Travel Deal of the Day (Dec. 1, 2006)

Haven’t flown in a while? If so, you had better check your frequent flyer mileage account activity because many airlines are requiring you to fly once every 18 to 36 months to avoid having your miles expire.

What can you do? Here are a couple ideas.

The Deal:
There are several things you should do to ensure that your miles do not expire.

How:
1) The rules for many frequent flyer programs now require that you have some eligible activity with an 18 or 36 month time period. Check the rules of your frequent flyer program to find out what is considered a qualifying activity to extend your miles.

2) The most obvious kind of qualifying activity is to fly the airline on which you have the miles that are going to expire. But you do not have to limit your flying to that airline. Most airlines have other frequent flyer partners – usually flying on an airline partner is considered qualifying activity.

3) What if you are not flying? How about renting a car or staying in a hotel? Try staying at a partner hotel or renting a car from a partner car rental company and crediting the miles to your frequent flyer program.

4) Hungry? How about participating in your airline’s dining for miles program? If your airline has such a problem, eating one meal and earning miles will likely extend your miles.

5) Apply for a frequent flyer credit card or, if you already have one, make a charge on that credit card.

6) Use miles for magazines. Many frequent flyer programs allows you to spend your miles for magazines. For as little as 300 or 400 miles, you can get a magazine subscription and likely extend your miles.

7) Buy some flowers or something else from a mileage partner. Even with a small purchase, you may be able to extend your miles.

8) Buy some miles. If you buy miles from the airline, you will likely extend your miles.

The Inside Scoop:
The main idea here is to ensure that you do not lose your miles when it is usually very easy to extend the expiration date on the miles. Read the rules on the frequent flyer website, find out what qualifies as mileage activity, find out when you must act by to ensure that the miles do not expire, and act before your miles expire.