‘I spent over £100k on my British Airways Amex card and it gave the perks to my eight-year-old son’
Has a company treated you unfairly? Our Consumer Champion is available to help. For how to contact her click here.
Dear Katie,
A couple of years ago I signed up for a British Airways American Express credit card after reading that the perks were really generous if you spend over £10,000, which I do. I am a father of three, and travelling with them can be very expensive.
However, for the past couple of years I have been using the card and spending above the £10,000 a year limit for receiving perks, but not receiving any companion vouchers or Avios points.
I complained repeatedly to American Express, which advised that Avios and companion vouchers were in fact being credited.
I was told that I should check with British Airways, but it in turn told me I should check with American Express, therefore sending me round in a loop.
Finally, a few months ago, I snapped and wouldn’t let it go. I had to find out what had happened to my points and vouchers.
It turned out they had been credited to my eight-year-old son’s British Airways “householder” account, which is linked to mine.
American Express apologised and accepted the blame, awarding me 500 Avios as compensation. I was seriously unimpressed with this.
I had wanted to spend the points and companion vouchers for this year’s summer holiday, and as a result of not having them, I ended up overpaying instead of saving.
American Express told me to contact British Airways and ask for my companion vouchers to be restored to my account.
But British Airways said it was unfortunately not possible to restore the companion vouchers to my account, meaning they would have to stay in my son’s, even though he can’t spend them. This seemed mind-blowingly incompetent.
I spend up to £40,000 on that American Express card every year to build up the vouchers and Avios, purely so we can save on our family holiday. I need a better resolution than this.
HK, via email
Dear reader,
After spending a six-figure sum via this British Airways American Express credit card over the three years since you took it out in 2020, you were incredibly frustrated to be passed around the houses like this.
Yours is a confusing case which stems from the fact that you mistakenly provided your son’s British Airways Executive Club account number, rather than your own, when you first signed up for the card in 2020.
This meant that your Avios points and companion vouchers, which effectively give you a two-for-one deal on Avios points you spend, went straight to his account.
Although you were able to access and spend the 96,000 Avios points sitting in your son’s account due to it being part of your “British Airways household account”, it wouldn’t have made sense to spend them without using the companion vouchers, which effectively gave you two plane seats for the price of one.
By the time you were able to access these they had nearly expired and you had already been on your family summer holiday for the year.
As the companion vouchers were issued to your son, instead of you, they could only be used on flights on which he was travelling, meaning you couldn’t even use them for a last-minute break with your wife instead.
So unless British Airways and American Express took action, they were going to go to waste.
Happily, I was able to bash their heads together and get the expiry dates on your two companion vouchers extended so you can use them, along with your Avios points, for your family holiday next year.
In addition, I’ve had all your points and vouchers moved into your British Airways account, which is where everything you accrue from now on will go, too.
Clearly, this is something that should have happened immediately when you complained. But perhaps British Airways and American Express were too busy pointing the finger at each other to fix the issue.
You’re delighted this is now resolved, and you’re looking forward to a significant discount on your next family holiday next summer, possibly to Asia or the US, you say. Wherever you go, I hope you’ll have a fabulous time.
An American Express spokesman said: “We appreciate the card member’s patience as we worked with British Airways to resolve this highly unusual case.”
A British Airways spokesman said: “We’re sorry for our customer’s experience and have worked with American Express to help resolve the issue.”
