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At Milesopedia, we often say:
Since reward points can be collected over months or even years, it would be a real shame to lose them simply because they’ve expired.
To avoid this, it’s essential to know the rules governing the validity of points and miles in rewards programs. In addition, practical tools are available to help you manage your points.
As a general rule, bank programs do not allow points to expire as long as the credit card account remains active.
Sometimes you want to close a card and keep the points for future use.
Of course, if you close a credit card account, the points attached to that account will be lost (they can usually be used within 90 days of closing the account, but the process will be more complicated).
Here are a few tips on how to keep your points when closing cards with the major programs.
If you need to close a card and still have Membership Rewards points left in your account, you can keep them with this trick if you have more than one card. Contact American Express (by phone or chat) and ask the agent to combine your Membership Rewards points into one account.
Once your accounts are combined, you will see your points appear in a main account: it will say that “your loyalty information is linked to your card ending in…”.
If you cancel a card (even the main card on which your points are displayed), the points will remain in the same points account: another linked card will become the main card.
If you don’t use your Membership Rewards points before closing your card or combine them with another account, they will disappear immediately.
As of 2021, Scotiabank’s in-house program, Scotia Rewards, no longer exists. The bank is now a partner of Scene+, an external rewards program. Refer to the Scene+ section below for rules on expiry of these points.
If you wish to cancel a card and still keep your BMO Rewards points, you will need to apply for another card BEFORE closing your account. We suggest that you apply for a no-fee card, such as the BMO eclipse rise Visa* Card.
Once you receive your new card, you can call BMO and ask to link it to your existing BMO Rewards points account. Only then will you be able to cancel your other BMO Rewards card.
If you wish to close a NBC À la carte Rewards card and still keep your points, you can switch to a less expensive card. However, no card associated with NBC Rewards has no annual fee. In addition, you will not be eligible for a new welcome bonus for the next 24 months.
In our opinion, it’s best to maintain your National Bank World Elite Mastercard active, taking advantage of its various benefits every year.
When closing a CIBC Aventura Card, points can be transferred to another product. Consider the CIBC Aventura® Visa* Card to keep your account open and avoid paying any annual fees.
When you decide to close your MBNA Rewards card, you have the option of transferring your accumulated points to another product. One option to consider is the MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus® Mastercard®, which allows you to keep your account open without incurring annual fees.
It is possible to transfer TD Rewards points before or after opening a new credit card linked to the program. In the event of a product change, points will automatically be transferred to the new Card.
If a new TD Rewards Card is opened before cancelling the old one, points will be transferable between accounts under certain conditions:
The TD Rewards Card with no annual fee is the TD Rewards Visa* Card.
RBC Avion points are transferable between accounts of the same primary cardholder. Points can therefore be transferred to a card with no annual fee, such as the RBC ION Visa card.
For Avion Select members, points expire after 5 years of inactivity on the account. Eligible activities include obtaining or using cash back, accumulating, redeeming, transferring or converting points.
As a general rule, airline programs do not allow points to expire as long as the account is active. Certain “activities” must have taken place on the account within the last 12 to 36 months, depending on the program.
An activity can be earning miles or redeeming miles, for example. Generally speaking, once you’ve got air miles, there’s not much else you can do but use them in the program.
What’s more, airline miles are generally not transferable to other programs. That’s why we always recommend transferring American Express Membership Rewards points or RBC Avion Rewards points ONLY when you’re ready to book an award ticket.
The next sections present detailed points and miles expiry rules for the most popular airline programs in Canada. Next, a large table summarizes information for all airlines operating flights in Canada, plus a few popular U.S. airlines.
First of all, having a Aeroplan credit card keeps your account active, even if you don’t accumulate or use points.
In addition, you can request a retroactive credit for Aeroplan points in your account up to six months after a missed transaction (such as a flight where you did not provide your membership number).
If your Aeroplan points are about to expire and you have no travel plans with Air Canada, consider these tips to keep your account active:
If more than two years have passed since the last activity in your account, it will be locked. You will need to call customer service to verify your identity and reinstate your account.
But don’t worry: the miles you’ve accumulated in the past will still be there after you reactivate your profile. To maintain an active Alaska Mileage Plan account, you can:
To maintain an active Cathay Pacific Asia Miles account, you must receive or use at least one Asia Mile per 18-month period. When an eligible activity is performed, the validity of the miles is extended for another 18 months. To keep the activity in your account, you can:
It is not possible to purchase Asia Miles simply to maintain account activity. Miles may only be purchased when booking an award ticket, and may not exceed 30% of the miles required for that ticket.
The British Airways Club offers a Family & Friends account. This makes it even easier to keep your account active in a variety of ways, as long as one of your group members is involved in one of these eligible activities:
The Avios expiration counter will be reset to zero for ALL members of the Family & Friends group.
To maintain an active Etihad Guest account, you must receive or use at least one mile per 18-month period. When an eligible activity is performed, the validity of the miles is extended for another 18 months. To keep the activity in your account, you can:
For Platinum members, Etihad Guest miles do not expire.
Flying Blue divides mileage extension transactions in two. Here are the “global extension transactions” which extend the validity of ALL your miles by two years from the date of the transaction in question:
These are the types of “partial extension transactions” which extend the validity of miles earned with one of these partners by 2 years from the date of the transaction. These transactions do NOT extend the validity of miles earned with “global extension transactions”:
All other account activities do not extend the mileage validity period. For members with Elite or Elite Plus status, miles do not expire.
To keep your Qatar Airways Privilege Club account active, you can:
If your Avios have expired, they can be reclaimed up to one year after expiry, for a fee of 0.015 USD per point.
Finally, for members with Platinum status, Avios do not expire.
Basic WestJet points include:
WestJet bonus points received as part of a contest or promotion expire on the dates specified in the promotion conditions. In the absence of conditions, points will expire one year after being awarded.
Previously, it was only possible to earn VIPorter points on flight-related expenses on Porter Airlines and its partners. Now, it’s possible to earn points on every dollar spent with one of two new co-branded VIPorter credit cards:
A single dollar spent on one of these cards can be used to keep your VIPorter account active and prevent points from expiring.
Here is a summary of the expiry rules for airline loyalty programs. The last column indicates whether it is possible to extend the validity of points or miles by performing an eligible activity on the account.
*Special conditions apply. See previous sections for details.
Finally, let’s review the main point expiry rules for the major hotel rewards programs available to Canadians, in addition to AIR MILES and Scene+.
To keep your account active by earning or redeeming points, you can:
To keep your Marriott Bonvoy account active, you can:
One-night free certificates obtained each year with one Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card or a Marriott Bonvoy® Business American Express®* Card expire one year after issue.
Finally, giving or transferring points to another member or receiving points as a gift or transfer from another member is not considered an eligible activity.
If you have a Scotiabank product affiliated with the Scene+ program, your points do not expire as long as the account remains open. Otherwise, you must earn or use at least one Scene+ point every 24 months to keep your account active. You can:
To help you keep an eye on the expiry dates of your rewards programs, we recommend you sign up for the excellent AwardWallet tool.
Finally, you can find a detailed presentation of its functionalities in this article:
Savings this way:
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