How to Protect Your Travel Points From Expiring
A practical guide to keeping your hard-earned points alive — because losing them to fine print is the one thing worse than never earning them at all.
Here's a number that should make you uncomfortable: an estimated $48 billion in credit card and loyalty program points go unredeemed every year in the United States. Billions. And a meaningful portion of those points don't just sit idle — they expire. Quietly. Without fanfare. Often without any warning at all.
If you've been accumulating points across airline frequent flyer programs, hotel loyalty accounts, and credit card rewards programs for years — or even decades — there's a real chance that some of your points have already disappeared. And there's an equally real chance that more are on the clock right now.
This isn't meant to alarm you. It's meant to inform you. Because the good news is that protecting your points is straightforward once you understand the rules. And the rules, while they vary by program, follow a handful of patterns that are easy to learn.
Let's walk through exactly which programs have expiration policies, which ones don't, and what you can do today to make sure nothing you've earned quietly vanishes.
The two types of points — and why it matters
Before we dive into specific programs, it's important to understand that not all points are created equal when it comes to expiration. There are two broad categories.
Credit card points (flexible points)
These are the points you earn directly from your credit card issuer — Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Points. They sit in your credit card account and can typically be transferred to airline and hotel partners.
The general rule: Credit card points do not expire as long as your account is open and in good standing. Close the card, and the points typically go with it. Keep the card open, and your points are safe — indefinitely.
Airline and hotel loyalty points
These are the points or miles in your frequent flyer and hotel loyalty accounts — Delta SkyMiles, United MileagePlus, American AAdvantage, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, and so on.
The general rule: These have their own expiration policies, which vary significantly by program. Some expire after 18 months of inactivity. Some expire after 24 months. And a few don't expire at all.
The important word in that paragraph is inactivity. Most programs don't expire your points after a set calendar period — they expire them after a period with no earning or redeeming activity. That distinction is the key to protecting everything you've accumulated. For more on understanding different types of points, see our guide to credit card points vs. airline miles.
Program-by-program expiration guide
Let's look at every major loyalty program and what their rules actually say.
Credit card points: Do they expire?
| Program | Expiration policy |
|---|---|
| Chase Ultimate Rewards | No expiration while the card is open. If you close your card, points are forfeited unless you transfer them to another Chase card with Ultimate Rewards or to a travel partner first. |
| Amex Membership Rewards | No expiration while the card is open. Same rule as Chase — closing the card means losing the points, unless transferred. |
| Capital One Miles | No expiration while the account is open and in good standing. |
| Citi ThankYou Points | No expiration while you have an eligible ThankYou card open. |
The takeaway: Your credit card points are safe as long as you keep the card. If you're considering closing a rewards credit card, always transfer or redeem your points first. Don't close first and ask questions later — by then, it's too late.
Airline miles: Do they expire?
| Airline | Expiration policy |
|---|---|
| Delta SkyMiles | No expiration. Your miles do not expire, period. Delta eliminated expiration in 2011. |
| United MileagePlus | No expiration. United removed mile expiration in 2019. |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | No expiration. |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards | Points expire after 24 months of inactivity (no earning or redeeming). |
| American AAdvantage | No expiration. American removed expiration in 2021. |
| Alaska Mileage Plan | Miles expire after 24 months of inactivity. |
| British Airways Avios | Avios expire after 36 months of inactivity. |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | No expiration since 2020 relaunch. |
The trend: The airline industry has been moving toward eliminating expiration. Delta, United, and American — the three largest US carriers — all have no-expiration policies now. But smaller carriers and international programs still have expiration clocks. If you have miles in those programs, you need to keep them active.
Hotel points: Do they expire?
| Hotel program | Expiration policy |
|---|---|
| Marriott Bonvoy | Points expire after 24 months of inactivity. |
| Hilton Honors | Points expire after 24 months of inactivity. |
| IHG One Rewards | Points expire after 12 months of inactivity. (This is the shortest among the major programs — take note.) |
| World of Hyatt | Points expire after 24 months of inactivity. |
| Wyndham Rewards | Points expire after 18 months of inactivity. |
| Choice Privileges | Points expire after 18 months of inactivity. |
The takeaway: Hotel programs are less forgiving than airlines. Every major hotel loyalty program has an expiration policy, and IHG's 12-month clock is particularly aggressive. If you have hotel loyalty points you're not using, pay attention to the dates.
What counts as "activity" to reset the expiration clock
This is the most important section of this guide. Because the word "inactivity" is doing a lot of work in those expiration policies — and the definition is broader than you might expect.
In most programs, any of the following counts as qualifying activity that resets your expiration clock:
Earning points:
- Staying at a hotel in the loyalty program
- Flying on a qualifying airline flight
- Using a co-branded credit card for any purchase
- Earning points through a dining program, shopping portal, or partner transaction
- Transferring points into the account from a credit card
Redeeming points:
- Booking a free night or award flight
- Using points for merchandise, gift cards, or experiences
- Donating points to charity
Other qualifying activity (varies by program):
- Earning points through a survey or promotion
- Using the program's shopping portal to make an online purchase
- Earning through car rental or other partner transactions
The key insight: You don't have to stay at a hotel or fly on an airline to keep your points alive. A single transaction — even a small one — through any qualifying partner resets the clock.
Seven practical ways to keep your points alive
Now that you understand the rules, here are specific, actionable steps you can take to protect every point you've earned.
1. Use a co-branded credit card for at least one purchase per year
This is the simplest and most effective protection against expiration. If you hold a Marriott Bonvoy credit card, a Hilton Honors credit card, or an IHG credit card, any purchase on that card — even a $3 cup of coffee — earns points in the loyalty program. That earning activity resets your expiration clock.
If you hold the co-branded card, your points essentially cannot expire as long as you use the card at least once per year. This is worth remembering the next time you consider whether a hotel credit card's annual fee is "worth it." The annual fee is also an expiration insurance policy. For recommendations on the best hotel credit cards, see our guide to the best credit cards for hotel stays.
2. Set a calendar reminder
If you don't have a co-branded credit card for a particular program, set a recurring calendar reminder six weeks before your points would expire. Most programs send email warnings, but those emails often end up in spam folders or get overlooked.
A calendar entry that says "Check Marriott Bonvoy points — expire if inactive" every 20 months (giving yourself a cushion before the 24-month deadline) is a simple safeguard.
For IHG, set the reminder at 10 months — their 12-month expiration window leaves less margin.
3. Use the program's dining or shopping portal
Almost every major loyalty program operates an online shopping portal — a website where you click through to regular retailers (Amazon, Macy's, Home Depot, and hundreds of others) and earn loyalty points on your purchases.
Marriott Bonvoy has the Marriott Bonvoy Marketplace. Hilton Honors has the Hilton Honors Shopping portal. United MileagePlus has MileagePlus Shopping. American AAdvantage has AAdvantage eShopping.
You don't have to change what you buy. You just start the purchase from the loyalty program's portal instead of going directly to the retailer's website. The points you earn — even from a single small purchase — reset your expiration clock.
Example: You're buying a birthday gift on Amazon anyway. Log into the Marriott Bonvoy Marketplace, click through to Amazon, and complete your purchase. You earn a small number of Bonvoy points, and your expiration clock resets for another 24 months. The purchase takes no extra time and costs nothing extra.
4. Transfer a small number of credit card points
If you have Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, or Capital One Miles, you can transfer points to airline and hotel partners. A transfer of even 1,000 points into a loyalty account counts as earning activity and resets the expiration clock.
When this is useful: If you have miles sitting in Southwest Rapid Rewards or Alaska Mileage Plan and haven't flown with them recently, transferring a small number of credit card points to those programs keeps the balance alive.
Important note: Point transfers from credit card programs to loyalty programs are typically one-way. Once you transfer points to an airline or hotel program, you cannot transfer them back. So transfer only what you need to keep the account active — not your entire balance.
5. Use the program's dining program
Several airline loyalty programs partner with restaurant reward networks. You link your credit card to the dining program, eat at a participating restaurant, and earn miles or points automatically.
Programs that offer this:
- United MileagePlus Dining
- American AAdvantage Dining
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining
- Alaska Mileage Plan Dining
- Hilton Honors Dining
Sign up, link a credit card, and you'll earn points whenever you eat at a participating restaurant. There are often more participating restaurants than you'd expect — check the dining program's website to search by ZIP code.
6. Donate a small number of points to charity
Most airline and hotel programs allow you to donate points to charitable organizations. The donation counts as redemption activity, which resets your expiration clock.
This isn't the most efficient use of points (the value per point is typically lower than using them for travel), but if you have a small orphaned balance that you'll never use for a trip, donating it keeps the rest of your account alive and does some good in the process.
7. Use AwardWallet to monitor everything in one place
I mentioned AwardWallet in our travel apps guide, but it deserves a specific mention here. The app tracks your balances across all loyalty programs and sends alerts when points are approaching expiration. For $30 per year, it watches the clocks so you don't have to.
If you have points spread across five or more programs, this is the closest thing to an insurance policy you'll find.
What to do if your points have already expired
If you discover that points have expired, all is not necessarily lost. Here's what to try:
Call the loyalty program directly. Many programs will reinstate expired points for a fee or as a courtesy — especially if the expiration was recent (within the last 6 to 12 months). Be polite, explain that you weren't aware of the policy, and ask if reinstatement is possible.
Typical reinstatement policies:
- IHG One Rewards: Will reinstate expired points for a fee (varies, but usually around $50 to $150 depending on the balance).
- Hilton Honors: Has been known to reinstate recently expired points as a one-time courtesy.
- Marriott Bonvoy: Reinstatement is possible but not guaranteed. The program has historically been more flexible with long-standing members.
- Airlines: Policies vary widely. It's always worth asking.
The success rate is higher than you'd expect. Loyalty programs want to keep you engaged. A customer calling to reinstate expired points is a customer who's interested in the program — and programs know it's better to reinstate the points (which cost them very little) than to lose a member permanently.
The key is to act quickly. The longer you wait after expiration, the less likely reinstatement becomes.
The special case: What happens to credit card points when you close a card
This catches more people than expiration does. You decide to close a credit card — maybe the annual fee doesn't feel worth it anymore, maybe you're simplifying your wallet — and your points disappear with the account.
How to protect yourself before closing any rewards card:
- Check your points balance. Log into the card's app or website and note exactly how many points you have.
- Transfer your points to a loyalty partner. Move them to an airline or hotel program you'll actually use. Once transferred, those points are in the loyalty account — separate from the credit card.
- Or, if you have another card in the same program (for example, another Chase card that earns Ultimate Rewards), you can usually consolidate your points into the remaining card's account.
- Then close the card. In that order. Always.
A cautionary tale: Tom — one of our regular WanderWise readers — once closed an American Express card without realizing he had 47,000 Membership Rewards points on the account. They vanished the day the account closed. It took three months of phone calls to get Amex to reinstate them as a one-time exception. Tom was lucky. Not everyone gets that outcome.
The lesson: check before you close. Always.
The one-hour points protection plan
If you've been reading this and feeling a low-grade anxiety about your various points balances — that's normal, and it's fixable. Here's a one-time, one-hour project that puts everything in order.
Minutes 1–15: Take inventory. Log into every loyalty program you belong to. Write down the name of the program, your current points balance, and whether you've had any activity in the last 12 months. (Or sign up for AwardWallet and let it do this automatically.)
Minutes 15–30: Identify at-risk accounts. Look at the expiration policies above. Any hotel program where you haven't had activity in over 12 months needs attention now. Any airline program with expiration (Southwest, Alaska, British Airways) where you haven't had activity in 18+ months needs attention now.
Minutes 30–45: Take one action per at-risk account. For each account that's at risk, do one of the following:
- Make a purchase through the program's shopping portal.
- Transfer 1,000 points from a credit card.
- Sign up for the program's dining rewards.
- Use the co-branded credit card for any small purchase.
Minutes 45–60: Set up ongoing protection. Set calendar reminders for each program at the intervals described above. Or subscribe to AwardWallet's expiration alerts. Either way, build a system so you never have to think about this reactively again.
One hour now protects points that took years to accumulate. That's a worthwhile investment.
The bottom line
Your points are worth something. In many cases, they're worth quite a lot — thousands of dollars in flights, hotel stays, and travel experiences. But unlike money in a savings account, they come with rules. And the most frustrating rule is expiration.
The good news is that protecting your points requires very little effort once you understand the system. A single small purchase, a single transfer, a single transaction through a shopping portal — any of these is enough to keep your balance safe for another year or two.
The key is awareness. Now you have it.
Don't let the points you've earned become the points you've lost.
This guide reflects expiration policies as of early 2026. Loyalty programs can and do change their terms. We recommend checking each program's current terms and conditions for the most up-to-date information.
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