DEAL DEAD: An avios.com bug lets you buy 40,000 Avios for 1p each

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• Points to be Made says:

  12 Dec12 December 11:47

  I’m on the phone to Avios as I type, and the message I’m getting is that it was a targetted promotion, and that several people had been affected. Regardless, the agent said she will try to resolve it. Whilst on the line I received this message:

  “Hi Tim,

  Avios Membership Number:
  Case Reference:

  Thanks for contacting us about your recent Buy Avios transaction.
  We’re aware of an issue that has affected a small number of transactions
  and we’re already investigating this with our supplier.
  We’ll be in touch with you again within 7 days. Thanks for your patience at
  this time.
  Kind regards,

  [first name] [last name]
  Avios Customer Account Management
  “

  • Al says:

    12 Dec12 December 12:59

    Yup, just got the same email in response to my query. Which bit are they suggesting is targeted? The 5k bonus is still there, so I assume that’s not targeted.

    • Tim C says:

      13 Dec13 December 19:15

      I got the same mail, I just checked my partners account and she has now been allocated the full 40k but she never did get the cancellation email.

      • Al says:

        13 Dec13 December 21:13

        Just checked my account and, unfortunately, no avios. However … I can buy the 35k + 5k for £399 … whereas my partner’s account still shows the full price of £575. Looks like they may have given some of us the offer?

        • KARFA says:

          13 Dec13 December 21:57

          I bought on Monday from avios.com but got a rejected email later on Monday. Sent an email on Wednesday – spoke to an agent first who suggested doing that. Had a call today from avios (London number) checking that I still wanted to take advantage and apologising for the problems – no mention of a website offer or any attempt to wriggle out by her. She said I will get the avios on Monday.

          However, as Al noted, have just gone on avios.com and it shows the deal again of £399 for 35k + 5k. Should I try and buy them again?

        • uk1 says:

          16 Dec16 December 09:35

          It’s Monday …. did they show up? Received the call for two accounts … but ours still haven’t showed … and both our accounts show full price for purchase. Guess we’ll wait another day or two and message them again …….

          Anyone else waiting?

        • Tim C says:

          14 Dec14 December 00:17

          Thanks Al, I just tried my account and found the same, I purchased 35k+5k and they posted immediately.

        • KARFA says:

          16 Dec16 December 10:06

          Well, not yet. No sign of the manually added points so far. However, as Al noted the 40k for £399 did seems to re-appear on Friday so I basically bought them on Friday and the 40k posted straight away – have since moved them across to my BAEC account. Not sure whether avios have noted this and will not now manually apply the points again, or whether they may even give me another 40k at £399 – will wait and see.

          On my cc the original £399 from last Monday showed as pending but has since been deleted,. Friday’s purchase is now showing as pending.

        • KARFA says:

          17 Dec17 December 14:45

          Just received the following by email:

          Following our call on Friday, your original payment for Buy Avios has been
          cancelled. We asked our supplier to process the payment through again, but
          for card security purposes, they don’t store all the information needed to
          debit your card again. This means we’ve been unable to award any Avios yet.

          I’m pleased to tell you that your account has been set up to enable you to
          purchase the Avios again at the offer price of £399 for 35,000 Avios plus a
          5,000 Avios bonus. This has been enabled until 23.59 on Thursday. After
          that, it will revert to the regular price, so we’d ask that you make the
          purchase again if you’d still like to take advantage of this offer.

          This explains why I and a few others could see the 40k for £399 thing again at the end of last week. Seems you should just be able to redo the rejected transaction now and get your 40k avios – I did on Friday and they posted straight away.

        • uk1 says:

          17 Dec17 December 15:00

          Yes, I received the same email. The problem is that it still shows the higher price. P*ss up and brewery!

        • uk1 says:

          17 Dec17 December 19:40

          ….. just to update if anyone else is “in the same boat” and waitng ….. the price is (for us at least ….) is updated on Avios and our last tranch of 80k miles bought for £800. 150k now for BA + Avios …

    • Points to be Made says:

      13 Dec13 December 23:27

      The part about being targetted isn’t in the email, it’s what was mentioned over the phone.

• uk1 says:

  12 Dec12 December 15:28

  Doesn’t really matter. The standard “buy miles” page open to all had the offer. Not a hidden page. On the landing page -,if it were a targeted offer – should have been warnings and/or access only from the personalised email link. T shouldn’t be possible to buy a genuine well managed targeted offer. They simply were incompetent and all wriggles should be rebuffed.

  They may have intended this to be personalised but it was open to all.. They even had a confirmation page, when you completed the transaction.

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