Too many scams, British suspends ability to transfer avios to Iberia and Aer Lingus

In recent months there has been a surge in cases of Avios theft on British Airways Executive Club accounts. Thieves were able to exploit a series of bugs in the "Combine My Avios" and for that as of today, and until further notice the ability to transfer miles to Iberia and Aer Lingus is suspended.

Officially, British Airways is talking about a new platform "coming soon." Unofficially, it is hard to believe that the move is not security-related.

Fraud

Those who have ever moved Avios between the 4 loyalty programs that adopt this currency will have noticed the difference in the different systems. Between British, Finnair and Qatar, the process was simple, painless and intuitive. With Iberia, on the other hand, it was a kind of interlocking game, starting with the simple ability to merge accounts.

Evidently hackers were able to find a flaw in the link unique that was being generated and empty the unfortunate person's BA account.

We had told the very story of one of our readers who had seen himself Draining the account of more than 1/4 million avios.

The modus operandi of the scams, which BA never admitted to, was always the same. phony Iberia accounts managed to drain avios miles from BA and the points were used to book hotel rooms on the same day in China.

British reacts, but does not act

Today anyone with a BA account knows full well that there is no dual authentication, a system that was tested during 2024 but then disappeared. A security system that almost all programs such as Qatar, ITA, Air France or Singapore, to name a few, adopt instead. The only "good news" is that BA always refunds stolen Avios, but it takes weeks.

Blocking transfers is therefore a protection rather than a limitation, waiting for a new platform that-we hope-will finally introduce a permanent connection with Iberia and Aer Lingus, making transfers safer and life easier for frequent flyers.

• Avios