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Hi,
I understand this is against BA’s TOS but they allow you to gift or transfer points anyway.
What’s to say I know this person that lives in another city in the UK for example and they transfer me Avios and I pay them separately? Trying to understand if this is worth the risk, as a one off transaction. Different matter if someone is being transferred points regularly.
The risk is also if they’re doing this regularly and get caught by BA then not only will they close that persons account, but they could also investigate the people who received points from them and possibly void the transactions leaving you out of pocket with no points
If you do actually know the person and trust that this is a one-off (or very rare), then it’s probably very low-risk, but you will not have a leg to stand on if BA decides that you or the other person are deliberately breaching the Ts and Cs and closes your accounts.
It goes without saying that if someone is purporting to be selling avios on a platfrom like Ebay, it’s not going to end well.
Always makes me think of the lady who was renting out use of her garden for avios. Can’t find the FT thread now but it makes for very entertaining (and salutary) reading!
Also, see:
https://www.headforpoints.com/2023/09/19/british-airways-selling-avios-closed-account/
The risk is also if they’re doing this regularly and get caught by BA then not only will they close that persons account, but they could also investigate the people who received points from them and possibly void the transactions leaving you out of pocket with no points
100% This. You would be very lucky if they just void the transaction – they are much more likely to close both accounts, even if you just bought points once. There are a few cautionary threads on FT
If you do actually know the person and trust that this is a one-off (or very rare), then it’s probably very low-risk, but you will not have a leg to stand on if BA decides that you or the other person are deliberately breaching the Ts and Cs and closes your accounts.
It goes without saying that if someone is purporting to be selling avios on a platfrom like Ebay, it’s not going to end well.
Indeed!
The language in the OP is a little strange.
If it’s a friend then surely you’d say “friend” and not “someone” or “this person” and that makes me think this is someone trying to do a dodgy sale eBay etc sale.
Avoid.
The fraud departments at airlines regularly monitor sites such as Ebay. 99.99% chance that they shut down your account within a few days of you receiving Avios.
Even if you spent them immediately on a flight for example, they can cancel your reward flight ticket at any point for breaching the T&C.
If you can be 100% certain they have never transferred avios to any other random person before – i.e. not buying from ebay – and you have never received avios from another random person before, then it should be fine to do a transaction with this person.
Once you have done it, you should never attempt this with other random BAEC members. (I expect it would be fine to do more transactions with the same person, provided they also continue to only transact with you.)
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