Dont let your Airline miles Expire!

So you have 16,236 miles left in your United, Delta or other Airline mileage account and you receive an offer in the mail selling you a magazine subscription for miles in your account that are probably expiring soon.

Most Airlines have an expiration date on stagnant miles in your account.  For example if you have United airline miles from a travel that completed in Jan 2014 and you have not traveled since or had any activity on your account, more than likely those miles will expire July of 2015. 

It is almost not worth using those miles for Magazines unless you subscribe to them regardless by paying for subscription.  For example if a magazine costs you 2000 miles for 24 issues at 2 cents a mile that works out to $40 for 24 issues.  

Here are some ways of extending the life of your miles:

• Credit Cards. If you Have  an airline co-branded credit card such as the United Explorer card, then your miles never expire as long as your card is in good standing.

• Transferring points from American Express, Chase Saphire or Thank You rewards also can extend the life of your miles.  A minimum of 1000 points need to be transferred depending on the credit card(see my post write up on Best Mileage Credit Cards)  and doing that resets the expiration date for another term based on their policies(such as 18 months for United).

• Purchasing miles.  Many Airlines let you purchase miles directly from their website.  American Airlines constantly has great promotions that offer as much as 40%-50% bonus miles.  Purchasing 1000 AA miles for about $35 extends the validity of your expiring miles, hence you do not have to lose those miles.

• Transferring Miles. Some Airlines let you transfer a limited number of miles to a family member or friend at rates much cheaper than purchasing them.  For example United Airlines charges you 1.5 cents pus a $30 fee for transferring miles. Hence transferring 10,000 miles will cost you $180.

• Points exchange. A popular website points.com lets you manage over 100 loyalty programs all on one portal.  Here you can also buy sell and trade points from one airline or hotel partner to the other .