You've probably been more likely to check the daily Covid-19 case numbers than check your airline reward points scheme, but now is a good time to do it.

Daylesford woman Donna Kelly had enough Qantas frequent flyer points to fly with her husband around the world.

But when she logged in to her account to book a flight to New Zealand her 320,000 points had gone.

Ms Kelly called Qantas and was told that her points had expired due to inactivity, despite having cancelled a flight to Japan in May 2020 due to the pandemic.

"I was told if you told don't board the flight, then it's not activity," Ms Kelly said.

Ms Kelly was not aware that she had to maintain activity on the account.

"I just thought once you had the points, you kept the points," she said.

Gone but not forgotten

Technology writer Angus Kidman said Ms Kelly was not alone.

"Unfortunately it's not an uncommon problem, because people don't know about that rule, that if you haven't done something for 18 months, then those points just quietly disappear," Mr Kidman said.

Mr Kidman said almost all loyalty point schemes had expiry policies.

"You really need to be aware of the nuances in whatever scheme you've got, especially if you have 320,000 points because that's a lot to lose."

A happy ending

Ms Kelly received a call from Qantas after speaking with the ABC and was told her points would be reinstated.

In a statement to the ABC, a Qantas spokesperson stated that if a flight was cancelled due to COVID-19 then it counted as activity, whereas previously it would not.

"We apologise for our oversight on this specific case and have reinstated the points into her account," the statement read.

"We have reviewed our processes since to understand why this occurred."