British Airways Avios Suddenly Missing from Accounts

asthejoeflies

Moderator
Staff member
Most notably, MINE!

Apparently, British Airways has to decided to further enhance their customer service by making a bunch of people’s Avios go missing. Since I’m not on Twitter at work, I just discovered this randomly myself half an hour ago. Here is pretty much what happened:

10:20 AM – I need to search some Cathay Pacific award space for a client, so I go to log into britishairways.com


Ruh roh…


10:21 AM – The website tells me my username and password are not recognized

10:24 AM – After multiple log in attempts, I start getting concerned I’ve been hacked and click on the forgot/reset password link.

10:25 AM – I reset my password, log in, and see this beauty:


RUH ROH


10:26 AM – FREAK OUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!

10:27 AM – FREAK OUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!

10:28 AM – Place a call into British Airways – press the numbers for Executive Club, get busy signal three times

10:28 – 10:45 AM – Do some real work so as not to get fired

10:50 AM – Send out desperate tweet via phone while on hold with British Airways

10:55 AM – After being told I would be transferred to the Executive line, I get hung up on (always quality service with these guys)

10:58 AM – Trevor tweets me a relevant Flyertalk thread – I start to realize this is a widespread issue and start calming down.

11:00 AM – I call again, but after twenty minutes on hold (after speaking to an agent) I’m told to call back later

11:25 AM – I start writing a blog post about all this

Anyway, apparently, British Airways is/was concerned about some kind of data breach and has been putting a lot of accounts under audit. What that basically means is they “protect” your miles (read: zero out your balance) so no potential hackers can use them.


Oh…this means my miles are PROTECTED! (okay)


Seems like some huge IT SNAFU over at British Airways. I guess the best course of action is to sit tight right now. I was freaking out when I thought I got hacked, but now I know it’s widespread I’m (mostly) confident everything will come back.

I’m a little concerned because all the members of my household account are zeroed out as well, but what’re you gonna do.

FWIW, the wiki at the top of the FT thread says to unlock your account you need to call in – that might be true if you need to use your miles immediately (though it also says you can still phone in to redeem if necessary), but other than that I think it’ll just work out. I hope. Please.

In terms of advice – I think sitting tight is probably the best course of action, and then if it doesn’t work out in a few days call in if you must.

Continue reading...
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Voyaging Doc

Level 2 Member
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1666639-27-mar-large-numbers-baec-accounts-being-locked-zeroed-out-audit-ex-gratia-16.html

Just checked my account. It first did not recognize my BA# and then when i reset the password and logged in my balance was zeroed with a zeroing transaction listed as "Ex-Gratia." Searched online and it's happening to a lot of people FYI.

Edit: and now I see a forum post on this earlier today https://saverocity.com/forum/threads/british-airways-avios-suddenly-missing-from-accounts.151333/
 

sriki

Level 2 Member
Same here. I could not log into my account and ended up resetting my password. After logging in, I see zero. I will wait and see.

Note: When I went to ba.com, the country selected was Denmark.
 

Haley

I am not a robot
I'm in the same boat, my miles are being "protected"

27-Mar-15 Ex-Gratia 0 -63,000
 

Joseph

Level 2 Member
Same here. I had to reset my password to get in. After logging in, I found that my is balance is zero.
 

cocobird

Level 2 Member
Not sure what the common thread is among the people who were hacked. I was fortunate and did not get zeroed out. There was a rumor that it happened to people who had Award Wallet, but that made little sense because no accounts at other air lines were hacked. So who knows.
 

CKaway

Level 2 Member
Happened to me too. Can't log in!
If you can't log in, reset your password (lost password). I had the same message that it didn't recognize my membership number so reset my password and was able to log in and see my zero balance!! I guess BA emptied accounts to protect miles. You've probably already read this on the FT forum but just in case you didn't....
 

BoonDR

Level 2 Member
Same here. I could not log into my account and ended up resetting my password. After logging in, I see zero. I will wait and see.

Note: When I went to ba.com, the country selected was Denmark.
Thats what I had last week but that was because I was searching for that mistake fare using krones on ba.com but it only worked on United
 

sriki

Level 2 Member
Yeah. It's all a bit mystifying. A company the size and reputation of BA would be expected to be good with communications.
 

Voyaging Doc

Level 2 Member
I was wondering if awardwallet played a role too. It still could but I also did check to see if any of my other accounts had unusual activity and none of mine did, though melia rewards definitely had suspicious activity a few months ago and their support staff still haven't responded to me
 

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
Yeah. It's all a bit mystifying. A company the size and reputation of BA would be expected to be good with communications.
BA is not. When my daughter was living in London she got so fed up with them she stopped flying them. Were it not for Avios, I would likely still not be either. I got stranded by them in Detroit once when my plane to Chicago was diverted there. They unloaded us and had no desk set up and no support until the next morning. At any rate, communication with them is often frustrating.
 

Voyaging Doc

Level 2 Member
BA is not. When my daughter was living in London she got so fed up with them she stopped flying them. Were it not for Avios, I would likely still not be either. I got stranded by them in Detroit once when my plane to Chicago was diverted there. They unloaded us and had no desk set up and no support until the next morning. At any rate, communication with them is often frustrating.
i have never used them and hope to never use them except for their extremely lucrative award redemption with partners. i considered using them for maldives
 

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
i have never used them and hope to never use them except for their extremely lucrative award redemption with partners. i considered using them for maldives
I fly them a good bit connecting from AA in London to other European cities when I use a systemwide on AA to Europe. Last long haul I was on was Accra to London. I had a pretty rough go trying to get on the flight as after my upgrade on AA from LHR to ORD, the ticket numbers didn't match. It took multiple calls to the U.S. from Ghana at the airport just to get on the plane. So, I don't have a stellar track record with them. Back on track, I have not been able to sign into our BA family account. I do have AW and wonder if there is a connection.
 

Haley

I am not a robot
I track several BA accounts through Award Wallet and not all are effected.
Twitter team advised it may be several days but if I needed to book in the meantime I should call in.
 

36902BRF

Level 2 Member
I track several BA accounts through Award Wallet and not all are effected.
Twitter team advised it may be several days but if I needed to book in the meantime I should call in.
Interesting that is the first report I have seen (and I have read most of the FT thread) of an account in AW that is not impacted. I personally don't believe AW has been hacked at this point but rather the behavior of AW caused them concerns once they were aware they had a problem. So far any account I used AW for is zeroed out but other accounts that I have access to (parents) which I don't track in AW are fine.
 

36902BRF

Level 2 Member
I will add that even by the low standards I hold airlines too this is a pretty poor performance on BA's part. Basically they seem to have zeroed out what is likely tens of thousands of accounts and then skived off for the weekend. The very least they could have done is sent the email out to those impacted or at least put a splash screen up on their web page. Instead they leave us to first have a heart attack and then research the issue ourselves. I do IT for a large organization and folks would be fired for stuff like this.
 

sriki

Level 2 Member
I will add that even by the low standards I hold airlines too this is a pretty poor performance on BA's part. Basically they seem to have zeroed out what is likely tens of thousands of accounts and then skived off for the weekend. The very least they could have done is sent the email out to those impacted or at least put a splash screen up on their web page. Instead they leave us to first have a heart attack and then research the issue ourselves. I do IT for a large organization and folks would be fired for stuff like this.
I work in IT and I agree.

You didn't get the email?
I did not get any email either.
 

orensmoneysaver

Level 2 Member
I didn't get an email, I had to reset and now my Avios are 0 as well. I have an email showing my balance from last month so hopefully I should be able to be restored
 

36902BRF

Level 2 Member
You didn't get the email?
No I did not get the email on any of the three accounts that are locked and a quick read of FT thread shows that seems to apply to the majority of folks who are locked/zeroed out.

One possible explanation for who got the email and who did not is that those who got it are those who BA believes had their accounts accessed by an unauthorized third-party, the rest of us might be locked/zeroed out as a prophylactic measure (this does not excuse not notifying locked users). That said it is just as likely BA incompetence explains who got an email and who did not.
 

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
It's all over the mainstream press this morning with lots of cloak and dagger theories. Pretty poor showing for BA regardless of the details. All we need is another airline disallowing third party access to sites like Award Wallet. Watch for that one coming down the pike.
 

36902BRF

Level 2 Member
It's all over the mainstream press this morning with lots of cloak and dagger theories. Pretty poor showing for BA regardless of the details. All we need is another airline disallowing third party access to sites like Award Wallet. Watch for that one coming down the pike.
That may already be happening. Folks who have reset their password and entered their new password on AW are saying it is not updating. Whether that is a temporary or permanent measure who knows. For the moment I am not updating my AW creds until I see what shakes loose on the BA side this week.
 

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
Anyone else notice this change on Award Wallet? I tried to access one of our BA accounts on there. It used to say (Executive Club). Now after trying to log in unsuccessfully, it says in red (On Business, Corporate). I did not try to do anything with the other account and it still says (Executive Club). Seems kind of strange that it would change in this way
 

druiddation

Level 2 Member
Are those that still have BA miles in their account able to search for award space? I was zeroed out and when I try to search I get: Sorry, but you cannot book online using Avios at the moment. To book flights, hotels, cars or experiences please contact your local Executive Club Service Centre.
 

druiddation

Level 2 Member
Well my Avios weren't there this morning but they were back this afternoon, and I can search for award availability again.
 

Daniel

#hackingtheplane(t)
Also restored. I have to say, I'm actually quite pleased/impressed with how BA handled it. Invalidating PWs and temporarily removing points was really smart (from an IT/Security perspective).

You may say that the lack of information given at the beginning was problematic, but it's a typical PR thing not to freak people out by making a statement without complete information.

Anyway, just my 2 cents. Crisis averted.

Use 1password or Lastpass, everyone!
 
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