Get warned before your points expire, not after
Every programme you hold runs its own expiry clock on its own rules. Miles Mosaic keeps one reminder list across all of them, so a balance you spent years building does not quietly zero out.
A points expiry reminder warns you that a loyalty balance is approaching its expiry date while you can still do something about it. Miles Mosaic tracks each programme's own rule, whether the clock runs from your last activity or from the date the points were earned, and tells you which account is closest to the edge and what resets it. It never asks for a loyalty password.
Expiry is the one loyalty deadline with no warning shot
Status has a deadline you can see coming: the qualification year ends, you either made the tier or you did not. Expiry is different. It is silent, it is per programme, and the clock is usually reset by activity you were not thinking about. Most people find out a balance expired when they go to redeem it, which is exactly the moment it is too late.
The problem is not that the rules are hidden. Every programme publishes them. The problem is that if you hold eight programmes you are tracking eight different clocks, each with a different length, a different start event, and a different list of things that count as activity. Nobody does that from memory, and no single programme will remind you about the other seven.
The three shapes an expiry rule takes
Almost every published expiry rule is one of three shapes, and which shape you are dealing with changes what you have to do about it.
Activity based. The whole balance expires if the account sees no qualifying activity inside a window. The window restarts on every qualifying transaction, so one small earn keeps everything alive. Air Canada is the clean example: Aeroplan gives you 18 months with no earning, redeeming, donating, transferring or converting before the points go. American runs the same shape on a longer window: the AAdvantage terms set a 24 month Qualifying Activity Requirement, with an exception for primary AAdvantage credit cardmembers.
Fixed from earning. Each batch of points carries its own death date, counted from when it was earned. Activity elsewhere in the account does not save it. This is the shape that surprises people most, because a busy account can still lose its oldest miles.
No expiry at all. A growing number of large programmes have dropped expiry entirely. Delta states plainly that SkyMiles do not expire. That is worth knowing for the opposite reason: it tells you which balances you can safely ignore, so your attention goes to the ones that actually run out.
A live example: the Aeroplan pause ends on 30 November 2026
Air Canada suspended Aeroplan points expiry, and has published when the suspension ends. In its own words, expiry is paused until 30 November 2026, after which the normal policy applies and points expire if no eligible transaction has been completed before that date.
That is the entire case for a reminder in one sentence. A rule that has been switched off for years switches back on, on a specific day, and the people most exposed are the ones who stopped thinking about it precisely because it was paused. Air Canada emails up to 60 days ahead, which helps, but only if that address is current and only for that one programme. Every other balance you hold is still your problem.
What a reminder has to do to be worth having
An alert that fires the week your points expire is not a reminder, it is a notification of a loss. A useful expiry reminder has to do four things.
It has to give you real lead time, enough to book a stay, move a card spend or make a small transfer that resets the clock. It has to know each programme's own rule, because a 12 month window and a 36 month window need warning at completely different points. It has to tell you what actually resets the clock for that programme, since qualifying activity is defined differently everywhere and buying a coffee with the wrong card does nothing. And it has to cover every programme at once, because the balance you forget is never the one you were watching.
How Miles Mosaic handles it
You add the programmes you hold and keep the balances current. Miles Mosaic stores each programme's published expiry rule and works out, per account, when your clock runs out and what the next reset event would be. The result is one list, sorted by urgency, instead of eight separate emails from eight separate airlines that arrive at different times and mean different things.
Explorer is free and shows your balances and expiry position on demand. Pro adds the monitoring that watches the dates as they approach and tells you before they matter, alongside devaluation alerts and the full status forecast. Both are compared on the pricing page. Nothing here needs a loyalty password: Miles Mosaic never asks for or stores your programme logins and does not sign in to your accounts, so there is no scraping to break and nothing for anyone to breach.
Honest limitations
This is a reminder built on published rules and the balances you keep current, not a live feed from your accounts. If a balance in Miles Mosaic is out of date, the expiry position calculated from it will be too. Programmes also change their expiry terms, sometimes at short notice, and a promotional pause like Air Canada's can be extended or cut short by the operator without warning.
It does not extend anything for you. It will not earn, transfer or redeem on your behalf to reset a clock, and it cannot recover points that have already expired, though several programmes will reinstate expired balances for a fee or after qualifying travel. Treat the reminder as the prompt to act, then confirm the final position in the programme's own account before you rely on it.
Best for
- Anyone holding several programmes where at least one balance is sitting idle
- Infrequent flyers whose accounts go quiet for months at a time
- People sitting on a large balance they are saving for one specific redemption
Not for
- Extending, reinstating or buying back points, which only the programme can do
- Anyone who wants Miles Mosaic to log in and read balances automatically
- People who will not keep their balances up to date, since the dates are calculated from them
Frequently asked questions
How far in advance will I be warned?
Far enough to act. The lead time is set from each programme's own rule rather than a single fixed number, because a programme with a 12 month inactivity window and one with a 36 month window need warning at completely different points.
What actually resets an expiry clock?
It depends on the programme. Activity based rules usually restart on any qualifying earn or redemption, which can include partner activity, card spend, shopping portals or a small transfer. Programmes that expire points a fixed period after they were earned cannot be reset by activity at all.
Do all miles and points expire?
No. Several large programmes have removed expiry entirely, including Delta SkyMiles. Knowing which of your balances cannot expire is useful in itself, because it tells you where not to spend your attention.
Do I have to give you my loyalty passwords?
No. Miles Mosaic never asks for or stores a loyalty password and never signs in to your accounts. You keep your balances current and it does the date arithmetic from the published rules.
Can you recover points that already expired?
No, and neither can any third party. Some programmes will reinstate an expired balance for a fee, or automatically if you travel with them soon after, but that is a request you make to the programme directly. The point of a reminder is to make that conversation unnecessary.
Last reviewed .