Update: Many folks on FlyerTalk report their British Airways Avios points have been returned! So check your account!
Check your British Airways frequent flyer account! Today, many folks are reporting that they’ve been locked out of their accounts and had their British Airways Avios points balances drained to zero.
This appears to be a result of a security breach or hack. The details are not yet clear, but some folks are speculating that British Airways is temporarily shutting down accounts and removing points to prevent further fraud.
I checked my account and can confirm I’ve been locked out too! I reset my password, but I’m missing all my Avios points. 😮
What to Do?
Link: FlyerTalk British Airways Hack Thread
Link: British Airways Executive Club
1. Sign-In to Your British Airways Account
You should sign-in to your British Airways frequent flyer account right away to see if you’ve been affected. If you’re able to access your account, I strongly suggest you change your password!
But if you’re locked out (like I was!), you can click the “Forgotten PIN / Password” link on the British Airways sign-in page. They’ll send you an email with instructions to reset your password.
I hope your British Airways Avios points balances are intact when you access your account. My account shows ZERO points (it wasn’t zero before!).
If your points are missing, do NOT panic. You’re not the only one!
2. Call British Airways or Wait It Out?
If you want to make a British Airways Avios points award booking soon, call British Airways at 800-452-1201 to verify your identity and have your points reinstated.
Folks on FlyerTalk report some agents have told them it will take a few days for the points to reappear in their accounts.
And don’t be surprised if you have to wait on hold for a LONG time. So I wouldn’t call unless you urgently need to book a flight (they should be able to do this for you over the phone, and waive the phone booking fee).
Otherwise, relax. There’s no reason to panic and spend hours on hold if you don’t need your points right away.
Hopefully British Airways gets to the bottom of this soon. Because so many folks are affected, I’m sure British Airways will send an email or post information about these issues once they have more details.
Would AwardWallet Help?
In this case, it’s unlikely AwardWallet users got advance notice of this issue, because they use the same username and password to check your British Airways account balance as you do. So they’d be locked out of your account, too.
AwardWallet is a service that tracks all your miles and points in 1 place.
That said, I like using AwardWallet because it usually notifies you if your account balances change. So you might notice unusual activity in your accounts sooner.
If you change your British Airways account password, don’t forget to change it with AwardWallet!
Bottom Line
Many folks have reported being locked out of their British Airways frequent flyer account today. And when they change their password and regain access to their account, their British Airways Avios points balances are ZERO.
Don’t panic. This is a large-scale issue affecting many of us! If you want to make a British Airways Avios points booking right away, call British Airways at 800-452-1201. But expect to be on hold for a long time.
Otherwise, it’s best to change your account password and wait for British Airways to sort out the problem. I’ll update you all when there’s more information!
AwardWallet is likely to be the cause.
It seems after some accounts got compromised BA locked all account which had been accessed by automated systems (this includes AwardWallet and TripIt as well as malicious ones).
Oh, one other follow-up query: Has anyone else noticed whether this has spilled over into any account you might also have with Iberia? I found that my Iberia PIN was no longer being accepted, and had to reset it. I only took note of this today, as I rarely access that account, so it may or may not have coincided with the BA account lockout. But since they are both facets of the Avios program, I have a suspicion that both may have gone under lockout simultaneously. Can anyone confirm?
My account had apparently been compromised, and thanks to this blog’s forewarning I didn’t have to panic when I discovered it for myself. I reset the password, but refrained from calling. My points just automatically re-posted to my account a couple days later. So all seems good there.
BA’s communication on this has left a lot to be desired though. I received an email apprising me of the matter days AFTER I had reset the password and already had my miles back. It contained no useful information about what had actually prompted this. It also arrived on April Fool’s Day. Maybe the British don’t practice that tomfollery (LOL), but sending an unusual, cryptic message on A.F.D. is a great way to fall prey to skepticism. If I didn’t already know the issue was real, I would have dismissed this as a joke or phishing scheme. Bad timing. Anyway, does anyone actually KNOW what was compromised here? Was it Award Wallet, or TripIt (as I’ve heard both mentioned, but only in speculation)? If either, then honestly why has the breach only exhibited with BA so far? The intruders would have presumably been able to harvest a broader swath of saved password from AW. Very odd, and not comforting how little information has been forthcoming from BA.
I just checked and my account had been locked. After the reset my points were there. My wife’s account was just fine. No reset required. I checked on Award Wallet and it looks like I only have my account on there and not my wifes account. I wonder if the problem has anything to do with Award Wallet.
My Avios are back in my account today…