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Hello everyone, as I alluded to in the topic title BA have closed my BA account (and cost me 132k in Avios in the process). Their initial reasoning was that I haven’t logged in to my a account for 3-5 years. I politely replied that this was nonsense as I was browsing for reward seats just a few weeks ago, please have another look. They then responded with (and I’m paraphrasing) “you haven’t credited any Avios with the quoted timeframe, but if you think we’re wrong then provide evidence”. I then sent them several screenshots from Award Wallet with my account number, my balance, when my account was last credited, my last login and when Award Wallet thinks my Avios will expire – years away. And to please send me number to call as I’d like to discuss this with someone.
BA’s reply? Just open another account and start again, there’s nothing we can do.
To say I’m now frustrated is an understatement, not mention weeks to reply to emails but no one seems bothered to be actually doing anything practical to solve my issue. They seem to skating around the fact the Award Wallet could connect to my account when they are saying my account was closed. I suspect there’s an IT issue at play here as this started around the time when Aer Lingus was moved from Avios.com to being integrated with BA.com and I had an Aer Lingus and Avios.com accounts using the same email address with no Avios credited but obviously I can’t prove that’s the case. My last email to them stated as such, politely asked them to supply evidence to counter mine and escalate my issue to a formal complaint in the hope it will get passed to another department.
To be honest I’m not expecting any satisfactory movement on their end and to just be stonewalled. I’ve looked for an Ombudsman but there doesn’t seem to one I can go to. I’ve briefly read about CEDR, does anyone think this would apply or any other suggestions. I don’t even want to fly any IAG airline after this but now it’s about the principle.
Have you actually added any Avios to your account in the last three years ? If so maybe you could send them the details of what they were awarded for. i.e on-line shopping, a SUB, a referral, a booking etc. I appear to be able to go back through my account and look at older transactions.
If they’re refusing to engage any further, then I’d probably do MCOL for the GBP value of 132k Avios (whatever BA sells them for on their website)
Accessing the account is neither here nor there.
That you use the same email address for your BA and EI and Avios.com accounts is again neither here nor there. Whilst they may all sit on the same IAG Loyalty system they are still separate accounts as they are still separate reward schemes.
There needs to be an actual earn or spend on the account within the last three years. And from what you write there doesn’t appear to be any.
Ouch! My sympathies for your predicament. Unfortunately merely browsing reward availability does not count as activity to keep Avios from expiring. You need to actually earn Avios or spend them to keep your account active and your Avios from expiring.
You mention that you have sent BA evidence of “when my account was last credited”. Is that within the last 36 months? If so then BA should restore your Avios but if it was longer ago than that I think you will be out of luck.
That said you should also have received an email from BAEC about a year ago advising that your Avios are at risk of expiry if you do not earn or spend any Avios in the meantime. Did you receive this email?
This is one reason why it is worthwhile holding and spending on either the basic BA Amex or the Barclays Avios card or an Amex MR or Nectar card where you can exchange MR or Nectar points for Avios as this will always stop your Avios from expiring.
Alternatively link a Nectar card to your BAEC and then you can always convert 400NP to 250 Avios as this will also stop your Avios from expiring.
There needs to be an actual earn or spend on the account within the last three years. And from what you write there doesn’t appear to be any.
If Awardwallet says the Avios will not expire for years then there must have been recent activity.
@louie from the comments I’ve read on here and flyer talk re award wallet it’s not infallible.
3 years with not a single Avios? (Is this one of those trolling situations?) An Avios for thought survey gave me 1 Avios to validate my Iberia account.
Mentioning award wallet has as much validation to BA as stating your neighbour told you your points are still valid.
I feel for you but if you have not actually received 1 Avios in 3 years then the reality occurred.
I then sent them several screenshots from Award Wallet with my account number, my balance, when my account was last credited, my last login and when Award Wallet thinks my Avios will expire – years away.
132K Avios is a lot to lose
When exactly was the last Avios activity on the account? I couldn’t find that detail in your post
TBH, BA won’t care about Award Wallet and when it says your expiry is – it’s not their IT or their platform (the proof of that can be found in the fact that Award Wallet’s IT actually works, for starters 😉 ).
Do you have any proof of credit or redemption? If you used BA shopping, you may have an email. If you spent Avios, depending on your account set-up, you may also have an email.
Didn’t think they closed your actual BAEC account for no activity in 3yrs but just removed the Avios!
Mentioning award wallet has as much validation to BA as stating your neighbour told you your points are still valid.
May carry no weight with BA but it’s worth a shot if you can get a human to understand you.
I once had 52 points mysteriously disappear from my Hertz account as I was about to cash in 4000 for a redemption. They denied it but when I showed them the -52 on AW they credited them back.
18 months later 52 points was just as mysteriously returned to my Hertz account, so now it sits at +52 and I’ll never use Hertz again for numerous reasons.
Didn’t think they closed your actual BAEC account for no activity in 3yrs but just removed the Avios!
Data Protection regulations mean companies can’t keep your data for longer than they need it for so they are now more active about closing inactive accounts.
Thank you for the replies so far.
Yes, my account has been credited with Avios via the shopping portal well within the time scales stated by BA. I don’t have any emails from any points awards, I used to keep them but never needed them. Perhaps a mistake on my part I would say AW that uses agreed on protocols and security arrangements is more sound evidence than an email.
If I had an Avios earning credit card I might have a leg to stand on and perhaps not be in this predicament but I put all of my spend through a Virgin Atlantic card as Virgin Points is my primary points program. I have no redemption history either, the Avios were to use on Aer Lingus as my nearest airport is Manchester.
My only evidence is Reward Wallet as I would imagine it uses BA’s API so it’s BA data and hard to manipulate. And besides, they won’t even tell me what evidence they wanted. My balance got updated with Avios at a time BA said my account was closed. That was December. I mean, they’re saying no account activity for 3-5 years!
I got no email stating that my account was going to be closed. I did have a customer rep trying to tell me all account closures are sent an email. Well that’s fine but as we all know, email isn’t 100% reliable. If it doesn’t get to the recipient then usually only the sender will know why. I’ve asked them to send me evidence that this email got sent and got to my mailbox. I know this will require effort so there’s 0% chance of that happening.
I’m sure there are loads of accounts with orphaned amounts of Avios but with accounts with larger amounts, why not try contact the customer first? Even just an automated text. (We know the answer really, Avios is a cash cow and they’re not bothered).
This is only going to be solved at an IT level (which incidentally is my job and where most of my frustration is probably coming from). The longer they fob me off, server logs get overwritten and soft deleted accounts become hard deleted. I’m sure they have backups and I’m sure they will have some reason as to why they can’t possibly use them to get my account back.
How did you earn those 132,000 avios, presumably not all from the shopping portal? If you post what you can remember, it might be easier to suggest how you might be able to track down evidence of any of the transactions.
Also when did you last redeem avios? I’m just wondering if BA’s system somehow “sees” that you’ve gone 3 years without spending and equates that with no activity. I would think that the vast majority of BAEC members book award flights more often than this, so it may be something that’s never been highlighted here previously.
BA closed my partner’s BAEC account a couple of years ago. It hadn’t had any activity for a few years as it was during Covid so she had other things to think about. They certainly didn’t email though to warn her about what was going to happen.
@NL he says he has never redeemed any Avios but apparently did earn some Avios from the BA shopping portal.
@_Scott_ do you have evidence either via Award Wallet or actual access to your BAEC account of the date that the Avios from your BA shopping portal would have been credited to your account?If that is within the last 36 months of the date your account has been closed then that should be evidence for them to restore your account.
I am slightly surprised that you don’t keep a pdf of the emails from your BA shopping portal ourchases. I always do this as they can randomly adjust the figures even years after the event and I can always go back and check to see if they have removed the correct number of Avios or are even correct to do so. It also means don’t need to search my emails as I have the copies in my BA shopping portal folder on my computer.
As I said, I can’t see 132k avios coming from the shopping portal. If some of them came via other routes it might be possible to trace the transactions, e.g. purchase and related credit card statement.
Perhaps the shopping portal avios were clawed back a year later (as has been reported to happen) and this resulted in no activity for a 3 year period?
Also note that combining avios with avios.com/aer lingus or iberia does not reset any activity timers.
Also note that combining avios with avios.com/aer lingus or iberia does not reset any activity timers.
Correct, but sending an amex reward point does reset the clock.
https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/02/01/how-can-you-stop-your-british-airways-miles-expiring-3/Every time I’ve earned Avios via the shopping portal, I’ve receive a confirmation email from britishairways (at) rewardengine.com
A quick search of my deleted emails folder has dozens of hits. Have you tried this?
Submit a SAR to BA, asking for details of your BAEC account, including all associated data. It will be there in black and white. It could be an IT glitch. Either way you’ll know for sure.
BA staff may no longer be able to access your account, but it won’t have been deleted (just archived). So IT will be able to get to it.
If you received any marketing emails from BA, scroll right down to the bottom, they tell you how many Avios you have – this figure should change from email to email.
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