Expiring frequent miles

I'm not sure how exactly buying a Starbucks giftcard straight out would put miles into your account. It would probably have to be tied into a credit card-dining card deal where eating or spending at certain restaurants, when charged on an Aadvantage credit card,would roll the miles into your account. Look at http://www.aa.com/content/AAdvantage/partners/main.jhtml. On the American Airlines website, click the Aadvantage program tab, and you'll see many ways to keep your account active. The latest American Airlines credit card email I got today is an offer for a free (for the first year), 20,000 bonus for spending $750 in the first 4 months, then a $10,000 bonus for spending $10,000 first year. Credit cards are the easiest ways to get miles, but there are plenty of other partners on the list.

The easiest way is to buy something online from the partners - flowers, books, etc. I don't see Starbucks on the list though... I wouldn't wait because it can take up to 60 days for the miles to show up and your miles expire in less than a month. If they don't show up fast enough, you can always buy 1,000 miles to keep your accounts active. Also, using your miles for a magazine subscription (400-1000 miles) might hit your account faster than a purchase. Those options are much cheaper than reactivating the miles. The credit card offer is a great way to keep your account current, but you won't get those bonus miles for at least a few months. You also might want to call the AAdvantage program's customer service - they might have some other ideas to keep your miles current that aren't listed on the American Airlines website.

Since you have aa miles account, you should
have a citibank cc. That way you can always keep
the account open.

Thanks for the comments.I finally talked to a human being at American and found out that the expiration date was moved to 12-07 for some reason instead of July.I also learned that by donating 250 miles to a miles for kids program would give me another 18 months.Ill donate in Dec. if I dont fly before then.