How to avoid losing expiring airline miles – no flying necessary

Air miles are great – if you use them. It’s so easy to sign up for a loyalty programme, and then forget that you’ve done so, and never bother to check your status. Even if you remember (or are reminded by the airline that a bunch of your frequent flier miles are going to expire), often people just can’t be bothered to deal, and let those valuable loyalty points go.

According to a report by Bankrate.com, almost half of American adults who participate in airline and hotel rewards programmes have let points or miles expire. And they’re underestimating the value of that loss.

“We wanted to do this [study] to show people that you’re probably sitting on some value that you might not even know about,” says Bankrate.com credit card analyst Ted Rossman. “A lot of people do let [airline miles] expire, and a lot of people don’t know how much they’re worth.”

Although everyone’s guilty of letting miles go, millennials are doing so at a higher rate, even though they’re the demographic more likely to sign up for airline loyalty programmes in the first place.

“People in that age group might not be realising how valuable they could be,” Rossman says. “They think, ‘Oh, it’s only 10,000 miles, or something, how much could that be worth?’ What people don’t realise is that there can be a compounding effect – that you save these up and don’t let them expire, and then it does turn into a real trip.”

While you want to hold onto your miles and make sure you don’t let them expire, you also don’t want to hoard them forever. They’re more valuable being used than saved.