Do Credit Card Rewards, Points and Miles Expire?
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Written by
Melanie Pincus
If you’re collecting credit card rewards with a major credit card issuer, your points typically won’t expire.
Airline and hotel loyalty programs tend to be a little more complicated. You may have to take certain actions to keep your account “active” in order to keep your points.
Do Credit Card Rewards Expire?
Major credit card issuers typically don’t impose expiration dates on the points or miles you earn with their rewards credit cards and travel credit cards. This applies to popular cards such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, American Express® Gold Card (an advertising partner) and Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.
That said, you can generally still lose your rewards under certain circumstances. If you close your account with unredeemed points or violate a rewards program’s terms and conditions, for example, you could lose your rewards.
| Credit Card Rewards Program | Do Rewards Expire? | When Do They Expire? |
| American Express Membership Rewards® | No | N/A |
| Bank of America points | No | N/A |
| Capital One rewards | No | N/A |
| Chase Ultimate Rewards® | No | N/A |
| Citi ThankYou Points | No | N/A |
| Discover cash back | No | N/A |
| Wells Fargo Rewards | No | N/A |
| U.S. Bank points and cash back | Sometimes | Points expire if your account is inactive for 12 months. Cash rewards may expire after 12 months of inactivity or about three years after you earned them. Cash rewards do not expire on the U.S. Bank Shopper Cash Rewards® Visa Signature® Card |
Do Airline Miles Expire?
Miles in airline loyalty programs often expire between 18 and 45 months after you earn them, though you may be able to reset the expiration clock. In some programs, taking actions such as earning and redeeming miles will keep your account active and forestall expiration.
For example, earning miles from the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® (an advertising partner) can keep the miles in your AAdvantage account active.
In some of the programs listed below, miles never expire. These are Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, Delta SkyMiles, Southwest Rapid Rewards, United MileagePlus and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
Frequent Flyer Program | Do Miles Expire? | When Do They Expire? |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Yes | Points expire if you haven’t earned or redeemed for 18 months, though expiration is paused through Nov. 30, 2025. |
| Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan | No | N/A |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | Yes | Miles expire if you’re over 21 and haven’t earned or redeemed for 24 months, though you may be able to pay to reinstate miles. |
| British Airways Executive Club | Yes | Avios expire if you haven’t earned, redeemed, bought or shared for 36 months. |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | Yes | Miles expire if you haven’t earned or redeemed for 18 months. |
| Delta SkyMiles | No | N/A |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | Yes | Miles expire if you haven’t flown with Air France, KLM, or a partner airline or used miles in two years. |
| Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles | Yes | Miles expire at the end of the third calendar year after they’re processed. |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | Yes | Miles expire three years after they’re earned. |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards | No | N/A |
| United MileagePlus | No | N/A |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | No | N/A |
Do Hotel Points Expire?
Points in hotel loyalty programs often expire between 12 and 24 months after you earn them, unless you take some action to make sure your account remains active.
That action could be booking a hotel stay or redeeming points. Be sure to check your program’s terms and conditions to know how to keep your account in active status.
| Hotel Loyalty Program | Do Rewards Expire? | When Do They Expire? |
| Accor Live Limitless | Yes | Points expire if you haven’t earned new points for 12 months. |
| Best Western Rewards | No | N/A |
| Choice Privileges | Yes | Points expire if you haven’t completed a qualifying activity (such as redeeming points) in 18 months. |
| Hilton Honors | Yes | Points expire if your account is inactive for 24 months (meaning you haven’t earned or redeemed points or engaged in another eligible activity). |
| IHG One Rewards | Sometimes | Points won’t expire if you have elite status in the rewards program. If you have Club status, points expire after 12 months of inactivity. |
| Marriott Bonvoy | Yes | Points expire after 24 months of account inactivity (meaning you haven’t earned, redeemed or purchased points), unless you have a Lifetime Elite Membership account. |
| World of Hyatt | Yes | Points expire after 24 months of account inactivity. |
| Wyndham Rewards | Yes | Points expire four years after you earn them or after 18 months of inactivity. |
How To Keep Your Rewards From Expiring
If the points or miles in your loyalty program come with an expiration date, you may be able to extend it. In most cases, your rewards will only expire if your account becomes inactive. You can often avoid inactivity by:
- Earning points: If you book an eligible flight or hotel stay, or earn points from a credit card linked to the loyalty program, your points expiration date will often reset.
- Redeeming points: Using your rewards will also often reset your points expiration date.
Depending on the program, other types of activity may qualify. For instance, buying or donating points may reset your expiration date.
In some cases, you’ll have to use your points to prevent them from expiring. Wyndham Rewards points expire four years after you earn them, though they’ll expire after 18 months if your account becomes inactive.
You may also see opportunities to buy back expired points. Turkish Miles&Smiles lets you pay $20 per 1,000 miles to prevent them from expiring, for instance. You might consider this option if you have nearly enough points for a target redemption.
Frequently Asked Questions About Points and Miles Expiration
Why did my credit card points disappear?
If points have inexplicably disappeared, contact your card issuer. It’s possible you forfeited the points if the issuer determined that you violated the rewards program’s terms and conditions. Also, you may have expected to earn more rewards for a purchase than you actually did. Make sure you understand how your issuer defines rewards categories such as travel.
How do I keep my frequent flyer miles from expiring?
You can usually stop frequent flyer miles from expiring by earning or using miles. This could mean earning miles from a co-branded airline credit card, crediting a paid flight to the airline’s loyalty program, or redeeming miles for an award ticket. However, in a handful of programs, your miles will expire after a certain period regardless of activity in your account.
How do I stop my hotel points from expiring?
The life of your hotel points can usually be extended by earning or redeeming points. Activities such as using a co-branded hotel credit card, using points for an award stay, or crediting paid nights to the hotel loyalty program typically reset the clock, with a few exceptions.
