BA block Avios wine purchase
 

This time of year is when I, plus probably many others, want to use their Avios to "buy" wine on-line through the BA web site. I recognise it is a good and rare benefit that BA has provided here. Today marks the start of the third week in which it has not been possible to make a "purchase". The site allows me to select the wine sought, and put it in a basket. It has been impossible to checkout i.e. spend my Avios, complete the "purchase". This is despite many attempts over the last 14 days. BA Customer Service was notified and their response in essence is that the problem is complex, and IT is working on it. No real apology, and to cap it all, prices i.e. Avios cost displayed for my particular selection have been hiked by over 10% during this period. This BA response is very poor, and tardy, and is a Scrooge-like attempt to save costs. The IT resource clearly has been told "Guys - don't rush at this job ticket, every day we are saving money on this". Have other members had similar experiences?

What a waste of Avios! :p

I assume you have tried to do this using a different browser to see if that works? I seriously doubt that BA are deliberately trying to block you from making this purchase. If they didn't want people to spend Avios in this way, they wouldn't offer the option in the first place.

Why the ""?

I think I'm missing some suggestion here...

Yup, that's clearly what has happened here.

Don't put down to malice what can easily be explained by incompetence. Some might argue, in the case of BA's IT, that should always be the starting position.

Just tried this on my account : using MS Edge the screen went white and froze after selecting a case and then clicking "Go to Basket"; on Chrome it worked OK and took me through to the payment stage.

These kind of "works only on some browsers" problems on ba.com have been all-too-frequently reported over the past few months.

I'm amazed that the BA wine club is allowed to advertise themselves as "the UK's no 1 wine club". Instead of wasting your Avios, join The Wine Society (which is a mutual organisation and therefore maybe isn't legally a "club", thus allowing BA's claim)

Berry Brothers and Rudd.

I had this problem a while ago, except I was purchasing flights rather than wine. From my interactions with the Gold line (and social media team :rolleyes: ) I really do believe it's incompetence rather than malice!

BA wine is a white label of Laithwaits, isn't it? They claim to be the no.1 destination for buying wine online.

I've gone in to me Executive Club, and now cannot see anywhere to buy wine? There's some 'helpful' information about the BoB enhancement though.

And wine is now back... It was definitely not there yesterday!

Your suggestions are superb. I can now enthusiastically affirm that Membership of FlyerTalk has been of direct and undeniable benefit to me. I have now tried using Chrome, and have competed the purchase just fine. Thank you for your suggestions. This whole sorry episode is a great illustration of my inability to think outside the box. I must agree that perhaps the BA website, or Kimberley of their Customer Service team, might have suggested "try a different browser if your first attempt does not succeed". I am now a wiser man, slightly shamefaced, and looking forward to having a drinks at BA's expense.

Another vote for the Wine Society! Sadly you can't spend avios there, but on the flip side, the wine is very good, and without the markups or garish marketing that a profit making organisation like Laithwaites goes in for.

In fact, I may have to pay them a visit tomorrow. Definitely helps when you are only a 10 minute drive from their showroom...