Avios Avis 445

The app both for BA and Avios is the worst I've ever used. uninformative, difficult, not user friendly, you don't know where you are and what youre doing and whats the point anyway?

What a disappointment. It is incredibly frustrating but to top it all off the support is about the same as contacting your council.

How can such an arrangement of Avios be so pitiful? In this day and age just pick up the phone to someone like AMEX or TESLA and ask them how it's done.

The most frustrating experience trying to claim owed points. We were credited for return flights from Japan to London but the outgoing were missed for some reason. Weblink was down so spent hours getting through to an agent who noted all the details. A month later nothing so repeated the process and were assured the points would be credited. Three months later we received an e mail telling us now to forward documents which we did. Another three months later nothing. Rang agent to see what has happened and they told us they couldn’t access the system and didn’t know where the documents had gone. Still waiting seven months on! It appears we are in a queue waiting review. Very poor treatment of so called valuable customers!

Big scam! Your Avios are useless. I never have a chance to use them, and when i choose a flight or holiday ALWAYS shows "during off-peak times", it means you will never have the opportunity to use them. Barclays too is complicit in scamming people.

I cannot convert Avios To Nectar like many other people
AVIOS DO THE CORRECT THING
SORT IT OUT AND GIVE EXTENSION TO YOUR CHANGE DATE FOR CONVERSION

I was told years ago that BA stood for "bloody awful". Now I know why. I signed up for a BA American Express card to collect more Avios and thought I would use some of them for a (relatively small) reduction on two club tickets for my wife and myself to fly to the Canary Islands. We turned up at the airport to find that one of us had to sit back in economy as they had "oversold" the flight. When I complained I was told this was "normal practice" and "legal" and I could complain if I didn't like it.
I complained on my return to the UK and was offered £50 - less than the difference in price between the economy and club tickets. Complained again, told I was wasting my time. No refund of avios either. I still haven't got any compensation as I said I wouldn't accept the £50 until the difference in ticket cost was refunded first. Im not sure I was bounced back to economy because I used avios for part of the cost but they obviously used some kind of selection criteria for deciding who to bounce.

On my next flight with a Oneworld partner airline (booked through the BA website) I noted on the BA website that Silver Executive Club members enjoyed increased baggage allowance and lounge access. Thought I would call BA to confirm that this included other OneWorld airlines and was told yes. I then checked with the partner airline and found out this was not true. I contacted BA again and was told I was not eligible. I explained that I had been told the opposite by BA staff earlier that day and that the BA website was therefore misleading. I was simply told to make a complaint. I did and was told I was not eligible but no apology for misleading me at the outset or for posting misleading information on their website. They would however pass my "observations" on to colleagues who managed the website. Now I am retired I have a little more time to pester BA with complaints but obviously their strategy is to make it as difficult and as unrewarding as possible if you flag any problems to them. It also means that you need to be careful assuming that you can enjoy all the benefits advertised by BA to lure you into being a member of their executive club. Booking with Avios may lead to a nasty surprise when you check in and, as noted by others below, companion tickets are pretty useless.

The Avios situation and dodgy Executive club benefits seem to be part of a wider pattern of decline in BA. I've travelled for business on many airlines including BA for over 30 years and I've seen the gradual descent of BA into Ryanair territory (especially since its acquisition by Iberia) - charges for baggage, food, regular late running and cancelations, impossible to contact anyone for help (try for example to find a BA email address for customer service), etc etc
It seems clear that this is a company where the owners/managers have decided to milk the brand for as long as possible while offering an increasingly poor service to cut costs and increase profits. At least with Ryanair you get the cheaper tickets. I've decided to use Easyjet in future for short haul and use connecting flights on other more reliable airlines (Lufthansa, Air France etc) for long hail destinations. Better to get better service and a more enjoyable journey than collect fairly useless points (I have about 130,000).

have been trying to increase my avios so used the partner offers to renew home insurance and pet insurance. Did everything right by following the website links and buying the insurance in the same session but instead of getting the promised thousands of points I got an email stating that my purchases were tracked but they weren't eligible and so no avios would be awarded.

I wanted to give BA a chance but looking at the other reviews here it seems like BA doesn't care. I would recommend using a competitor's rewards system

My experience with the Avios points system, associated with Aer Lingus, British Airways, and Iberia, has been notably disappointing, marked by an array of user interface and service challenges that significantly detract from the program's intended value.

Firstly, the requirement to endure a 3-minute wait time simply to log in is an astonishing and unnecessary barrier. This not only tests one's patience but also raises questions about the efficiency and user-friendliness of their digital platforms, reminiscent of internet relics from the 1990s.

Moreover, the system imposes a baffling restriction that prevents users from conducting more than one flight search at a time. This limitation not only hinders the flexibility needed in planning travel but also seems counterintuitive to the very essence of a loyalty program designed to encourage flight bookings.

The hurdles extend to point redemption, where finding eligible flights resembles a quest for a needle in a haystack, further compounded by the convoluted process of transferring points between partner airlines. Additionally, the mechanism for accruing points via shopping is fraught with a faulty tracking system. This often necessitates a follow-up with customer support to ensure points are correctly credited, if they get credited at all.

These issues collectively not only inconvenience members but also severely impact the perceived value of the Avios program. When compared to the simplicity offered by airlines like Ryanair, which demands no points for bookings, Avios appears unnecessarily cumbersome.

To conclude, while loyalty programs are designed to enhance customer loyalty and satisfaction, my experiences with Avios have led to the opposite. It's disheartening to witness a system that could offer significant benefits instead become a source of frustration due to outdated practices and technical inefficiencies. My advice to those considering Avios is to weigh these challenges carefully.

awful website. very flaky. constantly down
Avios rewards are also extremely poor!

They don't give you avios when you go through their site. They don't tell you why they don't give it. The avios points are mostly a con.

Absolute dogs#%t website and reward points company.
I have 250k points, trying to fly home with my family of 5 on Aer Linus and can’t see any available flights.
I should of stuck with Chase United , far better experience.

Total waste of money . I have 90000 avios. 3 companion vouchers. Can never get an upgrade. Plus kept waiting on the phone 30 minutes

Title: American Express Avios Program: A Costly and Frustrating Disappointment
Title: American Express Avios Program: A Costly and Frustrating Disappointment

I have been a participant in the American Express Avios Program for quite some time, and it's safe to say that it has been nothing short of a financial black hole. The exorbitant annual fee of over £200 is an absolute joke, especially considering the dismal partnership with British Airways that accompanies it.

One of the major grievances I have with this program is the companion voucher that supposedly adds value. However, it's more of a tease than a benefit. Despite diligently checking the website for available flights for months, I find myself unable to utilize the voucher before its June expiration. It's like having a golden ticket with no access to the chocolate factory.

The limited flight options available are a slap in the face. Even when flights do miraculously appear, the prices are indistinguishable from what you can easily find on Google Flights. The supposed partnership with British Airways is a farce, offering no real advantage over budget airlines like Ryanair.

Navigating the program's website is a Herculean task. It's convoluted, counterintuitive, and an overall nightmare to use. Seeking assistance from customer service proved to be a futile exercise. Hours spent on the phone with both American Express and BA resulted in absolute incompetence and zero solutions. It's as if their aim is to drive customers to the brink of insanity.

Booking a business class ticket, touted as a luxury experience, was a grave mistake. The reality? A regular chair with an empty seat in the middle – hardly a business class offering. Access to the lounge, another so-called perk, was abruptly cut short during a flight delay, leaving us stranded in a crowded airport. The whole experience was a far cry from the promised premium service.

Now, with two companion vouchers set to expire before I can even use them, the program's flaws become even more glaring. The lack of available flights during peak months for a school teacher like myself, July and August, renders the entire program utterly pointless.

Attempting to leave the program only adds insult to injury. They casually inform you that you will receive nothing for the unused companion voucher and Avios points. It's a slap in the face for those who invested time and money into this debacle.

To be fair, using Avios for hotels seems to be the only redeeming aspect of the program. However, this solitary positive cannot salvage the sinking ship that is the American Express Avios Program. This experience has not only soured my opinion of British Airways but has also left me despising anything associated with this abysmal program. The service is abysmal, and the lack of solutions from customer service is a testament to the utter failure of this ill-conceived program. Save your money and sanity – steer clear of the American Express Avios Program.

Previous reviews are true. Useless agents, British airways executive club avios system is total sham from the word go when you want to transfer avios points to nectar. Avoid.

Trying to swap Avios to Nectar points, BA blocked my account due to 'suspicious activity'. Having sorted that out successfully I find that BA have now instructed Nectar to block my account with them too. After numerous phone calls to both companies, plus written complaints to both, BA are telling me that I have to contact Nectar to sort it out (due to GDPR) and Nectar are telling me I have to contact BA to sort it out, as they were the ones who put the block on. Have tried to escalate to no avail, meanwhile LOTS of points stuck in the middle, and I'm not able to use or access them. Where do I go from here - standing up to a faceless beaurocratic bunch of untrained staff who won't take responsibility or help in any way (or even try to understand the issue) is wearing a bit thin.

Daylight robbery. I had absolutely THOUSANDS of points but suddenly they have all disappeared. It seems you have to use them up within 3 years - why? What possible difference does it make? Complete con. Shame on you BA - flying the flag my a*se. Won't bother anymore.

Contacted Avios numerous times from August 2023 by phone and web contact page about a problem swapping Avios to Nectar on the Avios web site. I received polite responses but no ownership or willingness to engage with the problem or escalate.

Nectar responded similarly.

In case anyone from Avios reads this, I have names, dates times, transcripts, etc

Update January 2024 still no response - Recommend to AVOID.

I've been trying to get some communication going with AVIOS as I have membership and a few questions. I have asked several questions but so far (more than 5 working days) no feedback. I eventually contacted another department within Avios - Avios for Thoughts who responded, via email, with: For information about these rewards, please contact Avios directly and they will provide you with the answer you need. However, there is no way to contact Avios via email that I've been able to uncover. And its swings and roundabouts with BA Avios too since they changed procedures in October 2023.

I've got nearly 400,000 points, every time I try and use them I'm thwarted by BA - seem impossible to use. Trying to book flights with Avios is virtually impossible - they release so few seats - sometime you may get an economy ticket if you call 365 days before the flight (that takes some planning!). Recently booked a holiday with BA to Mauritius (25th wedding anniversary), flying economy. Premium economy avios tickets became available (I had to use a 3rd party site to alert me), I called to upgrade using Avios - oh no, say BA, you have a "Q" class ticket (non-upgradable), we'd have to upgrade your ticket to an upgradable economy class ticket, then we you can upgrade using Avios. But, wait that will cost you £1,030 including upgrade and taxes for two (plus 39,000 points), however when paying cash, this would be £1,056. I called at the time of booking to ask about upgrades, I wasn't warned about this. So in summary - Avios isn't worth it - grrrrr.....