350,00 Airline Miles Lost

I had to call tech support on Friday for help with my blog.  I talked to a wonderful man named Steve who was able to help me design an ad that points people in the direction of the blog.  In the process we started talking about traveling (of course) and Steve mentioned how he went to go book a ticket to visit his mother and was told his airline miles had expired.  Steve lost 350,000 airline miles (250,000 United Airlines and $100,000 US Airways). . .  Start the defibrillator.  

I am sure it didn't help when I told Steve how he could have installed a toolbar (see June 28, 2012 blog) or if he had award wallet (see July 12, 2012 blog) he would have known his miles were about to expire.  But I didn't want to only be the bearer of bad news.  I had to at least provide some information that could help.  I told Steve he should call the airlines and ask if, for a fee, he can reinstate his miles.  Many times airlines won't mention the ability to re-purchase the miles but they often have a policy that allows this.

The Flight Deal did an excellent analysis of how long airline miles remain active and what to do once the miles expire:

• American: 18 Months. Any activity will extend expiration
• Delta: No mileage expiration.
• United: 18 Months. Any activity will extend expiration.
• US Airways: 18 Months. Any activity will extend expiration.

Now what do you do when you have miles that have already expired?

American Airlines:

• The official policy for American Airlines reactivation of miles that have expired is here. American Airlines wants between $200 and $600 plus 7.5% tax to reactivate expired miles.
• Unofficially, American Airlines will offer two re-engagement challenges: 1) Earn 5,000, 10,000 or 20,000 miles with at least 3 partners — e.g., credit cards with Citibank, flower with FTD, Netflix; or, 2) Fly on 1 or 2 roundtrips with American Airlines depending on how many miles you have expired. It’s cheaper to do the re-engagement challenge than buying the miles back.
• If you have upcoming flights, take the re-engagement challenge as it’s the easier challenge to get through.
• Call American Airlines AAdvantage Customer Service to enroll.

Delta:

• Delta changed from an 18 month mileage expiration to no mileage expiration on March 1st, 2011. If you have miles that expired prior to March 1st, 2011, the options are to buy it back. 
• 
  

United:

• The official policy for United is here. United will reinstate miles that expired up to 12 months ago for 1.25 cents per mile + $25 processing fee + 7.5% tax. This is a 50% discount on the standard buying miles from United.
• The unofficial policy is an re-engagement challenge where you pay $200 and a roundtrip on United within 3 months to have your miles reinstated. $200 is worth approximately 20,000 miles at 1 cents per mile. Take the challenge if you have more than 20,000 miles that are expired. If you have less than that, buying the miles is a cheaper alternative.
• Call United MileagePlus to enroll.
• 
  

US Airways:

• The official policy for US Airways is listed in the member guide under Reactivation Policy. It is relatively inexpensive to buy miles back from US Airways.
• One nice feature is if your account is within 15-17 months of inactivity, you can extend mileage expiration for another 18 months for a small fee of $9.

Steve, if your reading this have you got your miles back yet?