By now we’ve all heard the stories. Or maybe it’s happened to you. What seems like a short time without flying, a little carelessness — and poof! — hard-earned frequent flier miles just disappear.
And yes, the airlines do publish how long a period of activity is allowed before miles expire, usually about 18 months. But as I and others have written about, for all the “special offer”, “exciting news,” and other emails they send, a warning notice of expiration is not among them. So, like it or not, it’s a traveler’s responsibility to keep up to date.
But as the holidays approach, this brings to mind one of the easiest ways to hang onto miles, which doesn’t involve traveling at all. It’s simply making a purchase at an online store affiliated with your program of choice. And any purchase will do to keep miles active.
Better yet, the offers aren’t just the flowers and SkyMall products of old. Wal-Mart even participates with Walmart.com on American Aadvantage for example, to the tune of 2 miles a dollar. So we are not exactly talking enough miles for a trip to Hawaii. But hey, any miles are enough to keep your current ones from expiring. Other retailers with American for example include Lands End, Office Depot, Target, and Macy’s.
Target also participates with other airlines including United. And United’s Mileage Plus includes Safeway for those who don’t like online shopping. In fact, many big retailers seem to participate with all the programs.
There are a few caveats. Most shopping must be online, though some retailers allow you to buy online and pick up at a local brick-and-mortar store to save shipping. And it can take up to 45 days to credit the miles, so if your have miles expiring at the end of December, you should shop soon.
In addition, you must enter the retailer’s site through the airline site to get the miles. And we all know how flexible airlines are with frequent fliers and not following the rules exactly.
For all that there are now so many retailers on board that’s it’s pretty certain that most people can find something they would buy anyway. And there’s a bonus, after you’ve checked your accounts and made a purchase or two to keep your miles active, you can feel virtuous about having gotten started on your holiday to-do list.
(And for those of you readers who’ve already finished your holiday shopping, your mileage accounts are probably all up-to-date anyway.)
(Photo: old shoe woman/creative commons/flickr.com)
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