The Best Way to Reclaim Expired Travel Rewards (and When You Should Do It)

Travel Rewards are a nice bonus for joining an airline or hotel membership program or owning a co-branded credit card, but it’s a shame when those points and miles you’ve spent so much on are vanishing due to an expiration policy.

The good news is, if you’ve earned Alaska Mileage Plan, Delta SkyMiles, Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles, JetBlue TrueBlue, Southwest Rapid Rewards, or United MileagePlus rewards, your miles never expire. But several other airline and hotel rewards programs still set expiration dates after a set period of time or due to inactivity on your account.

Here’s how to get those points and miles back – and if you really need it.

How to recover expired travel rewards

As a general rule, the only way to recover overdue awards is to pay for them either as a flat fee or per mile. The Points Guy summarizes the published recovery rules for major rewards programs:

• Air Canada Aeroplan: Pay 1 cent per point plus $30 and tax, or fly with Air Canada within six months of expiration.
• American AAdvantage: Pay a reactivation fee based on the number of miles recovered, ranging from approximately $60 for 5,000 miles to $700 for 100,000 miles.
• Avianca LifeMiles: Pay $10 for 1,000 Miles Plus Tax
• Emirates Skywards: Pay $20 per 1,000 miles within six months of expiration to reclaim up to 50,000 miles valid for 12 additional months only.
• Frontier Miles: Pay between $50 and $500 for restoration depending on how many miles you have.
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles: Pay $20 for 1,000 Miles to Renew Miles for Three Years
• Hilton Honors: Pay 0.25 cents per point (although customer service may allow you to earn rewards for free)

Of course, there are exceptions and nuances to these rules. For example, elite travelers and those with co-branded credit cards may be exempt from points and miles expiration. Each rewards program has different expiration, renewal, and reinstatement times, and while most hotel programs won’t even let you get your points back, there are other airlines that don’t have published rules, so it’s best to call. and ask what they will do for you.

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When you should (and shouldn’t) pay to recover rewards

Since you will be charged (in most cases) to recover expired points and miles, it only makes sense to do so if your post-redemption rewards are worth more than the reinstatement fee.

This can be tricky to understand, but the easiest way would be to figure out how much you’re paying for a point and compare that to estimates (like those posted by The Points Guy ) showing how much points are actually worth. If the score is higher than the reinstatement cost per point, it might be a good idea to redeem your rewards if you actually plan to use them before they expire again.

Obviously, it would be best to keep your rewards from expiring, especially if you have a significant amount of points or miles in the bank. Check the expiration dates of your rewards accounts and find out how to keep them active, such as using your co-branded credit card or redeeming any number of points towards a purchase.