Time To Search Your E-Mail And Accounts!

Not all promos and awards have year-end expirations, but there are a lot that do. Even the ones that do not may end at the end of a month and there are a few that may end in next few weeks.

Time To Search Your E-Mail And Accounts!

So, why is it time to search your e-mail and accounts? As mile and point enthusiasts, we often sign-up for every promo that comes our way on the off-chance that we are able to use it at some point. Some of these promos come as actual freebie items and some may just require one more action on our part. I have (a few times) almost missed out on promos or awards that were going to expire because I simply forgot about them. I stumbled upon them one day while searching for something else. In fact, one of these recent times saved me almost $100!

Examples of Expiring Promos and Rewards

One of the very popular promos that was signed up for was the Avis First promotion for World Mastercard holders. That gave you Avis First and also a free weekend rental. I have seen an end date on the validity of those rentals as being January 15, 2015. So, if you signed up for it and have not used it yet, do not leave a free car rental on the table! Tip: Search for Weekend Rental Reward in your inbox to find the code and validity date of that reward certificate.

Delta’s Skybonus program is another reward that has points that may expire at the end of this year. Skybonus is Delta’s award program for businesses. The rewards are tied to the amount of money spent multiplied by the set amount of the airport departed from (hubs vs non-hubs). These points have a validity of 3 years and they expire on December 31 of the year they expire. The last couple of years, Delta had some nice bonuses for those travelers who signed up for the account and credited a single flight (you still receive regular Delta Skymiles in your account). If that was you, you may have points about to expire! Tip: Go to Delta’s Skybonus website and see if you have points that will expire this year. If so, order whatever rewards would use that amount.

IHG’s fall promo “Into the Nights” is set to end December 31. Some participants were only required to stay a couple/three nights in IHG hotels to earn 2 free nights at any IHG hotel! While you may have passed on it at the time, I have seen some very cheap nights at various Holiday Inns for the end of the year. Maybe you stayed at one and forgot about the promo. All you may need is a single additional stay to get those free nights! Tip: Go to the IHG promo page to check your progress for the awards.

Back to the Skybonus awards – maybe you already cleaned out your account last year to use up expiring points. Well, those certificates for travel have a year validity for booking! It has been long enough that you may have forgotten about it. Do not leave that on the table! Something similar happened to me that I had a certificate for travel from the US to Asia or Australia. I had offered it to a friend and kind of forgot about it when he forgot about it. Fortunately, we remembered in time and were able to lock in a trip for him for only $26 (the taxes). Tip: Search your e-mail for Skybonus Award Order to see if you have a certificate ordered.

I know this isn’t miles, but it certainly is a few points! Many Best Buy shoppers received various codes sent to them for a free $20 or $10 certificate for a purchase. There is no minimum and they do expire tomorrow! Yes, it is “only” $10, but that is still free money! Tip: Search your e-mail for Must Print To Redeem Savings Code In Store. The nice part is that this same phrase may kick out some other codes for stores you forgot about. 🙂

This is certainly not meant to be an all-inclusive list but just a reminder of some of the things to search for. If you use Award Wallet, you should have been reminded about any miles or award certificates that are set to expire in your other accounts. If you can think of other search terms or awards/promos that we should be on the lookout for before the end of the year, leave it in the comments!