What Date Will Earned Miles be Credited On If You Take an Overnight Flight?

Aug. 25, 2013

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2 min read

What Date Will Earned Miles be Credited On If You Take an Overnight Flight?

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TPG follower David has an issue with miles and timezones, tweeting me:

‪"@thepointsguy If leave the US on a Virgin Australia flight on 12/30 but don't land in Sydney until 1/1, are the miles on Delta credited in 2013 or 2014?"

I've actually been asked this question several times and it's a really easy one. If you leave on the flight in one year, but land in the next year, when do the elite qualifying Miles count for? The answer is you get credit for the flight in the year in which you take off, so even if you travel and miss a day going to Sydney, they will physically get posted in another year but they will be get retroactively credited back to count for the year in which the flight took off.

When it comes to delays, I've found that mileage is still credited based on the scheduled flight time. So let's say you were supposed to depart at 11pm on December 31st, and somehow your flight was delayed until 12:30am on January 1st, you should still get credited for the prior year since that is when your flight was scheduled.

Hopefully that answers your question and feel free to tweet me @thepointsguy if you have any more questions.
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Featured image by The Sydney skyline at night.