www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Fellas,

As you know the airlines are happy to expire your miles for various reasons. I had about 19,000 miles expire a few years back on AA when I was still "happily" married and celibate Now that I am frequenting AA destinations south of the border I need those miles back. I was ready to pay the $230 to reactivate them and so I called AAdvantage. Figured it would be cheaper to us 30k miles for trip #2 to MDE than pay the $600+ fare . Chick told me about a new program they have called RE-ENGAGE that would reinstate my miles for free. All I have to do is fly once in the next three months, OR get the AA credit card OR buy some crap from their business partners. For me the Credit card deal seems a no brainer...

Just thought I'd give you guys the heads up if you are in the same boat. Here's a copy of the email they sent me...

PHX


Here’s the Info You Requested on Restoring Your Expired Miles:

We’re delighted that you wish to re-engage in the AAdvantage® program, and encourage you to keep up your progress. Once you complete the following requirements, be sure to let us know and we will restore up to 50,000 of the miles that expired from your account:
1. You are already opted in to the AAdvantage® eSummarySM email and the AAdvantage® Promotions email. The first requirement is to remain subscribed to these two programs for the duration of your challenge (which must be a minimum of 3 consecutive months). We encourage you to stay opted-in since these emails help you keep up to date on your AAdvantage® account activity and provide many opportunities to add bonus miles to your account. One other benefit of receiving the AAdvantage eSummarySM email is that you will have a monthly reminder of the date on which your mileage balance is set to expire – so you can avoid having to deal with expired miles ever again!
2. For the next requirement, you can choose any one of three options:
a. You can become a Citi® / AAdvantage® cardholder and earn a minimum of 750 base AAdvantage® miles with the card. You can meet this requirement by applying for and receiving a new Citi® / AAdvantage® credit or debit card and using the card for purchases. Depending on the type of card you obtain, you will earn 1 AAdvantage® base mile for every $1 or $2 spent on purchases with the card. To speak with a Citi representative about applying, please call 800-640-1517 (be sure to have your AAdvantage® number handy). Or, use this link to visit the Web site at miles7.citicards.com. (Please allow 8-10 weeks after your first purchase for miles to be posted to your account.) Remember, any enrollment bonus you may earn for becoming a new Citi cardholder does not count toward the 750 base miles you must earn to satisfy this requirement – but it sure can help you rebuild your mileage balance!
b. Another alternative is to earn a minimum of 5,000 AAdvantage® miles by using the products or services of at least 3 AAdvantage® program participants. For suggestions, visit the nifty Web site at mileagemaximizer.com. This interactive tool helps you calculate how many miles you can earn simply by doing the things you normally do. Visit AA.com® for the complete list of program participants and learn all of the many ways to earn AAdvantage® miles. We think you’ll see how easy it is to stay active in the program – and keep your mileage balance from expiring ever again. Once you get in the habit of earning miles for your transactions, it’s a tough habit to break! The only miles that will not count toward this requirement are any miles received through the shareAAmiles® program or the reactivateAAmilesSM program or through Customer Service.
c. The third option is for you to purchase a ticket and fly 1 roundtrip on American Airlines, earning a minimum of 750 base AAdvantage® miles each way. Go to AA.com® for the latest fare sales and see just how affordable it can be to travel on AA. Treat yourself to a weekend getaway or a family vacation; visit relatives or historic sights; take that business trip or spur-of-the-moment flight. With our online booking tool at AA.com®, it’s easy to explore the possibilities.
3. Please note that you will have 12 months from the day you contacted us and we set up your challenge to complete all the requirements. The sooner you let us know that you’re done, the sooner we will restore up to 50,000 of the miles that expired from your account.
4. Which brings us to the most important step: Once you have fulfilled all requirements, you must contact AAdvantage® Customer Service so we can validate your activity and restore your expired miles. This does not happen automatically, so please don’t forget to call! The number is 800-882-8880 and speak “AAdvantage® Services” then select “Account Information” and ask for an “agent.” We’ll take it from there.
Finally, keep in mind that anytime you need to use some of your expired miles quickly, the fastest way to get them is with the reactivateAAmilesSM program. For more information on the cost, validity period and procedures, please visit our Web site at aa.com and select “Buy, Share, Gift Miles” from the AAdvantage® fly-out menu.
Even though your miles have expired we hope this unique opportunity helps to reward you for becoming active once again. We want you to make the most of your membership, and we are always available to help.

_________________
Why settle for just one woman when you can enjoy them all?

Hey phoenix,

Check you this website for discounted AA flights for AA/citibank card members.

Nothing this quarter for Costa rica, but some other very tempting locations. . . .


https://www.citicards.com/cards/wv/copy ... eenID=1213

You can also get a couple of miles from dining out at specific restaurants. It keeps my account active and I add about 3,000 miles a year.

http://www.rewardsnetwork.com/



C

Phoenix,
Thanks for this info for us AA frequent travelers. Good to know this stuff!

C_Adventurer,
Thanks for that link to Citibank for reduced airfares. I've been a Citibank cardholder for 20 years, but I never knew about that site. Muchas gracias!

MG

_________________
You ALWAYS have an option ....... "NEXT" !!!

Phoenix...Thanks very much for this heads up. I lost over 35K miles because I wasn't paying attention to the emails that they were sending to me, pretty much on a daily basis, thus I didn't realize that I could've bought a foolish magazine subscription and still continued to earn my miles or at least use my miles which wouldn't have left them stagnant.

One more question PR, did you email them or call them?

Thanks again!!

SK

NP SpecialK. 30k gets you to MDE bro! I called the Aadvantage Dept. looking to pay to reinstate the miles and they told me about this new program. Then they emailed me the details!

I think any miles expired after 2002 are elgible for reinstatement under this program. Good luck.

PHX

_________________
Why settle for just one woman when you can enjoy them all?

That's great news! Mine expired Dec. 07. Oh and MDE may be my next venture after CR in October.

Yea these mileage programs are getting worse and worse about expiring your miles, if no activity for a certain period, like 18 months or 2 years.

I guess they have "reasons". Often though the "activity" can be fairly painless, though can add up if you have mulitple cards. Alaska for example (I like to go fishing) was going to cancel mine, but for $25 you can "buy" a thousand miles...boom, that's an activity and now you have another 2 year time period to use the miles. $25 to save a $500 ticket, you almost have to take that risk.

United will actually let you take your miles and issue a ticket in another person's name, so they can travel (say if you could not travel before exp). That's pretty rare.

So hey, anyones United miles expiring?...hit me up. I will sub at the gulch for ya!

With AA $25 buys 1,000 and a $30 processing fee comes along with it.

Damn, I better check the fine print on Alaska Air, they will tell you anything on the phone.

JohnArizona wrote:


Not so rare. I'm not aware of any program that won't let you do this.

Im not talking about transferring the miles to another person. That can be costly and a hassle. Such as they need an acct already.

Im saying issue the ticket in their name just as they do in your name. No additional charge, transfer fees, or account number involved.

If you know of other airlines that do that, please send me a list. I have FF accts with at least 6 and they are the only one I know that do it.

It's the accepted industry practice, the norm. I do it all the time with Continental including getting tickets in other people's name on other carrier's that are within their alliance (NWA, KLM, Delta, Air France, etc.). I've also done it with AA. You mentioned UA. Other's have mentioned this practice with TACA.

I think it would be easier for you to list the 5 that you say don't allow you to redeem awards and ticket with another person's name. Perhaps low cost carriers don't, but I've never heard of any of the legacy carriers not allowing this practice.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With AA $25 buys 1,000 and a $30 processing fee comes along with it.
_________________

FYI
As far as Alaska Airlines, I just checked the site and it's $27.50 per 1000 miles plus tax. No processing fee unless order by phone, then its another $25.

It's the accepted industry practice, the norm. I do it all the time with Continental including getting tickets in other people's name on other carrier's that are within their alliance (NWA, KLM, Delta, Air France, etc.). I've also done it with AA. You mentioned UA. Other's have mentioned this practice with TACA.

I think it would be easier for you to list the 5 that you say don't allow you to redeem awards and ticket with another person's name. Perhaps low cost carriers don't, but I've never heard of any of the legacy carriers not allowing this practice.


Okay, I will check when I can...but I'm talking Delta, American, Alaska etc. Perhaps you're right, but I never noticed it until I tried it with United recently. If they do great, because I can't use my miles and would like to give some away to family without fees, transfers etc.

I tried calling Aadvantage and got trapped in a phone menu system with long waits for the wrong person. (I forfeited 50K in miles just a few months ago! Do you know how much nooky that translates to!)

Who exactly at AA did you talk to about this?

_________________
The sexiest part of the human body? The brain.