Avios points 'expired'. 60,000 have vanished

[megaphone]

Anyone had any luck with retrieving expired points? I have lost over 60,000 Avios due to inactivity on my account. I have emailed BA customer service and they are saying no, tough luck.

I haven't flown BA, or had a holiday, for some years due to family commitments. Circumstances have changed and I noticed a promo email from BA about winter sun, great I thought, time for a holiday, BUT noticed my Avios and Tier Points were showing as zero. Went into my account and they had expired in October due to inactivity on my account, I haven't made a transaction in 36 months.

[WH16]

You should have had a few warning emails though? I've had a couple recently.

I mostly fly AF/KLM these days, so I keep getting reminded by BA that I might lose my points, so will occasionally spend a few to keep them active.

[megaphone]

I have checked back and I did get an email but it was 6 months ago, nothing I have seen since. I get lots/too many BA promo emails which I often just ignore.

Edited by megaphone on Friday 7th November 08:24

[Guyr]

You've got no chance, BA stick to this and will have reminded you.

The solution to this is to set your supermarket reward points to automatically convert to miles every month. Tesco points convert to Avios and Sainsburys points convert to Virgin Miles.

This keeps both accounts alive forever and will top them up a bit.

The other option is to have Credit Cards that generate points.

[alangla]

If you ever use Uber either for taxis or for train/coach/airline tickets (regardless of airline) then you can connect the accounts and collect points that way. I don’t think it works for takeaways though.

[chip*]

Happened to me too many years ago due to lack of travel and activity on my account.

They have online shopping partners which covers literally most high street shops and more e.g. JL, Screwfix, Argos, Boots, M&S etc..Just use their link to access the shopping partner website which will gain and maintain your Avios points on your account. I say this, but I frequently forget to do this myself!

[Hoofy]

Call them up and try to speak to someone. Had to google that it's worth £600 so worthwhile trying still. I belong to a different point-collecting scheme and recently lost under £100; spoke to them (in a very not-Karen kind of way!) hoping to get at least some of it back, they "refunded" the full amount which surprised me! So you never know.

[MrBen.911]

alangla said:

If you ever use Uber either for taxis or for train/coach/airline tickets (regardless of airline) then you can connect the accounts and collect points that way. I don t think it works for takeaways though.

Thanks, that's a great tip, presumably that stops the existing Avios expiring?

[TheHeadhunter]

Hoofy said:

Call them up and try to speak to someone. Had to google that it's worth £600 so worthwhile trying still. I belong to a different point-collecting scheme and recently lost under £100; spoke to them (in a very not-Karen kind of way!) hoping to get at least some of it back, they "refunded" the full amount which surprised me! So you never know.

I echo that. Anytime I've had an issue, or a family member has, they've been really good. Same with Amex Companion vouchers

I perpetually have over a million Avios, and use them for our family travel, so mine don't often get towards expiry (although the Companion vouchers do). But when my wife's get expired, or with the CV, one call and they are typically really good at extending/addressing.

[DT1975]

Guyr said:

You've got no chance, BA stick to this and will have reminded you.

The solution to this is to set your supermarket reward points to automatically convert to miles every month. Tesco points convert to Avios and Sainsburys points convert to Virgin Miles.

I think its the other way round, Tesco - Virgin etc. It's a shame as we have a Tesco around the corner yet collect Avios.

[peter tdci]

Guyr said:

The solution to this is to set your supermarket reward points to automatically convert to miles every month. Tesco points convert to Avios and Sainsburys points convert to Virgin Miles.

Avios switched from Tesco to Sainsburys/Nectar a while ago.

[DeejRC]

Don’t know about supermarkets, but BP are linked to Avios and I try to do most of my fuel at BP garages now to keep ticking them along if I’m flying that month.

[sly fox]

megaphone said:

Anyone had any luck with retrieving expired points? I have lost over 60,000 Avios due to inactivity on my account. I have emailed BA customer service and they are saying no, tough luck.

I haven't flown BA, or had a holiday, for some years due to family commitments. Circumstances have changed and I noticed a promo email from BA about winter sun, great I thought, time for a holiday, BUT noticed my Avios and Tier Points were showing as zero. Went into my account and they had expired in October due to inactivity on my account, I haven't made a transaction in 36 months.

Good luck with that.
Playing devils advocate - You've not shown any interest in their products and services for 3 Years and you expect them to be lenient when you haven't used or spent your points? It's called a Loyalty program for a reason.

[biggiles]

I had similar with some hotel points - lost a LOT. My fault.

On BA points I've set up a card which earns points, so long as I use it "a little bit" it keeps the account fresh.

[megaphone]

Thanks for the replies, yes I know that it's my fault, as I mentioned in the OP, although it would have been nice to get a few more reminders and even a letter from BA.

I was asking if anyone had had any luck appealing to BA.

Edited by megaphone on Friday 7th November 18:30

[megaphone]

Hoofy said:

Call them up and try to speak to someone. Had to google that it's worth £600 so worthwhile trying still. I belong to a different point-collecting scheme and recently lost under £100; spoke to them (in a very not-Karen kind of way!) hoping to get at least some of it back, they "refunded" the full amount which surprised me! So you never know.

I have emailed them via customer services and got a no. I'll try again, then yes maybe a phone call if I can get through. I have read online that others have had some luck. Yes I'm being polite and friendly.

Edited by megaphone on Friday 7th November 18:45

[ScubaBiker]

I lost about 20k avios around 2022 due to inactivity with BA. At the time I did email them and said I was planning to start flying with BA again, would it be possible to get these reinstated. I blamed the inactivity on covid restrictions. I was slightly surprised when they reinstated the points. So it is worth asking a few times, if you get through to the right person they might be sympathtic.

I have flown with them quite a lot since my points were reinstated, so they made the right decision.

[megaphone]

Update on this.....and it's good news! After four emails and two phone calls, I have finally got my points back.

I really thought I was not getting anywhere, initial rejection, transferred to another department, long phone calls being transferred around with no progress.

I made one final follow up email and I think it pushed my case to another person, my points showed up yesterday.

Hope this will help others in a similar situation, be polite but don't give up. I'll be ensuring I set something up to make sure they do not expire again. I'm planning a trip in March, I may well fly BA.

[jfis89]

Shopping through the avios app/website is probably the easiest way to earn and keep them active. You get some good offers on things like insurance/new phone contracts but they can be collected in lots of places

[fat80b]

megaphone said:

Update on this.....and it's good news! After four emails and two phone calls, I have finally got my points back.

I really thought I was not getting anywhere, initial rejection, transferred to another department, long phone calls being transferred around with no progress.

I made one final follow up email and I think it pushed my case to another person, my points showed up yesterday.

Hope this will help others in a similar situation, be polite but don't give up. I'll be ensuring I set something up to make sure they do not expire again. I'm planning a trip in March, I may well fly BA.

Congrats - A return for a fair bit of effort for 60K points -- Now you can work out how to grow the balance -- Shops away, Wine Flyer, Amex CC, and Tesco points conversion for a start.

Aim for getting an entire household spend through the CC / Tesco with various (welcome and other) bonuses along the way and you can treble that number now -- It's a game