Not informed about expiry

[cnambiar]

I logged on to my FFa/c to find that my award points had expired and i now have a zero balance. I have been checking my emails regularly and there was no communication from the airlines (QFF) alerting me to this. i was really hoping to use these points to return home to melb after working as a volunteer in india these last 3 years. What are the options available and who can i contact?

 

[Dave Noble]

The points expire 3 years after last activity so would have seen from looking at the date of activity on the account

I am not aware of any way to get this reversed

Dave

 

[ejb]

Hi cnambiar and welcome to AFF!

I do think you have no options as the T&C clearly state 3 years with no activity.

Sorry.

ejb

 

[kyle]

My mother got a letter saying her points are going to expire at the end of next month.

 

[oz_mark]

Qantas will typically bring it to your notice via:

1) Your activity statement (a letter if you have paper activity statements), and the online activity statement usually contains a warning.

2) If you get the monthly e-newsletter, it is also mentioned then.

You can ask Qantas, but it is possible that they will tell you how and when they sent you something about it.

 

[cwliew]

I think the chances of you being able to get a positive result in this financial environment is very low. It seems like qantas want to retain their current clients in this environment, so they probably won't honour any previous loyalty unless you have a recorded large spend with them in the past (ie previous platinum or similar).
Unfortunately it seems like your points will be lost, and I think you should probably just live with it, and move on. It sucks, but nothing you can do because its quite clear in the T&C.

 

[ksthommo]

A punter got 169,000 points recredited after Qantas deducted the points from his FF Account after no activity. He was able to prove that a Qantas employee on the other end of the phone told him he had one month before he would lose his points if there was no activity. He only had one day.

This was on Today Tonight 2 on Tuesday.

Today Tonight videos on Yahoo!7

 

[munitalP]

I would guess that QFF looking at the PAX activity statement or lack of, would consider the once in every three years or whatever a low priority and little or no hope of recovery would be had...



Mr!

 

[ejb]

A punter got 169,000 points recredited after Qantas deducted the points from his FF Account after no activity. He was able to prove that a Qantas employee on the other end of the phone told him he had one month before he would lose his points if there was no activity. He only had one day.

This was on Today Tonight 2 on Tuesday.

Today Tonight videos on Yahoo!7

Did I notice correctly that TT stated that was equal to 169 flights between Sydney and Melbourne and valued the points at 10's of thousands of dollars.

I make it approx 21 one way flights and value of approx $2000.

ejb

 

[NM]

Did I notice correctly that TT stated that was equal to 169 flights between Sydney and Melbourne and valued the points at 10's of thousands of dollars.

Maybe meant it was the equivalent earning from 168 SYD-MEL flights (with the minimum 1000 points earned).

 

[serfty]

Don't forget the $12.09 in +++ removing another $254 from the value.

Perhaps look at U awards at 16K each there's 10½ of those at $515 each.

 

[ejb]

Maybe meant it was the equivalent earning from 168 SYD-MEL flights (with the minimum 1000 points earned).

That could have been it, I was walking past the TV when the comment was made.

Don't forget the $12.09 in +++ removing another $254 from the value.

Perhaps look at U awards at 16K each there's 10½ of those at $515 each.

Still a long way from $10k+

I guess now QFF will be issuing very strong reminders about expiring points.

ejb

 

[equus]

Maybe meant it was the equivalent earning from 168 SYD-MEL flights (with the minimum 1000 points earned).

And the "value" was probably what was supposedly spent to earn the points, not what they could be redeemed for.

Slightly OT, but an interesting twist. Lots of experience here at maximising points (and even more particularly SC) for spend - i.e. getting the most points for a certain cost. I wonder what the opposite is?

Any suggestions on how much you could spend and only earn 169,000 points? I suppose you would need to put some limitations in to disqualify anything that includes zero point earning (such as ineligible fare classes). Short hops in high cost "discount" economy classes (K, B etc) on the 0.25 earning partners in Europe without a minimum points guarantee would probably enable the costs to be rather large.

I can find a one way BA flight LHR-MAN online for £154 which is still "restricted", so I assume a 0.25 points per mile. At 151 miles, and at an exchange rate from xe.com at the moment of 0.55319, I make this $278 for 38 points The minimum guarantee would kick in, and give 125 points. So, 169,000 points would be 1,352 flights, at a total cost of over $375,000.

Any suggestions for a higher cost option? Maybe a code share to void the minimum points guarantee.

Hmm, found a Malev BUD-ZAG for £282 (using UK pricing), but as it is "flexible", I suspect full 1 point per mile, 192 miles, still $509 for 192 points gives 169,000 points being 880 flights, or over $440,000, so more expensive. Maybe slightly cheaper for discount economy and 0.3 points per mile could see those points costing $1m to obtain...

 

[harvyk]

SYD - CBR return 80 times. Flights can oftan be found averaging between $80 and $100 depending on the current sale, so you'd probably get 169,000 points for $14,400. Technically you'd get 170,000 points as the loyalty bonus would kick in twice.

If timed right (and nothing went wrong) you could in theory have those point back up to there within 14 days (assuming 6 flights in a day, starting on the earliest flight of the day, and going through to the last flight of the day), plus you'd go from no status to WP in that time as well...

It's also a lower risk as if something did go wrong in your crazy plan you could always hop into a car and get from CBR - SYD (or vv) in about 3 hours. It's not like a points run which leaves you on the wrong side of the globe...

 

[markjb]

Is it really that hard for people to add just 1 point every three years to keep your points???!

Three years gone so are your points suck it up and get on with life......

 

[drewbles]

Is it really that hard for people to add just 1 point every three years to keep your points???!

Three years gone so are your points suck it up and get on with life......

I agree. I just lost some UA points (didn't realise they had an 18 month expiry). No loss really, was only 6000 or so. I'll just work on keeping my AA account active, as that balance is slowly building (as I credit non-QF earning AA flights to my AA account). That sees at least 1 transaction a year