# Delta has eliminated Mileage expiration



## Larry (Feb 15, 2011)

Just got this from. Delta miles no longer have expiration date.

"You now can earn miles without worrying if and when they will expire as we have eliminated our mileage expiration policy - no asterisk, no fine print, no ifs, ands or buts. 

So regardless of your future SkyMiles activity, redeem your miles whenever you want for Award Travel to 350+ worldwide destinations, car rentals, hotel stays, newspapers, magazines and one-of-a-kind auction packages. 

We are proud to be the only major U.S. carrier without mileage expiration. 

Visit delta.com to learn more about your SkyMiles benefits and explore the many ways you can earn and use your miles. 

You're the reason we fly,"

Hopefully other airlines will follow this policy.


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## LisaRex (Feb 15, 2011)

Great news!!! Hope others follow suit!


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## riverdees05 (Feb 15, 2011)

I agree, great news!


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## Ann-Marie (Feb 15, 2011)

I just got the email also.  I am so happy!


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## Talent312 (Feb 15, 2011)

Necessary, actually, since its been nearly impossible to use them before they did.
<grumble, grumble>


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## pammex (Feb 15, 2011)

Another happy camper here ( flyer LOL)


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## Carolinian (Feb 16, 2011)

What DL is saying is not actually true.  In its documents on the subject, CO says at one point that its miles do not expire, and at another that they can expire at some point (2 or 3 years, I think), but from practical experience of OnePass members, they do not expire.

Here is Continental's policy direct from their website, as it has been for years:

*Mileage Expiration

Miles currently have no expiry date; however, Continental Airlines reserves the right to impose expiry limits or terminate the OnePass program, thus terminating your ability to claim rewards.  *


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## Carolinian (Feb 16, 2011)

Here is an interesting article from Smarter Travel on why Delta did it (lots of bad press from its miles not being usable) and the liklihood of impact on other airlines:

http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/...ealert&value=2011-02-15+00:00:00&u=398A501D71

Personally, even with the expiration dates, I have not had any problem keeping the balls in the air with five airlines (CO, AA, UA, DL, and BMI).  AA is particularly easy.  With the others, it is largely a matter of deciding which airline should get the hotel miles or rental car miles.  Before the demise of NW when it was assimilated into the DL Borg, I used to keep the balls in the air for 6 airlines.  When I finally find some productive use for my former NW miles that have been milejacked by DL, then I will stop bothering to keep that one going, as the DL program is so crappy, especially for expats.

IMHO a more significant ff change was just announced by UA.  They are now allowing both one open jaw and one stopover on award tickets, and for a R/T ticket a double open jaw.  Hopefully other airlines will follow their lead.  UA is also way ahead of DL by already allowing one way award tickets for half the miles.  For a OW on DL, you have to give up full miles as if it were a R/T.  AA, like UA, allows OW awards at half the miles.


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## Carolinian (Feb 18, 2011)

How soon we forget some of the ''hero'' airlines as soon as they are gone.

Northwest never in its history had expiring miles, and was the only US airline never to go down this road.  Well, that is, until they got assimilated into the Delta borg and Worldperks miles were milejacked into SkyPiles.


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## MichaelColey (Feb 18, 2011)

Probably a good policy for Delta. When miles/points expire, it has the opposite effect of what a loyalty program is supposed to do. I've had that happen twice with me (that I cared about):


I had a couple stays with Choice Hotels and had signed up for their program. I had another stay at a Comfort Suites and my points didn't post. I contacted them and they said the rate (their normal walkup rate!) didn't qualify. My points expired not long after that. I let them know I spend about 100 nights a year in hotels and that they would lose my business if they didn't make it right. They didn't. I've never been back.
I had an account with OpenTable and had accumulated almost enough points for a $20 voucher. My favorite restaurant left OpenTable and I had a longer stretch than usual between reservations. My points expired. I contacted them and they reinstated them. I've been loyal since then.
Very few people are going to let a large number of miles expire. It's mostly going to be less frequent travelers who don't have enough miles to use for anything. Much better to leave those miles there and encourage future earning activity than to alienate them as a customer, IMHO.


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## CapriciousC (Feb 18, 2011)

I'm hoping that American will follow in Delta's footsteps.  My husband and I generally don't have an issue with maintaining the currency of our accounts, because we both fly for business.  However, we also have an AAdvantage account for our six-year-old daughter (we figured out when she was a toddler that the "child" airfares are not much cheaper than adult fares, and anyone ticketed as a child does not accrue FF miles).  Since she only flies when we go on vacation, and we don't always fly AA on vacation (depending on where we're going), we've had to do some interesting things to keep her account current.


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (Feb 18, 2011)

I just joined the Choice Hotels program, mostly because Southwest said they were a partner, but could someone tell me what that means? Should I use my Southwest Card at the Choice Hotels to get points or the Choice Hotel card and see if points transfer to SW?
Thanks,
Liz


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## Carolinian (Feb 18, 2011)

Another airline that in its T&C has a provision about miles expiring but as a practical matter does not enforce it is BMI (British Midland). With Lufthansa taking over BMI, there was a concern that they would start enforcing those provisions, but a BMI Diamond Club spokesman has assured members that the policy of not expiring miles would continue at BMI.

Air France's Flying Blue has some of the worst milage expiration policies.  There, miles expire no matter what you do.

In the US, Delta is a johnny-come-lately.  NW and CO were way ahead of them on this issue.


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## MichaelColey (Feb 18, 2011)

Although I despise Delta largely because it's so hard to redeem miles at a reasonable rate, I must admit that they've been very innovative in Skymiles program lately.  The restructuring a year or two ago provided some good extra perks for their high-end frequent flyers and really raised the bar, and this policy of not expiring miles is another good one.  With many companies, "enhancements" are often downgrades for many people.


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## Carolinian (Feb 18, 2011)

MichaelColey said:


> Although I despise Delta largely because it's so hard to redeem miles at a reasonable rate, I must admit that they've been very innovative in Skymiles program lately.  The restructuring a year or two ago provided some good extra perks for their high-end frequent flyers and really raised the bar, and this policy of not expiring miles is another good one.  With many companies, "enhancements" are often downgrades for many people.



In terms of recent moves, the ones I see as the most customer friendly were UA allowing one way redemptions for half the miles (DL still pops you for full RT miles for a OW ticket), which was following AA's lead as they already did that, and UA's very recent announcement where they now allow BOTH an open jaw and a stopover on the same award ticket (try that one on DL!) and even a double open jaw on RT award tickets.

Of course, NW, CO, and BMI also have not expired miles.  DL is a johnny-come-lately on this issue.


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## MichaelColey (Feb 18, 2011)

Yeah, the one-way for the price of round trip award redemptions really grate me, too.  When I was trying to find ways to use my Delta Skymiles (I accumulated about half a million through some promotions), I could often only find Low availability one way.  Fortunately, I finally burned through the rest of my Delta miles (4 tickets RT in First to Hawaii last year), so now I don't have to worry about it.


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## Carolinian (Feb 19, 2011)

Among European airlines, BMI (British Midland International) has had the OW at half the RT award level for a long time.  For many city pairs, you can get a OW award ticket for 4500 miles and for others 6000 miles, including on their *A partners.


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## Kagehitokiri2 (Feb 19, 2011)

of course, after my 25K DL miles expire...

CO has the fine print, and is merging with UA.

offhand i want to say no other FFP has no expiration. (standard)

BD = awesome, but may be killed by LH merger.

seems to me KE is better than DL, but DL does at least have access to 4 airlines with some flatbeds in business class.


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## LisaRex (Feb 19, 2011)

The one feature that Delta offers that I really love is the ability to mix and match cabins.  I like to fly home from Hawaii on FC if I can because it's so much easier to sleep.  On the way out, we're all awake and so coach is fine.


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## cindi (Feb 20, 2011)

LisaRex said:


> The one feature that Delta offers that I really love is the ability to mix and match cabins.  I like to fly home from Hawaii on FC if I can because it's so much easier to sleep.  On the way out, we're all awake and so coach is fine.



Is this only for flights using miles or can you do this with buying a ticket?

And can you do this online somehow or do you need to talk to someone at Delta?

I have heard mention of this before but never figured out how to do it. 

I am so with you on the whole hawaii thing.  I would like to be able to do that.


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## Carolinian (Feb 21, 2011)

I can tell you how it USED to work at DL, back in the good old days before they started all of their anti-customer moves.

When I was a DL Gold Medallion (mid-level elite), we got a number of System Wide Upgrades (SWU's) every so many miles we flew with DL.  These allowed one to upgrade to the next class on every segment in one direction of flight. You could use two SWU's to upgrade a round trip or one to just upgrade in one direction.  While I used most of mine to fly TATL (trans-Atlantic), where it typically cost an extra ~$100 for an upgradable fare class offseason over what the cheapest ticket cost, and well worth it for the upgrade, the one time I used an SWU for Hawaii, the sale fare itself was upgradable, so it cost me nothing extra to use my SWU outbound.

The very first of a whole series of anti-customer moves by DL was to first restrict the fares that were upgradable with SWU's and then eliminate them entirely.  For what came next, see www.saveskymiles.com

DL did, indeed, once have a great ff program.  It is sad that it is a pale shadow of its former self today.




cindi said:


> Is this only for flights using miles or can you do this with buying a ticket?
> 
> And can you do this online somehow or do you need to talk to someone at Delta?
> 
> ...


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## LisaRex (Feb 21, 2011)

cindi said:


> Is this only for flights using miles or can you do this with buying a ticket?



You can do it with both.  I cannot figure out how to do this online paying with cash.  However, if you're doing an award trip, you use the regular online booking screen, but be sure to check that you're flexible with your dates.  This will bring up the calendar for both flights.  At the top of each calendar is a check box that lists economy or first class.  Just check the one you want and voila!


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## cindi (Feb 21, 2011)

Thank you both for the info. 

Amazing the things I never know are there.


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## Kagehitokiri2 (Mar 5, 2011)

re hawaii, IIRC delta has lieflat seats from atlanta - honolulu


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