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Do American Airlines AAdvantage miles ever expire? Ultimately, yes — and it looks like that won’t be changing anytime soon.

American Airlines is largely alone among the four largest US carriers in controlling nearly 80% of the US market share in the airline industry.

AAdvantage miles expire after 24 months of inactivity.

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Despite the easy ways to keep your miles active, American’s policy is definitely stricter than what you’ll find on its top competitors. For example, frequent flyer miles never expire for Delta SkyMiles, United MileagePlus and Southwest Rapid Rewards members.

Can American change its policy? In the airline industry, carriers often change policies to match competitors. Look no further than the wave of airlines raising baggage fees as early as 2024 — or the long list of airlines globally moving to dynamic award pricing.

However, it seems that American is in no rush to change its stance on mileage expiration.

Read more: How to keep your airline and hotel points and miles from expiring

American sticks with the current expiration policy

Last month, on the company’s third-quarter earnings call, a Wall Street analyst asked American CEO Robert Isom if the company had any plans to follow in the footsteps of its biggest competitors and shift to a “miles never expire” policy.

“We’re constantly looking for ways to better engage our customers not only from a loyalty perspective, but also from a value perspective,” Isom replied, offering a rather indirect answer to the question — but one that seems to be comfortable with American. Its policy, as is.

“While there may be some carriers that are doing something different, I do know one thing: You take a look at any kind of value-per-mile assessment on American Airlines, versus anyone else, and you’ll see that we’re absolutely more for our customers. Create value,” Isom added.

How much are airline miles worth?

To be fair, Isom does have a point about the value of American’s loyalty currency. As of TPG’s November 2024 points and miles Valuation, AAdvantage Miles is approximately 1.6 cents per mile. That currently bests Delta SkyMiles (1.2 cents), United MileagePlus miles (1.35 cents), Southwest Rapid Rewards points (1.4 cents), Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles (1.4 cents) and JetBlue Trubee at 13 cents. ).

How to prevent AAdvantage miles from expiring

We should also note that while AAAdvantage miles technically expire after 24 months of account inactivity, it’s incredibly easy to keep your miles active.

Earning or redeeming miles on just one flight will do the trick. You can also keep your miles active without leaving home by earning miles through AA Advantage e-shopping portal or another American eligible shopping, travel or dining partner.

Plus, even if your miles expire, there are ways to restore up to half a million miles after the fact.

It’s also important to note that miles never expire for AAdvantage members with American cobranded credit cards. which includes Citi®/AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (see Rates and Fees), which carries a hefty annual fee of $595 but includes complimentary access to American’s network of Admirals Clubs.

Read more: Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard Review: Complimentary Admirals Club Membership

It’s not just American

Mileage expiration is very common for international airline loyalty programs, including popular programs Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Air Canada Aeroplan, British Airways Executive Club and Emirates Skywards — just to name a few. (Exact policies vary from one carrier to another.)

Meanwhile, on the hotel front here in the US, multiple leading loyalty programs, including Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors and World of Hyatt, stipulate that points expire after two consecutive years of inactivity.

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