Your Miles: Use 'em or Lose 'em

Q. I had accumulated approximately 50,000 frequent flyer miles with United. It has been awhile since I have flown United and last night I went to the United frequent flyer website and saw that all my miles expired in JAN 2008. I do not ever recall getting notification from United about expiration of these miles. Can they do this? Is this normal?

A. They can if your account had been innactive for a certain period of time. And lately, that period is getting shorter and shorter. But if you have no plans to travel anytime soon, you can still keep your account current by making a small purchase in the airlines' "shopping malls." Full store in the blog.