angatol

.....

t4wine

When my father died last year I phoned the BA Exec Club to inform them and asked about his Avios points. They asked me to fax them the death certificate and the Will which showed that I was the Executor; then they transferred me all of his Avios.

I guess that it depends who picks up the phone...

shorthauldad

Useful to know!

Definitely the scheme to be in - Airmiles redemptions don't incur a fuel surcharge and you can fly on Concorde!*

* all we need now is a time machine with Combine My Avios functionality...

angatol

.....

shorthauldad

Indeed 1Aturnleft talked about an experience with Airmiles, but then said...

Avios.com are saying more or less exactly the same as Executive Club, both schemes (claim to) prohibit Avios being "inherited"

Airmiles did indeed have different conditions, but that's of academic interest only (unless you have access to a time machine)

No, because Avios.com != Airmiles

cosmo74

My now step mother informed BA when her husband died and they promptly removed his avios. Having read on here that some people have been successful in having these returned I recently suggested that she contact BA to ask them if they would reinstate these, which they did (I believe around 150,000 so a reasonable amount). So there is at least some leeway - please do try to get them back, I think she wrote in the first instance if that helps.

penhill57

hello all, thanks for your attempts to point me in the right direction for claiming my late husbands air miles. We are BA Executive Club members. I have had an email from the contact that various postees mentioned and I expect the matter to be satisfactorily concluded next week.... Cheers

uk1

That's great ..... enjoy your travels.

1Aturnleft

Yes you did understand me SHD - although I guess post rebranding of airmiles into avios, the small print was also changed to reflect a more restrictive ruling. Lucky to have been inherited while they were still airmiles then I guess. Glad the OH has managed to find a resolution to her situation.

malcolmcampbell

I am glad that BA appears now to be behaving responsibly. I think there is an important general point regarding 'terms and conditions' in that no company can enforce terms and conditions without regard to fairness.

I have personal experience of this. A couple of years ago we had a trip planned to Thailand which included a couple of non cancellable UK flights and hotels. HMG recommended against any non essential travel because of the floods. My travel insurance (AMEX) refused to pay up because the policy did not mention HMG advice not to travel.

I thought this was unfair and informed the company that I would be taking the dispute to the ombudsman. Within days the claim was settled.

The moral of this story is that T&Cs, when manifestly unfair, are unenforceable.

London_traveller

Wow - am taken aback by some people's opinions on this thread - stating their views and conjecture as fact.

Still, to the overall point, whether or not points are transferred in some circumstances is not relevant to the individual owning them, nor to them having some kind of associated value (clearly they do). Best way to think of Avios is that BAEC are not custodians of the points, of which I own. They're trustees, of which I'm beneficiary. As such, they're perfectly within their rights to transfer them to someone else, if they choose to and as their discretion allows. Clearly, as a rule (as a stated rule), they don't do this.

uk1

You are - as customary - correct.

I was tempted to ask some of the "firmly held opinion holders" what actual knowledge and experience they have of the UK consumer laws and how it's applied - but at that point the focus was on my shpelling errors - when it seemed better to simply give up.

I wish from one point of view that it hadn't been necessary to spend well over 20 years coercing large corporations into higher levels of satisfaction - and spending what seems a lifetime reading threats of litigation from thousands of customers across numerous industries - mostly reasonable customers - but some opportunists as well - and explaining to clients which ones should be resisted and which settled. I guess I felt in spite of not being able to spell that I had a reasonable idea of how UK consumer laws were being applied .

The reason why it's important that those that understand the more recent laws and even better - those that have had experience of that "first level rejection" followed by a reversal should share, is that it is not illegal to publish unenforceable Ts andCs. It exploits a seam of gullibility within human nature best summarised by the notion "British Airways wouldn't have a set of terms and conditions that were not completely enforceable because they are a major corporation with lots of lawyers". But there is nothing illegal (currently) with publishing a set of terms and conditions that are unenforceable until a judge actually hears a case and pronounces them unenforceable and tells a corporation to remove them .... hence why the cases are always settled. Most people "go away" on first rejection and that is exactly what corporations want.

Anyway, the plus side of this whole-scale continued ignorance of consumer rights is that it keeps the product price down for people like me and benefits those that do not accept "no" when they have a reasonable claim that appears to be outside of unenforceable unfair Ts and Cs.

The important thing in this thread, was that the OP in what was a difficult time for her - received the miles exactly as I and some others said they would -and as they are entitled - even though they were told a firm "no" when originally requested ... and that is a result.

Globaliser

Actually, I rather think that the important thing in this thread is not so much which FTers were right and which were wrong; but that when it really mattered, Nicci was here to help the OP.

HIDDY

Indeed....far too early for any self congratulatory backslapping.

Until we see a change in the BAEC t&c's then it's safe to say the jury is still out on this one.

uk1

No problem. I agre it is great that Nicci stepped in.

I happen to also believe that the 99% who have asked and been unfairly rejected by BA staff but not been helped by Nicci are also important.