possible for your account. Generally, only miles that expired within the past 24 months are eligible, with a maximum of 500,000 miles per transaction, and only one reactivation request is allowed per batch. While AA does not publish official fees, reports suggest that reinstating 5,000 miles typically costs around $60.
Turkish Airlines – Miles&Smiles
Miles that are nearing expiry can be extended for an additional three years at a cost of $20 per 1,000 miles online. Expired miles can also be reactivated through the Miles&Smiles online portal for $10 per 1,000 miles, with the reinstated miles receiving a fresh three-year validity.
Malaysia Airlines – Enrich
Enrich Points that have expired within the last three months can be reactivated, and points that are approaching expiry can also be extended, giving them an additional 12 months of validity. Each point can be reinstated or extended for a service fee of MYR 0.085 per point, with no minimum requirement, and the points are typically credited back to your account within 24 hours.
As we’ve seen, not all miles are treated the same. Each frequent flyer program handles soon-to-expire miles and already expired miles differently, with varying rules and fees.
The gold standard for programs where miles truly never expire includes Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines (Atmos Rewards), Virgin Atlantic (Flying Club), Delta (SkyMiles), United Airlines (MileagePlus), and JetBlue, giving you the ultimate flexibility to earn and redeem without the stress of looming expiration dates.
