American suspends mileage expiration through 2021
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In April of 2020, American Airlines released a statement announcing that it would extend AAdvantage mileage expiration through June 30, 2020, in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Then, mileage expiration was paused until the end of 2020.
Today, we have more good news to report. Despite the pandemic slowing and travel demand increasing, American Airlines again extended mileage expiration through the end of 2021.
Miles won't expire until the end of 2021
According to American, mileage expiration is suspended through Dec. 31, 2021. All miles set to expire before this date now expire in January 2022 (if there's no account activity by the new expiration date).
AAdvantage miles expire after 18 months of no activity, meaning that a user hasn't earned or redeemed miles in this timeframe. Some ways you can keep your AAdvantage miles active without flying include spending on an American Airlines cobranded credit card like the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®. Shopping through the AAdvantage shopping portal or earning miles with Bask Bank also keeps your miles from expiring.
The information for the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Bottom line
It's nice to see American Airlines continue to take steps to ensure that its AAdvantage members' points won't expire during the coronavirus outbreak. However, you don't want to wait if your miles are expiring. With increased vaccination and travel demand, this may be the last time American extends mileage validity.