American Airlines maintains its mileage expiration policy
DO American Airlines Advantages When do miles expire? Ultimately, yes — and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change any time soon.
American Airlines largely stands alone among the four largest U.S. airlines in controlling about 80% of the U.S. market share in the airline industry.
AAdvantage miles will expire after 24 months of inactivity.
Check value: Are airline credit cards valid anymore?
While there are easy ways to keep your miles running, American’s policy is definitely more stringent than what you’ll find at top competitors. Frequent flyer miles never expire Delta SkyMiles, United MileagePlus And The reward is quick to the southwest members for example.
Can Americans change their policies? In the aviation industry, airlines often make policy changes to match their competitors. Look no further wave of airlines increasing baggage fees as early as 2024 — or the movement of a long list of airlines globally already moving toward Dynamic prize pricing.
However, it seems that Americans are in no hurry to change their stance on mileage expiration.
Read more: How to keep your airline and hotel points and miles from expiring
American follows the current expiration policy
Last month, during the company’s third-quarter earnings call, a Wall Street analyst asked American CEO Robert Isom whether the company planned to follow in the footsteps of its major competitors. and switch to a “miles never expire” policy.
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“We’re constantly looking for ways to better engage customers not only from a loyalty perspective but also from a value perspective,” Isom replied, giving a rather indirect answer to the question — but one that seems Word suggests Americans are comfortable with its policies, as they are.
“While there may be some airlines that are doing something different, I know one thing: You look at any kind of review of American Airlines’ value of a mile, compared to anyone else, and you will see that we absolutely create more value for our customers,” Isom added.
How much are airline miles worth?
To be fair, Isom has a view on the value of American loyalty money. According to TPG November 2024 points and miles valuationAAdvantage miles are worth approximately 1.6 cents per mile. That’s currently the best of any U.S. airline, exceeding Delta SkyMiles (1.2 cents), United MileagePlus miles (1.35 cents), Southwest Rapid Rewards points (1.4 cents), Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles (1.4 cents) and JetBlue TrueBlue points (1.3 cents).
How to keep AAdvantage miles from expiring
We should also note that while AAdvantage miles technically expire after 24 months of account inactivity, it’s extremely easy to keep your miles active.
Earning or redeeming miles on just one flight will work. You can also maintain your miles without leaving home by earning miles through AAdvantage electronic shopping portal or one of American’s qualified shopping, travel or dining partners.
Plus, even if your miles expire, there are ways to restore up to half a million miles after the fact.
It’s important to know that miles never expire for AAdvantage members with U.S. air tickets co-branded credit card. That includes Citi®/AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (see exchange rates and fees), has a whopping $595 annual fee but includes free access to American’s network Admirals Club.
Read more: Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard Review: Free Admirals Club Membership
It’s not just Americans
Mileage expiration is much more common for international airline loyalty programs, including popular programs like Air France-KLM Fly Green, Air Canada aircraft, British Airways Executive Club And Emirates Skywards – just to name a few. (Exact policies vary between service providers.)
Meanwhile, at American hotels, many outstanding loyalty programs, including Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Title And World of Hyattstipulates that points will expire after two consecutive years of inactivity.
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