Mar 27, 2015, 9:09 am
Last edit by: corporate-wage-slave
If you are new to this thread, please read this wiki before posting a question.
It's here to summarise what we know so far. It will save you the trouble of skim-reading the whole thread and should only take a minute to read. Thanks!
The very short version is:
If all your BA Avios have vanished, don't panic. They have probably been temporarily frozen by BA, not stolen by hackers.
British Airways have issued an FAQ on the issue:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...s?p_faqid=5249
Starting on 27 March 2015, a very large number of people have found that their Avios balance has been reset to zero. Their list of transactions shows an "Ex-Gratia" deduction of their entire previous balance. Other people are also reporting they are unable to access their accounts at all, with their BAEC number not being recognised.
As of 17 hrs BST 30 March 2015, some members of FT have seen their Avios returned, as an equal Ex-Gratia credit to their account.
BAEC call centre staff do not seem to have received a thorough briefing and are giving at times contradictory information. However, an email has gone out to some, not all, BAEC members affected by this issue, with the subject "Executive Club Password Change", details here in post 181. At present there is no definitive information about the exact cause, but it's clear that BA believes there has been a serious security breach (or that there was a serious risk of such a breach).
Can I fix it myself?
Not at this stage. Early posts described a two part process but that no longer works, perhaps because there were too many cases. It will be necessary to reset your password if you are affected. After that you can login to your account, but at the moment those affected will still see zero Avios. Tier Points are unaffected by this incident.
Do I need to reset my password?
If you can't get into BA.com then yes. There seems to be two ways to do this:
1) If you received the email in post 181 above, follow the link to generate a new password. Note that you should double check that this is the precise same email shown in the link. There is a facility to view this email in a browser, top right, this is hosted by ed4.net
2) On the front page of BA.com -- when not logged in -- there is a "Forgotten PIN/Password" option. This should send an email to your registered account and from there you can reset your password.
There are, however, many reports of option 2 not working, although it is working for some BAEC members on some occasions. As always, check your spam box. If you can't get it to work, you can telephone the call centre (service centre) and after asking additional questions to verify identity, they can generate the email too.
I haven't received the email but I have been locked out / zero'd, what should I do?
Try to reset your password as above, and you could ring BA to find out if you need to take additional action. However the chances are that at the moment you will need to wait at least a few days until the situation becomes clearer.
I haven't been blocked, do I need to do anything?
No. But if you are worried you can reset your password inside BAEC, just go to My Executive Club / Manage My Account / Update My Personal Information / Login Details. However with so many BAEC members inhibited in making bookings at the moment, now may be a good time to take advantage of unclaimed availability.
Have other Avios partners been hit by this?
Yes, Iberia have been, Avios.com apparently not.
How do I look for or book redemptions?
If you have been zero'd then the Book with Avios or Money tab on the left side of My Executive Club may be blocked. However, you can at least check availability via Executive Club / Reward Flights / Book a Reward Flight. BAEC call centre staff are able to book redemptions for you. Remember to check that any booking fee is waived (hopefully they will do this without prompting). In other cases call centre staff have offered to put a redemption booking on "hold" pending the resolution of this issue. Alternatively if you have an Avios.com account with Avios already available there, then this maybe another way of handling this matter.
Statement of March 28 by AwardWallet.com : https://awardwallet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6616&sid=28d901e85aafebb62044 609dc1a1ae7b
It's here to summarise what we know so far. It will save you the trouble of skim-reading the whole thread and should only take a minute to read. Thanks!
The very short version is:
If all your BA Avios have vanished, don't panic. They have probably been temporarily frozen by BA, not stolen by hackers.
British Airways have issued an FAQ on the issue:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...s?p_faqid=5249
Starting on 27 March 2015, a very large number of people have found that their Avios balance has been reset to zero. Their list of transactions shows an "Ex-Gratia" deduction of their entire previous balance. Other people are also reporting they are unable to access their accounts at all, with their BAEC number not being recognised.
As of 17 hrs BST 30 March 2015, some members of FT have seen their Avios returned, as an equal Ex-Gratia credit to their account.
BAEC call centre staff do not seem to have received a thorough briefing and are giving at times contradictory information. However, an email has gone out to some, not all, BAEC members affected by this issue, with the subject "Executive Club Password Change", details here in post 181. At present there is no definitive information about the exact cause, but it's clear that BA believes there has been a serious security breach (or that there was a serious risk of such a breach).
Can I fix it myself?
Not at this stage. Early posts described a two part process but that no longer works, perhaps because there were too many cases. It will be necessary to reset your password if you are affected. After that you can login to your account, but at the moment those affected will still see zero Avios. Tier Points are unaffected by this incident.
Do I need to reset my password?
If you can't get into BA.com then yes. There seems to be two ways to do this:
1) If you received the email in post 181 above, follow the link to generate a new password. Note that you should double check that this is the precise same email shown in the link. There is a facility to view this email in a browser, top right, this is hosted by ed4.net
2) On the front page of BA.com -- when not logged in -- there is a "Forgotten PIN/Password" option. This should send an email to your registered account and from there you can reset your password.
There are, however, many reports of option 2 not working, although it is working for some BAEC members on some occasions. As always, check your spam box. If you can't get it to work, you can telephone the call centre (service centre) and after asking additional questions to verify identity, they can generate the email too.
I haven't received the email but I have been locked out / zero'd, what should I do?
Try to reset your password as above, and you could ring BA to find out if you need to take additional action. However the chances are that at the moment you will need to wait at least a few days until the situation becomes clearer.
I haven't been blocked, do I need to do anything?
No. But if you are worried you can reset your password inside BAEC, just go to My Executive Club / Manage My Account / Update My Personal Information / Login Details. However with so many BAEC members inhibited in making bookings at the moment, now may be a good time to take advantage of unclaimed availability.
Have other Avios partners been hit by this?
Yes, Iberia have been, Avios.com apparently not.
How do I look for or book redemptions?
If you have been zero'd then the Book with Avios or Money tab on the left side of My Executive Club may be blocked. However, you can at least check availability via Executive Club / Reward Flights / Book a Reward Flight. BAEC call centre staff are able to book redemptions for you. Remember to check that any booking fee is waived (hopefully they will do this without prompting). In other cases call centre staff have offered to put a redemption booking on "hold" pending the resolution of this issue. Alternatively if you have an Avios.com account with Avios already available there, then this maybe another way of handling this matter.
Statement of March 28 by AwardWallet.com : https://awardwallet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6616&sid=28d901e85aafebb62044 609dc1a1ae7b
27 Mar: Large numbers of BAEC accounts being Locked/Zeroed Out/in Audit ('Ex-gratia')
Mar 27, 2015, 8:48 am
#76
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 11,569
EDIT: BA App shows all is OK in terms of balance.
Mar 27, 2015, 8:59 am
#81
Join Date: May 2005
Location: USA
Programs: AA CX AC
Posts: 116
This is what greeted me this morning:
27-Mar-15 27-Mar-15 Ex-Gratia - Manual Avios Adjustment 0 -50,009
Looked a little odd, so first thing I did was to google "Ex-Gratia".. the autofill populated a link to this thread....seems like I have company. I logged in via awardwallet, but had to take a call, came back and my acct timed out..no worries, I'll just log back in, but my account was not recognised... Opened different browser, on ba site clicked forgot password, rest it an logged back in. Acct still at 0...
27-Mar-15 27-Mar-15 Ex-Gratia - Manual Avios Adjustment 0 -50,009
Looked a little odd, so first thing I did was to google "Ex-Gratia".. the autofill populated a link to this thread....seems like I have company. I logged in via awardwallet, but had to take a call, came back and my acct timed out..no worries, I'll just log back in, but my account was not recognised... Opened different browser, on ba site clicked forgot password, rest it an logged back in. Acct still at 0...
Mar 27, 2015, 9:00 am
#83
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: In the air
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Bonvoy LT Plat, Hilton Gold, GHA Tit, BA Gold, Turkish Elite
Posts: 8,717
Mar 27, 2015, 9:00 am
#84
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: BHX
Programs: BA GGL CCR GfL, SQ Gold, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond, Marriott Plat, Cafe Nero Loyalty Card (7 Stamps)
Posts: 7,327
Mar 27, 2015, 9:12 am
#87
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: In the air
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Bonvoy LT Plat, Hilton Gold, GHA Tit, BA Gold, Turkish Elite
Posts: 8,717
Mar 27, 2015, 9:13 am
#89
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 11,569
Now I am reset...I see the same issues 0 Avios. Oh what an absolute faff to get everyone in my HHA to ring up. Including Grandpa..!
Gold Line told me 'They have done the audit wrong, they were supposed to send the emails before the freeze and have done it the other way around'.
She told me they will 'hold' seats for you that you want to book with Avios...not quite sure what this means. With BA's IT I'd speculate that any 'hold' tickets you book won't get debited from the Avios balance.
I joked that with the recent BAEC changes that some customers must have thought that BA had just given up on it all together!
TIP: Normally the third party authorisation will cover this so your HHA (and any account in which third party is there) can suffice, but perhaps with this going to the "core" of BAEC they may need all account owners to ring, which is ridiculous!
How many Avvies comp can we get?
Gold Line told me 'They have done the audit wrong, they were supposed to send the emails before the freeze and have done it the other way around'.
She told me they will 'hold' seats for you that you want to book with Avios...not quite sure what this means. With BA's IT I'd speculate that any 'hold' tickets you book won't get debited from the Avios balance.
I joked that with the recent BAEC changes that some customers must have thought that BA had just given up on it all together!
TIP: Normally the third party authorisation will cover this so your HHA (and any account in which third party is there) can suffice, but perhaps with this going to the "core" of BAEC they may need all account owners to ring, which is ridiculous!
How many Avvies comp can we get?
Mar 27, 2015, 9:22 am
#90
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,144
I have just asked the Mods to merge the other 3 (at least) threads with this one, to take advantage of darthlemsip's helpful WikiPost
EDIT = I asked for a merge, not a thread lock on the other ones. Sorry!
EDIT = I asked for a merge, not a thread lock on the other ones. Sorry!
Last edited by T8191; Mar 27, 2015 at 11:16 am