More Than Points: Expiring Miles Equivalent to $28 Billion
...practical help for the road warrior...

• Expiring Miles Equivalent to $28 Billion
  

  I’ve said this once before and I’ll say it again. Miles are the new fool’s gold. With the numerous restrictions and now expiration dates, it’s no wonder I no longer have loyalty towards a single airlines. In fact, I flew my last flight of the year with United – just enough to make Premier status. I will be flying Southwest here on out for the rest of the year. Hopefully I get enough flights for a companion pass so my wife can travel for free whenever I book a flight on Southwest…without restrictions.

  Do you wonder why there are expiration dates? This Chicago Tribute article gives you the details.

  Just a few highlights:

  The airlines are making a bid to get excess miles off their balance sheets. United, for example, had approximately 508.8 billion outstanding unused miles at the end of 2006. It estimates that 70.5 billion of those (about 14 percent) will go unused and probably expire under the new policy.

  That’s enough expiring miles at 25,000 miles per ticket for nearly 3 million free domestic flight awards. Or if each mile is worth 2 cents (using a common measure of the value of miles), about $1.4 billion dollars worth of miles. Just at United.

  That’s right – when you let miles expire, you lose big-time and the airlines save themselves a cargo-load of greenbacks. You have to keep your account(s) active by flying on the respective airline in order to extend the expiration date. This is not really an issue for frequent flyers, but the restrictions are still ridiculous.

  A couple of tips for avoiding the expiration of miles:

  • Take a paid flight on the airline or an alliance partner (for example, a United frequent flier who takes a Lufthansa flight would qualify).

  • Redeem miles for a flight, upgrade or even a magazine subscription.

  • Use a credit card that awards frequent-flier miles. You can “buy a pack of gum for $1” and keep your account active, says United’s Urbanski.

  • Stay at a hotel that offers miles in the carrier’s program. If you usually receive frequent-guest points in the hotel’s program, you will have to forfeit them at least for one stay.

  • Rent a car and ask to have miles credited to your program (though some car rental agencies will charge an added fee).

  Cash is always better than miles, so don’t fool yourself into thinking you should save those miles for a last minute flight that would otherwise cost you $500. My bet is on the restrictions that keep you from redeeming those miles. Try to plan well ahead and spend those miles as soon as you can. Read the fine print - there are usually cash penalties for booking too close to the departure date when using miles.

  Good luck. Don’t let those hard-earned miles go to waste. You earned ‘em, so don’t forget to use them.

• "Expiring Miles Equivalent to $28 Billion" by the*point*man
  

  Great tip, Charlie - keep em coming!

• "Expiring Miles Equivalent to $28 Billion" by Charlie Walker
  

  You can also keep your accounts active by using a new search engine called ZooMiles (powered by Ask.com) which allows you to earn free airline miles for searching the internet. You earn miles for every search, up to 1,000 per month, which can be applied to any of their six airline partners – Delta, NWA, Continental, Alaska, US Airways, or Midwest.

  The site is accessible via invite only, but last time I checked, you can request an invitation on their website at www.zoomiles.com.