Note: This article is informational only. It summarises publicly available loyalty-program terms as of January 2026 and explains how those programs are structured. It is not legal, tax, or estate-planning advice, and I am not a lawyer. Program rules change, and outcomes may vary by jurisdiction and by how an account is handled.
Some queues don’t recognise status
Scope and intent
This is a reference piece. It documents what major airline and hotel loyalty programs say in their own published terms about what happens when a member dies.
It does not cover anecdotes, customer-service outcomes, or informal workarounds. Programs sometimes make exceptions, but exceptions are not rules. This piece focuses on what is written.
Coverage includes:
The top global airline frequent-flyer programs by international relevance
All major global hotel loyalty programs
Only explicit language in publicly accessible terms and help documentation
Where a program is silent on the topic, that silence should not be interpreted as allowing transfer or inheritance.
1. Why you won’t find data on “points lost due to death”
No airline or hotel group publishes statistics on how many points go unused because a member dies.
Instead, companies model aggregate breakage: the share of issued points they do not expect to ever be redeemed, for any reason. That bucket typically includes:
Inactivity and expiry
Forgotten or abandoned accounts
Small unusable balances
Account closures
Devaluations
Fraud
Member death
From an accounting perspective, the cause does not matter. Only the expected outcome does. As a result, death-related losses are invisible in public reporting, even though they are implicitly built into loyalty economics.
This is why there are no “death breakage” tables, even in investor disclosures.
2. Airline loyalty programs: miles usually end with the member
Across major airline programs, the pattern is consistent:
membership ends on death, and miles disappear when the account closes.
Miles are almost always described as:
Not property
Personal to the member
Not transferable by inheritance or operation of law
Below are airline programs whose terms explicitly refer to death and link it to account termination, forfeiture, or non-inheritance.
Programs with explicit death-cancellation language
British Airways Club (Avios)
Membership ends on death. Unused Avios, Tier Points, and Lifetime Tier Points are cancelled.
American Airlines AAdvantage
Miles are not property. Upon death, the account is terminated and miles are void, subject only to limited discretion.
United MileagePlus
Miles are not property. Membership is personal and non-transferable. Upon death, the account may be closed and miles forfeited, subject only to discretionary review.
Delta SkyMiles
Miles are not property. Membership terminates on death and unused SkyMiles are forfeited. No inheritance or beneficiary process is provided.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Membership terminates immediately on death. Miles cannot be inherited and are forfeited.
Flying Blue (Air France–KLM)
Membership ends on death and miles are cancelled.
Cathay (Asia Miles)
On death, the account is terminated and outstanding Asia Miles, Status Points, and benefits are cancelled.
Southwest Rapid Rewards
Points may not be transferred by inheritance. If the account is closed due to death, points are forfeited.
Emirates Skywards
Membership ends on death and miles are cancelled, with limited discretionary reinstatement language in specific cases.
Lufthansa Miles & More
Membership ends on death. Miles are personal and non-inheritable; unused miles lapse when the account closes.
ANA Mileage Club
Membership terminates on death. Miles are not property and cannot be inherited.
Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
Miles are personal and non-transferable; inheritance is not permitted.
Korean Air SKYPASS
Miles are personal, non-transferable, and cannot be inherited. Account closure follows death.
Asiana Club
Membership ends on death and miles expire with the account.
LATAM Pass
Points are personal and non-transferable; membership termination on death results in loss of points.
Iberia Plus
Membership ends on death and Avios are cancelled.
Partial but restrictive death clauses
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Elite currencies (Qpoints and Qcredits) expire immediately on death. Avios handling may be discretionary, but is not guaranteed.
Etihad Guest
Membership is automatically terminated on death. Miles treatment is not spelled out in the same clause, but termination combined with non-property language limits survivability.
Overall pattern: airline miles are personal to the member and usually disappear when the account closes.
3. Airline programs with explicit estate handling pathways
A small number of airline programs publish clear executor or beneficiary transfer processes. These are exceptions.
Air Canada Aeroplan
Publishes estate handling guidance and allows transfer of points with documentation.
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Allows transfer of points from a deceased member to beneficiaries under defined conditions.
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
Provides a documented inheritance transfer process.
These programs sit outside the dominant airline pattern.
4. Hotel loyalty programs: generally more permissive
Hotel programs behave differently from airlines:
Capacity is flexible rather than fixed
Redemption is easier at low balances
Loyalty is used more as a pricing and retention tool
As a result, hotel programs are less likely to use blunt forfeiture language and more likely to allow executor-initiated transfers.
Hotel programs that explicitly cancel points on death
Accor Live Limitless
On death, the account is closed and all Status and Reward Points and Status Nights are cancelled.
Wyndham Rewards
Points are not property and may not be transferred during or after life by operation of law, unless explicitly authorised.
Hotel programs with documented estate transfer pathways
Hilton Honors
Allows executor-initiated transfer of points with documentation.
Marriott Bonvoy
Generally allows a one-time transfer of unredeemed points to a beneficiary or executor.
IHG One Rewards
Provides for transfer of points upon death with documentation.
World of Hyatt
Allows a one-time transfer of points following death.
Radisson Rewards
Allows transfer to beneficiaries if requested within a defined time window; otherwise points are forfeited.
Hotel programs with restrictive or silent language
Choice Privileges
Points are not property and accounts may be closed on death, with cancellation of points unless otherwise permitted.
Best Western Rewards
Membership and points are personal and non-transferable; account closure on death results in forfeiture absent an explicit exception.
5. Why the airline–hotel split exists
The difference is structural.
Airlines manage fixed, perishable inventory where a single redemption can displace a high-margin cash sale. Large, long-lived mileage balances create real capacity risk, particularly in premium cabins.
Hotels operate with more flexible inventory and lower marginal redemption costs. Loyalty points function primarily as a pricing and demand-management tool rather than a hard claim on scarce capacity.
The rules reflect those economics.
6. Practical implications (observational)
Airline miles should be treated as personal and time-sensitive.
Hotel points are more likely to survive via executor handling, but only with documentation.
Transferable bank points sit upstream of these risks.
Pooling or lifetime transfers reduce exposure before death.
These are observations about program design, not recommendations.
Closing note
This topic is usually covered in fragments. What stands out is not that these rules exist, but how consistently they line up once you read the terms side by side.
Loyalty points can feel like savings.
But in most airline programs, they end when the account does.
Programs reviewed: This reference covers the major global airline and hotel loyalty programs with publicly accessible English-language terms as of January 2026. Smaller regional programs, legacy schemes, and programs without explicit death-related language are excluded. Lack of explicit topic coverage in a program’s terms should not be interpreted as allowing transferability.