Originally Posted by
GabbaMar
We worked with a travel agent from a reputable agency
If this is a commercial agency, would you be prepared to share their name or a website for it?
Having seem similar issues crop up on this board, it has happened before that someone went through a long explanation of what happened, but when we found out the name of the agent it was apparent that there were hundreds of people complaining about them on the internet all with similar problems.
Originally Posted by
GabbaMar
Our situation was also complicated: two of the kids wanted to spend a couple days in Rome before we went to a wedding together in Montisi, then we all went to St. Tropez, then just the women of the family were off to Paris to celebrate my daughter-in-law's doctorate degree... the options and logistics all made my brain hurt... but the TA understood and undertook the responsibility for figuring out the combinations and permutations of needs, and the various airlines where our Aadvantage and AmEx miles could be best utilized.
Our Business Attorney has read BA's terms and conditions and did not find a breach. He did advise arbitration is a costly business, however. To quote, "Youre not wrong for pursuing this. The points have real monetary value and in the absence of a fraud by the consumer (which does not apply here) cannot be rescinded, forfeited, or dramatically devalued without consequence to the airline. They need to explain what happened and why."
And I wrote to the CEO because my uncle was President of a large pharmaceutical company owned by Bristol Myers and was always made aware of-- and would never ignore-- a customer complaint. Ok, maybe naive, but I thought perhaps someone would be tasked with solving the problem in the FedEx box. Maybe Santa can help!
Often, rewards ticket seats become available closer to flight time, making better itineraries available , -- and our daughter-in-law's mom fell gravely ill so they had to cancel--thus the itinerary changes.
We were not trying to cheat the system nor extend the time to expiration by booking and then canceling. We're honest folk.
The many BA support line representatives with whom I spoke alternatively used the words "inactivity" and "fraud" in regard to why the account was locked. They did not use the word "suspicious" nor explain perhaps the TA was suspect. They didn't seem to have any knowledgable answers nor authority but took 220 minutes of my life.
Jeez, I hope we aren't banned for life! BA Business Class is pure pleasure! Love the Heathrow lounge!
The point is, we certainly did not intend any wrongdoing, but I'm super appreciative of all the thoughtfulness and feedback
Unfortunately none of this is pertinent to help understand what has happened. Although it might help to get things off your chest, it doesn't really give any useful information.
Originally Posted by
GabbaMar
We were a family of eight traveling-- one Brazilian daughter-in-law has not yet changed her name on her Brazilian passport-- and perhaps that was a red flag? And our married children do not live with us....
Yes it could be. Transferring a large number of Avios into an infrequently used account (1) and then making a redemption booking for many people at short notice (2), all with different nationalities, details and addresses (3) is very likely to flag as that is exactly what the fraudsters do to get maximum value from purloined Avios.
So even if everything really is legit everywhere this could be why your account has been locked. If that's the case all you can do is wait and keep chasing up every week or so, you are unlikely to be able to expidite it and legal action is also unlikely to be any use until you are told by BA as a final resolution that they definitely will not refund your Avios and that could take a long time and you may eventually get your account unblocked anyway.
Originally Posted by
GabbaMar
We transferred the miles from AmEx [saved over time,] we did not purchase nor barter for them.
Does that answer? .
Not really. We need to know the mechanics of what you were asked to do and what the agent did in order to really understand if something dodgy happened.
You say you transferred the miles from Amex. Presumably you did that not the agent. And because you are on the BA board asking about lost Avios, those points were transferred into BA Avios points?
What happened next?
How were those Avios used to book tickets, who physically did it, who paid money to who and when.