Transferring points following a death

[acewoking]

From today’s Telegraph:
“We were lucky to have been able to travel widely prior to my husband’s death, and as such we accrued around £200 in Virgin Atlantic points. I contacted Virgin to get the points transferred to me. I thought this would be no problem, as my husband left everything in his will to me. However I was shocked to be told that I could only have the points put in my name if it was specifically stated in his will.”

Telegraph’s reply:
Virgin Atlantic came back full of apologies. It confirmed its standard procedure does require that the “proposed transferee” of a dead person’s points is the lawful beneficiary of them, which means customers submitting wills for inspection. In cases where there is more than one beneficiary, points will need to be specifically mentioned in the will.
However, in some cases such as this, where you are named in the will as the sole beneficiary, it is able to make a discretionary transfer. So, in short, Virgin Atlantic was wrong to suggest to you that the points needed to be mentioned in your husband’s will for you to receive them.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesman said: “We are sorry for the distress caused to Ms D regarding her husband’s Flying Club points. Our Flying Club allows for points to be transferred from a member’s account to a different account if we are provided with a copy of the deceased member’s death certificate and a copy of the deceased member’s will which shows that the proposed transferee is the lawful beneficiary of the points, and the requested transfer of the points is undisputed.
However, if the person requesting the transfer of the points is named in the will as a beneficiary, then we are able to honour the points and make a discretionary transfer.”
The points have now been transferred back to you so you can use them for a future trip when you feel like travelling again.

[Joecooljoe]

Interesting thanks. I just listed all my membership numbers in my letter of wishes following Rob’s guidance on ba, so good to know virgin would do similar. I try to earn and burn but you never know.

Joe