Do Avios Expire? The Rules for Every Avios Programme

Yes, Avios expire. British Airways states the rule plainly on its About Avios page: your Avios will not expire as long as you collect, spend, buy or share at least one Avios every 36 months. Three years of complete silence on the account and the balance is removed.

That much is well known. What is less well known is that the answer changes depending on which Avios account you are looking at. One of the five programmes uses 18 months, not 36. And in that programme, the trick most people reach for to reset the clock does not work.

Any one of four actions resets the clock for another 36 months:

One Avios is enough. There is no minimum balance and no minimum transaction size. The clock resets on activity, not on volume.

Two things make this trip people up anyway. The first is that a British Airways Club account does not show a countdown. There is no expiry date on your balance page, so unless you keep your own record, you are relying on an email arriving and being read. The second is that dormant accounts are exactly the accounts people stop checking.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club uses the same period. Its Avios page states that Avios will never expire if you collect, spend, buy or gift at least one Avios every 36 months. Note the wording difference: Qatar says gift where British Airways says share. In practice both mean moving Avios to another member.

The exception is worth knowing if you hold status. Qatar's Privilege Club benefits page confirms that Avios will not expire as long as you retain the Platinum tier at the time of expiry. That is the only tier-based protection in the Qatar programme.

This is the part that matters most, and it is the reason I wanted to write this piece.

Finnair Plus gives you 18 months, not 36. Finnair's UK help page states that if you collect or use Avios at least once every 18 months, they do not expire. Half the runway of British Airways and Qatar Airways.

Now the trap. Finnair states that transferring Avios does not extend their validity. That includes transfers to other members and transfers between your own loyalty accounts, and Finnair names British Airways Club specifically as an example. So the standard move of shifting a few Avios across to reset a clock does not work at Finnair. You need to actually collect or use Avios there.

Finnair also counts the months in an unusual way. If you collect or use Avios on the first day of a month, that month counts as month one. On any other day, the 18-month period starts from the beginning of the following month. That gives you slightly more time than a straight date calculation suggests, but it is not a reason to cut it fine.

Unlike British Airways, Finnair does show you the date. You can check Avios validity in the Finnair app or by logging in to your Finnair Plus account. Finnair also states that it is not obliged to remind you separately.

This matters for a specific group of UK readers. If you have ever bought Avios through Finnair because the pricing was better, or moved a balance there during a promotion, that balance is running on an 18-month clock and a transfer will not save it. If you are weighing up where to buy or boost, our Avios Balance Booster calculator compares British Airways, Qatar Airways and Finnair pricing, and the expiry difference is a real cost that the headline price does not show.

Avios also live in Iberia Plus and Aer Lingus AerClub. I have not been able to verify their current expiry terms from their own published pages while writing this, so I am not going to quote a number I cannot stand behind. If you hold a balance in either, check the terms on the programme's own site rather than assuming the British Airways rule carries across. As Finnair shows, it does not always.

If you hold a British Airways household account, there is a clause that can protect a dormant balance, and almost nobody mentions it.

Clause 18.1.18 of the British Airways Club terms and conditions states that if the household account contains a Gold, Silver or Bronze member who has collected or spent Avios in the last 36 months, the Avios balances of the other household members are not subject to expiry.

Read that carefully. The protection is not triggered by any member being active. It needs a member who holds tier status. If everyone in the household is Blue, each person needs their own activity. If one person holds Bronze or above and keeps flying, the rest of the household is covered.

I hold Silver, so in practice this is the clause I would point to when persuading a family member with a dormant balance to join a household account. If you want the full picture on how those accounts work, including the six-month lock-in, I have written that up separately in our household account guide.

Any qualifying activity works, so the sensible approach is the cheapest one that produces a transaction on the account.

The easiest is card spend. If you hold an Avios-earning credit card, the clock resets by itself every month and you never have to think about this again. That is the real argument for holding one even if you are not chasing a welcome bonus. My current rundown is in our best Avios earning credit cards in the UK guide, and if you run a business, the business card equivalent is here. I use two Capital on Tap business cards and my Barclaycard Avios Plus, so my accounts stay active without any effort.

A transfer from American Express Membership Rewards also does it, and the transfer to British Airways is instant. If you do not hold an Amex, the current personal card offers are here and the business offers are here. Remember the Finnair exception though. A transfer will not reset a Finnair Plus clock.

Beyond that, the British Airways shopping portal works on ordinary online purchases you were making anyway, and the eStore and dining partners produce small earning transactions. Buying a handful of Avios also counts, but it is the worst option on value, so treat it as a last resort rather than a plan.

Open every Avios account you hold and note the date of the most recent transaction. Then put a calendar reminder at 30 months for British Airways and Qatar Airways, and at 12 months for Finnair. That leaves you months of margin rather than days.

If a balance is already close, act now rather than at the deadline. Some earning activity takes weeks to post, and posting date is what counts, not the date you clicked.

The 36-month rule is generous, and I do not think British Airways deserves much criticism for it. Almost anyone who is active in this hobby will never come close. The people who lose Avios are the ones who collected a balance on a couple of holidays, stopped travelling, and forgot the account existed.

What I do think deserves criticism is that British Airways shows no expiry date in the account. Finnair manages it. Qatar tells you the exact hour in its terms. Hiding the countdown behind an email is a design choice, and it is not one that favours the member.

The Finnair 18-month rule combined with transfers not counting is the genuine trap here. If you have a Finnair balance sitting from a buy-Avios promotion, go and check it after you finish reading this.

If you know somebody with a forgotten Avios balance, send this to them. Three years goes quickly.

Jack