Here are a few news items regarding miles and points from this past week:

Marriott Rewards Points to Expire After Two Years

Marriott Rewards has announced that Marriott Rewards points will expire after 24 months of inactivity.  Although the terms and conditions have had an expiration date for years, the policy will now be enforced.   Lifetime Status members are not affected by this change.

I like that the page clarifies what activities count towards maintaining an active status. Unfortunately, gifting or transferring points does not extend the expiration date of your points.  This means you cannot transfer Ultimate Rewards points to extend the life of your Marriott Rewards points.  I think the easiest way to extend your Marriott Rewards without travel (if you do not have a Marriott credit card) is to make a small purchase from the ShopMyWayMall which is Marriott’s online shopping mall.

Qantas Added as New Citi Transfer Partner

Qantas was recently added as a transfer partner for Citi ThankYou points.   Qantas would not be my pick for using Citi ThankYou points because it has distance based award chart and requires a lot of points for awards  but it may be a good option for someone.  My favorite Citi ThankYou partner is Singapore Airlines.

New Option to Book Cruises Using United MileagePlus Miles

United announced the launch of a new cruise redemption program.  These MileagePlus Cruise Awards allow you to use your United MileagePlus miles to book awards on more than two dozen cruise lines.  I briefly looked at the United Cruises website and it does not look like using United miles to book cruises provides the best value for United miles.  Still it is nice to have more options and for someone that loves cruises and has a lot of United miles, this might be a good choice.