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The Importance Of Traveling

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You worked really hard to get your miles and points in the bank. Don't let that potential vacation currency go to waste. Here are some helpful tips to keep your miles from expiring.

Below the useful tips is a table with the major airline and hotel expiration deadlines.

Know The Expiration Dates

Each frequent flyer program has slightly different rules for when their miles expire. For some international airlines, it can be up to 3 years. For most programs in the US, accounts expire after 18 months of inactivity.

This means that if you let your miles account sit for 18 months, and neither earn nor redeem a mile, you will lose them all. And this seems to take people by surprise pretty frequently. Points Banking does require …show more content…

But it makes sense to link your cards to a dining program, like Rewards Network. It’s always a nice surprise to get an email that you’ve earned miles after eating at a random cafe in a town you’ve never been to before. This free option is worth signing up for.

Move points around

For the most part, you can’t transfer points between airlines. You can also transfer points from Bank Rewards credit cards to airlines.

If you have credit card points through American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, or Citi ThankYou cards, you can transfer those points to selected airline partners. Members of the Starwood Preferred Guest program can transfer points to over a dozen different airlines. That’s the benefit of a flexible and transferable points programs.

In most cases you’ll need to transfer a minimum of 1,000 points. Although Starwood Preferred Guests Platinum members can transfer as little as one point to an airline program.

Some airlines also allow you to donate a handful of miles to charity, which can be a good option in a pinch. You can also move miles between one person's account to another.

Keep in mind, some airlines charge a transfer fee this. Not the best option.

Buy Miles

When I was in a pinch a few years ago, I bought a 1,000 miles to keep the loyalty account active. This was in my novice days when I was still learning. Although spending $15 to reset the clock seemed like a good idea at the time, there are other

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