Airline Point Expiration Policies (Updated 6/2023)

by joeheg

Airlines have dramatically changed their policies regarding the expiration of points in Frequent Flyer programs. Previously, almost every plan required some activity in your account to keep your points active. There’s been a shift and most programs now have points that never expire.

Airlines miles that do not expire:

  • Delta
  • Hawaiian
  • JetBlue
  • Southwest
  • United

Here are the other U.S. airlines’ mileage expiration policies, from the shortest to the longest, as well as what changes, if any, they’ve made to their point expiration rules.

ALLEGIANT AIR – Allways Rewards

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Allegiant recently introduced the Allways program which awards points for buying tickets on the airline. Previously, the only way to get Allegiant points was to have a co-brand credit card.

Points in the Allways program expire after 24 months of inactivity unless you have an active Allegiant credit card.

Points expire after 24 months of inactivity. Activity is defined by making a booking while being logged in to your Allways account, or booking over the phone with your Allways ID Number.

If you are an active Allegiant credit card holder, your points will not expire as long as your card account is open. For more information on the Allegiant credit card, click here.

However, all accrued points in a member’s account will be forfeited if the member’s Allways account is closed for any reason.

FRONTIER AIRLINES – Frontier Miles

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To keep your Frontier Miles active, you usually needed to earn miles every six months. During the coronavirus epidemic, they sent an email to Frontier Miles members saying that accounts set to expire on or before April 30, 2020, would remain active. According to the Frontier website, members will be given a 90-day notice before resuming the expiration of miles.

In response to COVID-19 FRONTIER Milesexpiration is paused. We will send a 90-day communication to all members with miles before resuming expirations. Once miles expiration resumes and if you do not have any accrual activity to extend your expiration date your miles will expire.

SPIRIT AIRLINES – Free Spirit

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Spirit has made some customer-friendly changes to the Free Spirit program. Previously you needed to fly with them once every THREE MONTHS but now that’s been increased to a more reasonable 12 months. In addition, cardholders of the Spirit co-brand credit card miles never expire as long as your account is open.

AMERICAN AIRLINES – Aadvantage

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To keep your Aadvantage miles active, you need to earn or redeem miles at least once every 24 months.

Primary AAdvantage® credit cardmembers will not be subject to the 24-month qualifying activity period for as long as their card account is open.

Since American AAdvantage no longer allows mileage tracking programs, like Awardwallet, to keep tabs on your account, it’s up to you to make sure your miles don’t expire.

ALASKA AIRLINES – Mileage Plan

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To keep your account active, you need to have activity in it every 2 years, either by earning or redeeming miles. Doing so will prevent your miles from being removed from your account.

SUN COUNTRY AIRLINES – Sun Country Rewards

Sun Country has the most lenient expiration policy, except for those airlines whose miles do not expire. You don’t even need to have enough points for a free flight as you can use points to pay for part of a ticket or baggage fees or seat assignments.

However, points in the program expire 36 months after they are earned, regardless of more recent account activity. Therefore, no changes to this policy have been made.

Yes, but only 36 months after the date they were earned. Remember, you don’t need to acquire enough points to pay for an entire trip, you can combine them with dollars to pay or you can use them for bag options or seat selections.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary

1 comment

Ghostrider5408 June 12, 2021 - 4:00 pm

How about for hotel points any guidance there? Good post thank you

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