Do points expire?

Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop, your best travel buddy. I’ve got an exciting week of content for you, so strap in, folks.

Here’s how we’ll kick off the week:

• ⏰ Do points expire? (yes… no… maybe)

• 💳 New (better) card offer eligibility rules

• 💘 Cute Valentine’s Day gift card promo

• 🎿 Colorado in Winter isn’t just skiing…

⏰ Do points expire? (yes… no… maybe)

If you’re relatively new to the world of points and miles, you might worry about your hard-earned points expiring before you can use them.

And with some programs, that worry is totally valid. With others, not at all.

The good news is that only a small handful of programs have a hard expiry date. And all programs fall into three styles of expiration policy, which I’ll tell you about now:

1. Points that never expire

(… as long as your account stays alive)

Most bank points fall into this category. They don’t have a ticking clock, but if you close the card, the points will disappear faster than Delta business-class award space.

So if you ever plan to cancel a card that earns those bank points, do one of two things first:

• Downgrade to a no-fee or low-fee card that earns the same type of points

• Keep another card open in the same family so the points have “somewhere to live”

If you do neither, well… you’ll regret it.

2. Points that expire unless you have “activity”

This is the big category for most airlines and hotels.

You’ll usually see rules like:

“Points expire after 12–24 months of no activity.”

And “activity” sounds vague, but that’s actually good, because it gives you tons of options for keeping your points alive.

For example, “activity” could include:

• Buying something through a shopping portal

• Earning from a dining program

• Transferring points from your credit card

• Booking an award flight or stay

• Earning points from a cash stay or flight

• Using a co-branded card (once the points post)

• Snagging a cheap redemption just to refresh the clock

Basically, if points go in or come out in any way, that 12-24 month clock resets.

3. Hard-expiry programs (use ‘em or lose ‘em)

These are the programs where it doesn’t matter how active you are. Your miles will expire after a fixed amount of time… no matter what you do.

This is where programs like Singapore Airlines, ANA, and Etihad hang out.

You earn miles, a clock starts, and a few years later, they’re gone. Poof.
New activity won’t refresh them.

Love is not enough. Hope is not enough.

That’s why it’s extremely important not to hoard points or transfer points with these programs unless you have a very specific redemption in mind.

4. The one bank exception worth knowing

Most bank points behave the same: no expiry while the account is open.

But there are some exceptions, and one notable one is ThankYou points. Generally, your points won’t expire as long as your account is open, just like the other banks.

But one cool perk of ThankYou points is that you can share them with others.

However, shared points will expire after just 90 days, which could get you into trouble if you’re not careful and hyper-aware of this rule.

5. How I personally avoid points expiration

I have a to-do list item that pops up on my calendar once every year.

It has a list of points programs (that I have points balances with) that require some kind of activity. For most programs, I have organic activity at least once per year, and I don’t need to worry.

But every once in a while, there’s a program I don’t use for some time. And in that case, I might transfer 1,000 points from a credit card to make sure I keep them alive.

Anywho, I hope this helps clarify expiration rules and takes away some of the fear around earning points without a clear use in mind right away.

💳 New (better) card offer eligibility rules

A couple of weeks ago, this bank relaxed the eligibility requirements for welcome offers on some of its most popular cards.

It was a bit of a turbulent week for me, and I didn’t manage to get that info out to you all – and I’m terribly sorry about that.

But don’t worry, I wrote up a whole article about it that doesn’t need to use vague terms like “this card” and “this bank,” so you can read it without banging your head against the keyboard (unless you really want to).

Check it out – and hopefully, you can get a welcome offer that you previously couldn’t:

💘 Cute Valentine’s Day gift card promo

As you know, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. To celebrate, Delta is offering a 2x bonus on Delta SkyMiles for gift card purchases through February 16.

You need to spend at least $200 to trigger the bonus miles, which isn’t bad.

Whether you want to buy gift cards for yourself toward future flights or for your special Valentine, this is a great way to earn extra miles on your purchases.

You can stack this with credit card points, too.

This purchase won’t code as a “Delta Airlines” purchase, so you’ll want to use a card that earns 2x everywhere, like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card or even the new Bilt Palladium Card.

If you fly Delta often or want to gift this to someone who does, make sure you snag some gift cards before Feb. 16.

That’s it for today, friends! Tomorrow, we’ll cover a super important tip for unlocking good award flights, so make sure you tune in!

Take care,

40.7128° N, 74.0060° W

With contributions by McKay Moffitt