Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Miles & More extends expiry protection for ex-payment card holders

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

The current Lufthansa Miles & More Global Traveller payment cards closed on 4th April 2021.

One of the key benefits of holding this card, and paying the £79 annual fee, was that it stopped your Miles & More miles from expiring.

Lufthansa has an unforgiving expiry policy with your miles disappearing three years after being earned, irrespective of activity. The only way to stop it was to have Miles & More elite status or to hold a Miles & More payment card, which hasn’t been possible in the UK for the last 16 months.

lufthansa miles expiry uk credit card

Lufthansa has just given you another three months grace. If ex-cardholders check their Miles & More statements, they will see that they were credited with 1 mile yesterday, ostensibly marked ‘credit card spend’. This tells the Miles & More computer not to expire any miles this quarter.

This has only pushed back the problem, of course. Your miles will now start to expire on 31st December unless another extension is imposed.

As we covered last week, Cornercard has dropped plans to launch a new Lufthansa payment card in the UK. It did say that the airline is now talking to new issuers so we may yet see something turn up. I imagine that if Lufthansa had thrown in towel completely it would start letting miles expire.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Category

Lufthansa and Miles & More

Comments (46)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Fola says:
    20 Aug20 August 10:25

    Question on miles and more, I didn’t realise they had stopped my points from expiring and I just booked a flight earlier in the year. And now actually not gonna take the flight due to changing circumstances. Can I cancel the booking and get the points back and they won’t expire due to this? Any ideas anyone?

    • Rob says:
      20 Aug20 August 10:59

      If your account is protected from expiry then the miles will come back. If your account is not protected they will not return.

  • Angelo says:
    20 Aug20 August 11:00

    Hi Rob, Thanks for sorting this BA Pre-paid Card issue out. In answer to some other posts, mine arrived yesterday…so 5 working days to arrive as an example.

  • Paul says:
    20 Aug20 August 11:07

    Despite applying via the link my application still shows under review. Perhaps the most pointless application I have ever made

  • Paul says:
    20 Aug20 August 12:29

    I can’t verify my card on the app. Every time I enter the last 4 digits, they disappear…

  • DevonDiamond says:
    20 Aug20 August 12:31

    Annoying about the eBay offer – I’ve just spent £80 (well £65 after the PayPal cash back) on eBay this morning

  • Deb20 says:
    20 Aug20 August 14:05

    On a somewhat lighter note, here is my experience, which in keeping with everything about my life is just a paradox!

    Knowing that I wanted to apply for the card when it was launched (BA sent me an email at around the same time as the article on HFP), long hours at work meant that I didn’t get around to applying for it.

    Then came the HFP offer and I finally got around to applying last Saturday, 13th August, after several days of delays.
    – The promotion code box was very much there for me to input HFP2022;
    – The passport scan and video worked a treat;
    – After 20 minutes of completing the application process, I received a notification on the BA Rewards app confirming that my application was approved and a card was being posted to me.
    – Card arrived on Thursday 18th August and I activated it yesterday, 19th August;
    – First couple of transactions worked fine, albeit I used Chip and PIN to be sure that it worked;
    – App notifications for each transaction were instantaneous.

    How can I be so lucky? Perhaps now I will experience the worst bits of the BA experience! 😅

    • yorkieflyer says:
      20 Aug20 August 14:07

      There must be something wrong? Perhaps your card expires Dec 22 or your turn for problemo is when cancelling
      Jonah

  • Kevin says:
    20 Aug20 August 16:18

    Still no bonus Avios landed. That’s nearly 4 weeks. How long should I give it before booking a few days off work so I can call BA?

  • Callum says:
    20 Aug20 August 16:33

    Applied for card ages ago, never turned up. App is waiting for activation code

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!