Do SkyMiles expire?

Do SkyMiles Expire?

It is a loyalty program for Delta Air Lines that issues SkyMiles to its members who fly with Delta Airlines or partner services. These miles can then be used to secure free flights besides other perks & privileges. One thing that may sometimes concern the SkyMiles members is whether or not their SkyMiles will ever expire.

In my short response to the question, you will be happy to know that you are correct: SkyMiles do expire after 24 months of inactivity on your account. This means that if you do not use your SkyMiles for earning or redemption purposes, your account will be considered inactive for 24 consecutive months after which your miles will be forfeited. But some measures can help to avoid it.

When Do SkyMiles Expire?

Here is Delta's official policy on SkyMiles expiration:

• Membership on SkyMiles will be subject to termination and all the miles accumulated will be lost if the account holder has not transacted, earned, or redeemed any miles for 24 consecutive months.

• Activity can be the act of flying on Delta or other airlines that have a partnership with Delta, using a Delta Amex co-branded credit card using miles to exercise an award ticket, getting an upgrade, or any other service.

• Just to clarify, there are no worries about SkyMiles expiring and all you need is some form of earning or redemption every 24 months.

  How to Avoid SkyMiles from Expiring :

  The following are examples of how one can avoid having his/her SkyMiles expire:

  Here are some easy ways to make sure you have activity in your SkyMiles account at least once every 2 years to stop them from expiring:

1. Be Ready to Fly with Delta or Partners

   The first way is to travel at least once every 2 years with Delta or any of the other SkyTeam members or on a flight operated by Air France, KLM, or Aeromexico. This flight activity will constitute an ‘earning activity’ and restart the Expiration Date of 24 months.

   You don’t have to fly on a paid ticket, meaning that you do not have to spend any of your own money to achieve your goal of flying a plane. Just as an example, if you have used your SkyMiles to book a given flight in what is referred to as an award ticket, that will be considered a flight activity and will keep your account active for a longer time.

2. This Delta Amex Credit Card is for your usage.

   If you have a Delta SkyMiles credit card from American Express, you can even qualify for the activity if you make a single purchase with the card within 24 months, without necessarily flying Delta.

   Delta Amex cardholders are exempted from having their SkyMiles expire as long as they make a few charges on the card after every six months.

3. Redeem Miles

   The other type of activity that has been involved besides earning has been redemption. Awards trip or using your SkyMiles for any other purpose such as upgrades, lounge access, or gift cards will also help put you in qualifying activity.

   To avoid this, the account only becomes canceled if one fails to redeem miles for 24 months.

4. Buy Miles

   If you’d like a specific route, but don’t have enough miles for an award ticket, you can buy the required number of miles. This is good to know because every time you purchase miles, it causes your account to be active and resets that 24-month clock.

5. Donate Miles

   Delta lets SkyMiles members explicitly contribute the miles to the partner charities. A good reason to make a mileage donation is that it will be given to a charity that will benefit from it; it is also recognized as an activity that has been posted to SkyMiles.

6. Combine Accounts

   To ensure that you do not lose your SkyMiles, you can merge two or more SkyMiles accounts that you have and where you have accumulated some inactive points that are just waiting to expire. This does so as account merging in itself is considered account activity and therefore eliminates the expiration date on both.

   Yes, you are allowed to link up to 4 Skywards Miles accounts but they should be in your name and they should be linked to the accounts you have.

   This is the kind of question that often concerns SkyMiles members: when do SkyMiles expire after the death of an account holder?

   In case of the death of the SkyMiles member, the account will be active for up to 3 years as the relative may make deposits into that account at any time to keep it active.

   It is also worth mentioning that if there is no activity on the account for three years after the death of the member, the SkyMiles will then be exhausted completely. Thus the earned but unredeemed miles shall be voided in the event of death of the member within three years.

   During those 3 years of account extension after death, the decedent’s SkyMiles can be transferred or redeemed by:

7. The individual who was named as their next of kin if the surviving spouse of the deceased is the beneficiary

8. Any person who has legal papers such as a grant of probate or small estate affidavit to prove they are the account beneficiary or legal representative. They can then have the miles transferred to their own SkyMiles account or cash them in for a ticket.

9. In special circumstances whereby one is a dependent of the original member, such as a child or parent, they can get their miles transferred after providing proper identification.

   Thus in a nutshell, in a normal course, Delta provides the account holder’s next of kin up to 3 years for all unutilized miles to be redeemed or transferred. However, the following rules will apply to the usage of the miles: If no activity is done by the member for 3 years after the member’s death, then the miles will expire.

   Compared to Other Airlines: How does Delta SkyMiles rank?

   Here’s a quick comparison of some other US airlines’ frequent flyer programs:

• Membership in the AAdvantage program comes with its pitfalls; the points or miles earned through the membership are only valid for eighteen months of inactivity.

• There is no expiration of any MileagePlus miles as long as you keep the account active. However, instead of being deleted such accounts become inactive when there is no activity for 18 months.

• Southwest Rapid Rewards points, in the same way as Delta SkyMiles, expire in the absence of activities for 24 months.

  Therefore, though some airline programs such as United MileagePlus have no expiration date while others like Delta retain its 24-month policy, it is still a common practice among other large US carriers. As long as you perform any of the mentioned things above that will cause account activity at least once every 2 years, your SkyMiles will be safe and not expire.

  Ways to maintain an active account with SkyMiles

  To recap the key rules and techniques for stopping SkyMiles from expiring due to inactivity:

• It is recommended that you set a reminder on your calendar so that you update your calendar with some earning or redemption activity at least once every two years. Using miles in exchange also helps to reset the clock as does the activity of traveling by flight.

• Make sure to keep your Delta Amex credit card usable and charge it now and then so its charges reflect on your SkyMiles account. This extends the expiration date automatically. This is beneficial for the patient as they do not have to manually go through the process of extending the expiration date.

• The membership option is the SkyMiles program, where you can use your points for a range of things such as magazine subscriptions or LinkedIn Premium when you are not traveling frequently. This also could be considered account activity.

• If you have more than one SkyMiles account with no activity and missing miles, it is recommended that you consolidate them into one active account with all the accumulated miles.

• Make sure to look at your account mile balance, and expiration, at least once every year. This is because the chances of getting more miles on your car are still available even if your current miles are set to expire soon.

  By following the tips given here, your valuable SkyMiles will not go to waste as they still retain their value for years to come. Moreover, there are no blackout dates on award seats, which means that the active miles can be redeemed at any time when the client is willing to set a plan for that perfect vacation.

  So have no fear – with a tiny amount of work, your SkyMiles can remain flying high regardless of whether or not it’s been quite a while since you booked your last flight with Delta.

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