Iberia Avios 9000 points per booking dont need to fly

[Gold Member]

A negative balance is rare in any FFP and more of an exception to the rule than not, despite the effort you’ve gone to produce evidence to the contrary. But in the context of exploiting this Iberia offer, I don’t expect many punters will leave 90k miles on the table come December 1st so any possible claw back is irrelevant (even if the transfer triggers the BA 36 month new miles expiry).

So ifs and buts all said and done, I think we can agree that there is some uncertainty and risk in this deal if planning to transfer to BA. But we knew that beforehand and at the ridiculous prices on offer for Avios points this is a risk I and many thousands of others were willing to take.

 

[zainman]

I'm in. Let's see when they post. Annoyed that you can only book R/T trips on oneworld partners but oh well!

 

[Gold Member]

I'm in. Let's see when they post. Annoyed that you can only book R/T trips on oneworld partners but oh well!

That's assuming you can't transfer to BA who do allow one ways, and with all Oneworld partners.

 

[Gold Member]

As an update for those playing along, you may have seen blogs and/or experienced this yourself - you cannot log into new accounts. The error states that user/pass do not match etc (error I599).

I got through to Iberia Plus and they state that this is a known issue for all accounts that took advantage of the 9K points promotion (despite my existing accounts being able to log in just fine), however they fully expect and intend to honour the promotion. The reason for the account authentication issue is apparently a result of Iberia Plus working in the background to deposit the 9K into all the accounts which will happen 'in 3 days'.

I think its fair to assume that this promotion exceeded their initial expectations and fulfilling their commitment is taking a toll on their antiquated IT systems. Temporarily disabling access to new accounts is evidently the quickest or easiest way to execute this back end transaction.

 

[coolkid101]

a couple of interesting developments.

VFTW has reposted this about accounts actually being frozen and tickets refunded - Iberia Freezing Accounts, Offering Ticket Refunds For Some Who Took Advantage Of 9000 Bonus - View from the Wing

Looks like the issue is with new accounts and people buying tickets from non-country of origin iberia sites.

I bought 10 tickets for 2 pax each
My 90,000 avios have posted to my own account, which is an old one.
I created a new account for my wife and attached her new membership number to the reservations I made on iberia Spain website (using a VPN) on my own account.
Her account is now locked however we have not received any email saying her portion of the ticket has been cancelled or the account frozen, it's just locked and we can't login.
Frustrating position to be in, given the tickets were purchase on my account and have the points credited now but her new account has been frozen and no points credited but reservations all made on my account.

 

[Danger]

a couple of interesting developments.

VFTW has reposted this about accounts actually being frozen and tickets refunded - Iberia Freezing Accounts, Offering Ticket Refunds For Some Who Took Advantage Of 9000 Bonus - View from the Wing

Looks like the issue is with new accounts and people buying tickets from non-country of origin iberia sites.

I bought 10 tickets for 2 pax each
My 90,000 avios have posted to my own account, which is an old one.
I created a new account for my wife and attached her new membership number to the reservations I made on iberia Spain website (using a VPN) on my own account.
Her account is now locked however we have not received any email saying her portion of the ticket has been cancelled or the account frozen, it's just locked and we can't login.
Frustrating position to be in, given the tickets were purchase on my account and have the points credited now but her new account has been frozen and no points credited but reservations all made on my account.

A short time ago I received the following email after joining Iberia Plus during this promotion (but not participating):

Dear customer,

Thank you for your interest in the Iberia Plus programme.

It is a standard requirement of our programme to check the registration details for your Iberia Plus account. To help us do this, please email a copy of the official identity document you used for registration to [email protected]. The subject line of the email must include your Iberia Plus number in order for us to process it and you must send it to us by 31 July (GMT+2). If the documentation is not received before this date, we will be unable to register you for the Iberia Plus programme and you will not have access to any of the associated benefits.

If you took part in our recent 9,000 extra Avios promotion for the purchase of tickets at Iberia.com, please attach a copy of any tickets purchased during the period and send it to us by 31 July 2018 in order to collect your Avios.

Once we have verified your identification and proof of ticket purchase we will award the Avios due—as per the campaign terms and conditions—to your account.

Kind regards and we hope to see you on board again soon.

The Iberia Plus team​

It may help speed things up if you go ahead and provide your confirmation details now, rather than wait for the email.

 

[coolkid101]

Yeah thanks for that. OMAAT also posted an article about this. Have emailed them. Hopefully the account will get restored and the points posted.

 

[Gold Member]

My account which I had opened a few months ago received the full 90K. But the new account is locked liked everyone else’s. Nevertheless, I will forward the requested proof of identity/tickets and await the second lot of 90K points (or refund).

I will be making a return business award booking to South America tomorrow. Best of all, the long haul aircraft in the entire IB fleet seem to offer a newish 1-2-1 config with generous dimensions (78” pitch and 26” width).

While this was an incredible deal, it’s been a little bit tarnished for me due to the fact that we don’t seem to be able to transfer to BA or to Avios. This may change in the future before December but I’m not holding my breath. We’re still miles ahead though so no complaints here.

 

[zainman]

That's assuming you can't transfer to BA who do allow one ways, and with all Oneworld partners.

so looks like we can't transfer them

 

[burmans]

Quiet on this thread, anyone else having the problems reported on Flyertalk of accounts being closed and email regarding refunds?

 

[Gold Member]

Quiet on this thread, anyone else having the problems reported on Flyertalk of accounts being closed and email regarding refunds?

For my newly created account, yes it’s locked and yes I’ve sent them the requested material. I've only just now received an update from IB as follows:

We confirm that we have correctly received your request in our Iberia Plus mailbox.
We apologize for not having been able to answer your request so far, as we have had a large number of inquiries over the last week.
We are doing our best efforts to answer all of them within the shortest delay.​

There are some reports via bloggers of ‘inconsistencies’ as a boilerplate get out of jail card being issued by Iberia - I’m yet to receive one these 7 days later. But I don’t expect that they’ll treat me any different, so I’m expecting a gracious refund offer but will hold out for the points if the online community can rally to overturn.

I still maintain that given the lucrative potential value of this offer these roadblocks are well worth the effort. Worst case and most likely scenario is that we get a full refund, and if not simply do a charge back via your credit card provider. No loss, just some of your time invested.

 

[djd]

References to Iberia's less than sterling website struct a cord with me. I had made an online booking for myself and a travelling companion on Iberia the Iberia website. While in Spain recently and on checking the booking on 'manage booking' web page, I noticed that I had inadvertently entered my companion's DOB incorrectly. I tried editing/correcting the entry up to ten times. Each time I got a message saying that the correction had been saved. Each time I checked there was no correction. I tried a range of Iberia phone numbers but failed to make contact with anyone who could speak English. Finally, out of desperation, I rang a British Airways Customer Services number and had the issue sorted out in a matter of minutes!

 

[DAC1]

I had an old account from 2014 (with activity), got the miles in the first bunch and had no issue booking an award with the avios online. Happy days.

What I am keeping an eye on is the (isolated) reports of users in a similar position to me subsequently having their 10 bookings and their award booking(s) cancelled. All of my payments have gone through on my credit card so there should be no issue there, but I will be monitoring the situation until doors have closed on the award flight I booked (which is in October).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Seems confirmed, for now at least, that avios transferred to BA will potentially create a negative balance. Although for many is suspect that won’t be an issue if not intending to use IB again: Deal of the Year 90,000 Iberia Points Now Transferrable to British Airways - With a Catch - View from the Wing