Gongzuokuang

I initiated a transfer from IHG to AsiaMiles. It has been well over a week, and no points. They say 14-21 days. Well that is just absurd. Most places are next day. Sometimes a few days. But I'm at 8 and counting. All I get is scripted responses, even as a Spire.

I transferred some points out of IHG in late 2017, and it was a day or two. Reasonable. Has it really degraded that much in a year? Was I just lucky that time, or am I just unlucky this time?

It really devalues the points and program if you can't predictably use them. I don't want to just park them somewhere on speculation (ie. MAYBE I'll fly Cathay next month.) But they don't do me much good if I'm trying to work a redemption and they won't show up in a reasonable amount of time.

vsevolod4

Sounds like they don't have an electronic link with AsiaMiles and these might be in the form of a certificate mailed to AsiaMiles?
Or AsiaMiles processes these manually.

In the 21st century, this seems bizarre.

Gongzuokuang

When they said 14-21 days, I joked, "What, do you send the certificate via carrier pigeon?" As if it was a serious question, they replied, "No, electronically."

I transfer plenty of AMEX Membership Miles to AsiaMiles. The day I reached out to IHG and go nowhere, I then transferred more AMEX Miles. That was in the early afternoon. They appeared in my AsiaMiles Account the next day (in the morning). I also transferred some Hilton points a while back, and without looking it up, I don't recall it being more than a day or two.

My guess is that this is just IHG sitting on them. They probably need to buy the miles from Cathay, and so they just slow-walk it for cashflow.

Gongzuokuang

I can add a little more info/data.

I happened to talk to IHG yesterday about some upcoming bookings. I ranted about the long transfer time. The rep seemed pretty knowledgeable, and explained that they use a third party for these transfers, so that might explain a little.

And then today, the points arrived in my AsiaMiles account. It shows both the transfer date and the credit date. I made the first transfer on 12/4. Then on 12/11, when the points had not arrived, I transferred another 100K, thinking that perhaps there was some error with the first. They both credited on Saturday, 12/15/18.

I went back and looked at my transfer from December 2017. I transferred on 12/15/17, and it credited on Saturday, 2/16/17.

Just speculating, but perhaps this third party transfers at the close of business on a Friday in the middle of the month, and it credits with AsiaMiles (and other partners?) on that Saturday.

Maybe IHG just transfers points to partners twice a month? So transferring on, say, the 2nd of the month might mean it'll take 2 weeks, while transferring on the 14th might mean it'll take a day or two.

:D!

Well a year or two ago I did a few transfers from Virgin to Hilton and it took a month or more each time. Apparently, the relevant data was sent by email in an excel spreadsheet monthly, but never figured out the correct time to call them in order to minimise the waiting time. I think they were credited on the 1st of the month or something, but calling around the 25th just meant you had to wait another month.

hotelboy

If they say 14-21 days then you should expect 14-21 days. If you are only on day 8 you still have 6 days to go. Cant get angry until day 22.

Gongzuokuang

You missed the point. The problem isn't that they are living within some silly excessive transfer window. The problem is the excessive transfer window they set.

American Express Membership Miles says transfers can take up to 90 days. They generally happen the next day. And if they don't, then someone in customer service is going to try to help instead of just trying to defend some bureaucratic nonsense.

hotelboy

YOU may have a problem with the transfer window they set. It is your choice to use the service or not.