HOUSTON — Thanks to the COVID pandemic, there are a whole lot of unused airline miles out there.
But experts warn you may want to use your frequent flier miles sooner than later.
Let's connect the dots.
ValuePenguin crunched the numbers and found a massive amount of airline reward miles went unused in 2020.
That is not a big surprise with restrictions in place and COVID concerns. A lot of people were not traveling last year.
It found that the five major airline loyalty programs ended the year with a combined $27.5 billion dollars in unused loyalty miles.
So here’s the problem. The airlines had a really rough 2020.
In all, Forbes estimates the six largest U.S. airlines lost $35 billion dollars last year. All those outstanding miles are considered “liabilities," which means they count as a loss when you are balancing the books.
Now that people are starting to travel again, many will be using those stockpiled miles that do little to help the struggling airlines.
Now travel experts predict the airlines will start changing some rules to help the bottom line.
That could mean reducing the value of rewards or reinstating expiration dates on the miles already earned.
That means they are recommending using those rewards as soon as possible, or you run the risk of getting grounded.