jonmichaellombardini

Ok, here's what happened.

I had 400 Avios in my Iberia account hanging out for 2 years 11 months. I transferred 11,500 points from Chase to British Airways 4 months ago, then noticed that Iberia had lower taxes on some flights I was thinking about, so I transferred the 11,500 points from BA to to Iberia. Because I had not taken a flight on Iberia for 3 years, they canceled all 11,900 miles, not just the 400 miles that were actually 3 years old.

I have called like 8 times, spoken with supervisors, written 10 emails, and they don't care, they are not returning the miles. They say transfers do not count as new activity and after 3 years of no activity all miles expire. I had no other Avios besides the 400 in my Iberia account, and the 11,500 I had transferred from Chase to BA, then to Iberia. The 11,500 points were transferred to BA 4 months ago. It's cut and dry and I sent them screen shots of the transactions.

I am wondering if you guys have any resources that can help out. I can take them to small claims but that's really annoying.

Thanks.

-Jon

Mwenenzi

You have answered the question:- "They say transfers do not count as new activity and after 3 years of no activity all miles expire."
There are t&c's as to what is eligible activity and what is not. Many ffp's have similar rules. People need to read & understand the rules.

Do you have anything other like a hotel, car rental, flight, etc, that is an IB avios partner, that could be retro claimed? [Not already credited to another loyalty program]

Taking to a court or what ever will just cost you more (wasted) money

Real taxes are the same for all airlines flying the same route/class of travel.
Carrier award surcharges (~100% airline profit) can vary. A carrier surcharge can trigger other taxes

Better luck next time

Yllanes

I am afraid that's the rule in the programme.

craigthemif

If you had come to Flyertalk earlier, we would have been able to tell you that transfers from BA do not count as new activity and that you would lose your Avios.

Tough lesson, but the rules are quite clear. You might want to stop wasting time and money.

db80

Can someone provide insight for the following question(s)? Thanks!

Iberia account had 0 miles to begin with on June-29-2019. Transferred 1000 miles from BA to Iberia on Jun-30-2019. There is no activity in my Iberia account from Jun-30-2019 to Jun-30-2022. Meaning these 1000 miles in my Iberia account are set to expire on Jun-30-2022. If I transfer 5000 miles into Iberia on Jun-29-2022, these 5000 miles plus the original 1000 miles (i.e. total 6000 miles) will expire on Jul-1-2022 as per the information provided in this thread. I assume this is correct.

Now let's say that instead of transferring new miles into Iberia on Jun-29-2022, if I transfer the 5000 miles into Iberia on Jul-2-2022, what will happen to those? Will those expire as well? Meaning if I don't have any activity for 3 years on June-30-2022, I of course also don't have any (non-transfer) activity for 3 years and 2 days on Jul-2-2022, right? As transfer are always excluded as an activity, it is not clear when the expiry clock will reset. In this case, assuming there is no activity for 3 more years, will the 5000 miles expire on Jul-2-2025 only?

craigthemif

Your 5,000 Avios will expire immediately if you transfer them on July 2nd 2022.

You need to find some real activity...

db80

Thanks for the quick response. This means that I cannot transfer miles into Iberia (after Jun-30-2022) and use the miles to redeem for Iberia flights anymore? What is the alternative? Create a brand new Iberia account and start over?

guv1976

Transfer 5,000 from where? BAEC? Chase? Amex?

How about taking one online survey at e-rewards to earn some Iberia Plus Avios?

https://www.iberiaplusmagazine.iberi...-first-survey/

craigthemif

A brand new account won't allow you to Combine your Avios.

You need some real, actual earning activity. Try the Iberia Plus shopping portal or just buy some Avios during the next promo. If you have a credit card that transfers points to IB+, you can move over some points to create activity.

London Dude

Transferring 1000 miles from BA to Iberia doesn't count as new activity. The date on which the last Avios-earning transaction occurred is the starting point that determines when your balance (including that 1,000K from Jun-30-2019) will be zeroed out.

It's worth pointing out that transferring Avios from BA to an IB account that hasn't had had any recent activity can result in the new Avios balance being suddenly wiped out during a random sweep by IB's systems. Personally whenever I want to book an Avios award in my dormant IB account with Avios from my BAEC account I will only make an Avios transfer from BAEC a few minutes before booking the IB award.

db80

Thanks for the clarifications! I forgot that I actually had a real qualified "earn" activity in my Iberia account nearly 3 yrs ago to set the clock.

Giovanniwants

That still doesn't seem fair. The guy that doesn't keep avios in his iberia account until he's ready to use them is on to something.

Yonasl

May I ask on this one:

- is using your IB Avios considered “activity” that will reset the clock?

- if my clock was reset 3 years ago after an Amex to IB plus transfer. Would a BA to IB transfer immediately disappear (since you had no activity for more than 3 years)? Or the Avios stay in IB but can technically disappear anytime (and therefore you should keep the balance at 0)?

craigthemif

I have had a friend move their Avios and have them immediately disappear. You'd better find some kind of earning activity first.

FWIW, everybody should leave 1 Avios in their IB+ account - thereby allowing them to buy Avios from IB+ and reset their clock.

Yonasl

Wow. That sounds crazy. I suppose we have to buy some avios with iberia every 3 years then.