Avios Reviews 446

The cynicism of Avios is appalling. We had over 90,000 points, great, when you see the first little offer popup it says use 8000 points for £80 off your flights, great I think, mathematically that means we'll get £900 off with our hard earned 90,000 points... I mean that's the only thing that makes sense right? Surely they wouldn't make it a sliding scale so that the more points you have (the more loyalty you've given them) then the less they're worth.... surely there's no way they could behave that abhorrently? .... well it turns out there is - Our 90,000 hard earned points got us less than £450 off our flights, so less than half the value you'd get if you used less of them. What a cynical and nasty 'loyalty' scheme this is. Leaves a real sour taste in your mouth and certainly doesn't create any loyalty at all.

Do not use the WhatsApp service, very poor service.

I am submitting this complaint to Aviation ADR due to misleading information and an unjustified refusal to provide assistance.

I transferred Avios points in good faith, after which I was informed that Avios cannot be transferred out of a British Airways Executive Club account that is less than 30 days old. This restriction is not disclosed, indicated, or warned anywhere during the Avios transfer process.

At no point before or during the transfer was I informed that this limitation existed. Customers are allowed to proceed with an irreversible transfer without being made aware of a critical restriction that directly affects the usability of their points. This constitutes a lack of transparency and a misleading omission of essential information.

When I contacted customer service, assistance was refused for what were described as “policy reasons.” However, it is clear that manual intervention or corrective action is technically possible, yet the airline chooses not to assist, despite the issue being caused by their own failure to properly inform customers.

I find it unacceptable that:

A crucial restriction is not communicated in advance

The transfer is irreversible

Assistance is refused based on internal policy, even though a solution is clearly possible

As a result, I have suffered inconvenience and potential financial damage, including bookings made in reliance on the assumption that the Avios transfer was valid and usable.

I am therefore requesting Aviation ADR to review this case and determine that:

The airline failed in its duty to provide clear and transparent information

The refusal to assist is unreasonable under these circumstances

An appropriate remedy should be provided (correction of the transfer or compensation)

I am submitting this complaint because the airline has failed to resolve the matter directly.

Trying to use the collect Avios vis the linked shops. Typed Beer, showed a number of sites, most did not connect to the website, one completely looked up the Avios App.
Very poor and a waste of time.

I've put a claim in with this company over 10 days ago, chased twice, called and still got no response back from them. It feels like a scam!

I contacted Avios yesterday to book a holiday, using my Avios points. I was fortunate enough to be assisted by a lovely lady called Angela Turner, who patiently helped me through all my options regarding hotels and flights. She was able to get us business class flights at an amazing price; the return price was £1 each! However, I must stress we used a lot of points for this. She took her time with me and was able to answer all my questions and queries without rushing me. I usually prefer to make my bookings on line but a phone call was easier in this case. Well done Angela, I shall continue to promote the collecting of Avios with all my friends.

its a total scam. I bought avios points with Qatar Airways a while back. Apparently on 'offer'. Now i see all my avios, including what i bought is not worth much. Such a shame that Qatar Airways is associated with this scam.

Having spent over 4 months trying to resolve an issue relating to incorrectly calculated Avios, I booked airport parking at Stansted with APH via the Avios app. When buying the parking it clearly stated that parking at Stansted and other airports would be calculated at a rate of 17 Avios per £1 spent, with other airports (not included in the list) having Avios awarded at the rate of 10 Avios per £1 spent. So, here was me expecting an email declaring that my 1,020 Avios were on the way. Of course, I don’t know why I should expect anything else, because Avios have told me 600 are on the way, because they’ve managed (yet again) to miscalculate the amount of Avios to be awarded, claiming that 600 are on their way.

So, *yet again* I am faced with having to go through the long, painful, aggravating and wholly unnecessary process of getting BA/Avios and their (often rude and condescending) agents to rectify *their* error.

A day ago I went to check my avios points balance and noticed my points expired in June 2025, just over 60,000 points. I'd been collecting these since when they were simply air miles, usually by converting some Tesco vouchers but when the conversion rate dropped I stopped sending over.

Whilst I understand there is a three year inactivity period and I admit I hadn’t realised it had been three years since my last activity, seems like only yesterday that I last checked, however I did not receive any emails, nor postal reminder, about their potential expiration, otherwise I would have performed an activity to keep them live, usually a token gesture was needed.

Currently being sent round in circles trying to get these back even though I know there is zero chance.

Surprised but not surprised Avios have a one star rating here.

Awful service. Trying to find out where 27k! missing Avios have gone which were converted from Nectar to Avios.
All the dealines of passed.
Had to waste time speaking to a Robot, finally get to speak to a Human (Rosie) Who does not listen to what I'm saying, only gives stock answers and then just closes the chat mid message.

I flew with a partner airlines and wasn't allowed to transfer points, even though I met all criteria. Impossible to contact anyone through any channel to rectify. Waste of time, the scheme is bordering on fraudulent.

Shame zero isn't an option!
Absolutely appalling Customer Service!
************AVOID, AVOID, AVOID***********
Zero interest, no apparent escalation route, ridiculous length of time to respond.
Leaving this scheme as quickly as can!

Simply cannot speak to anyone. Phoned several times and kept on hold each time for over an hour, no answer. Tried the app, no human responded. Just a huge con

The most backward, slow and painful process using Avios to book or change flights at BA.com and on the phone. 65 minutes waiting to speak to the Avios team.

I am so sorry but this should be a ZERO star. I made the mistake of booking a hotel through the Avios app for next year (June 2026), this is still 6 months away. My wife is unable to make the week I have booked and I clicked on Cancel booking (in Avios) to find there is no refund! This is appalling. Please do not use these frauds. Always book using something else like Trip.com, Booking.com etc. Thoroughly annoyed and about to lose £369 - this is unfair and criminal!

As soon as our AVIOS' are used up I will be joining Virgin's FFP and warning family and friends.

I have been trying to claim avios that Avios.com owes me & has has not awarded. I emailed them & was told emailing them would potentially hinder any claim i might have. They sent an email then saying it would taken them 28 days. Then sent another email saying they closed the claim due to inactivity. An absolute bunch of cowboys.

They will do everything in their power to not award you points, frequently have to chase non awarded points which gets nowhere. Very poor customer service, takes weeks to respond only to tell you they are 'looking into it' followed by months of silence unless chased again. Avios points are a gimmick to draw you into another product, its an absolute farce, pick a different reward scheme.
Have a 6 month long pursuit of a big lump of points, 14,000 or so, they have basically just fobbed off for no apparent reason, will be cancelling my BA Amex and going with someone else.

I used Avios to book a Qatar Airways ticket through the BA–Qatar partnership, and the whole experience was a nightmare. Customer service agents didn’t even seem aware that this partnership exists. My Avios went “missing” during the transfer, and it took multiple calls just to get the booking sorted.
Then, unbelievably, both my BA and Avios app accounts were blocked straight after. I have been trying to unblock it since ( 12 calls, 1 whatsapp chat, multiple online chats) No explanation, no timeline, no help. Every time I contact support, I’m told only that “an email will be sent,” - the ones that arrives make me create a new password. That is it.
Right now I can’t make bookings, can’t manage travel, and risk losing the chance to use Avios for upcoming holidays, all because of a problem they created.
Extremely disappointed. At minimum, I expected transparency, basic knowledge of their own partnerships, and access to my accounts. Instead, I’m stuck waiting indefinitely with no resolution.

Such a poor website, seldom works and today I cannot even log into my account. I've tried Edge and Chrome browsers. Surely the ability to login is a basic requirement of a website in the year 2025? Who is responsible for managing this website?

On the whole the system works well however, the service is terrible. I took out travel insurance through Travel Supermarket and the Avios points were never given. The purchase was confirmed and has been sitting in my pending section since the 28/07/2024. I contacted Avios multiple times but the said they can’t help as it was over 6 months old…. It’s your platform, you manage the service, add the points… Still sitting as pending just to torment me. Poooooor service, email below:

Thank you for asking us to credit you with Avios.
As previously advised, I’m sorry to say that on this occasion I can’t credit your account as the claim for your transaction is over 6 months old.
I hope you understand that I have to adhere to the British Airways Club Terms and Conditions which state that we cannot accept claims after this time.
For full terms and conditions of the British Airways Club, click here:

I hope this information has been useful and thank you for choosing British Airways.

Best Regards
British Airways Club