T he accounts of many members of the British Airways Executive Club frequent flier loyalty program have been compromised and even locked where there are reports of the number of Avios wiped out to zero, according to reports from many members of FlyerTalk in this discussion and reports from members of Milepoint as well.
The cause — or causes — for the account compromises is currently unknown at this time.
This is the latest in a disturbing string of breaches of frequent travel loyalty program accounts where miles or points have been used; and information of the account holder has been changed without authorization.
My Starwood Preferred Guest frequent guest loyalty program account was compromised on Friday, January 16, 2015 where all of my Starpoints were wiped out. Some good information was relayed to me by a representative of Starwood Preferred Guest during a telephone call on which she followed up with me to ensure that my account was completely restored.
I was not the only person to which this has happened, as I found a discussion where this has happened to FlyerTalk members.
The British Airways Executive Club and Starwood Preferred Guest account breaches are amongst the frequent travel loyalty programs which have been affected, which also include Delta Air Lines SkyMiles, American Airlines AAdvantage, United Airlines MileagePlus and Hilton HHonors.
The account of one of my credit cards was compromised in December of 2014; and in this article, I give a detailed report on how to attempt to prevent that and identity theft from happening to you — as well as what to do if it does happen to you.
My advice to you based on my experience is to not panic; but do contact a representative of the British Airways Executive Club as soon as possible and give them as many details of the breach of your account as possible. You may not be able to get through immediately due to extremely high volume at this time. Get records of the most recent balance of Avios you had in your account, just in case you may need it.
At worst, this should be nothing more than a moderate inconvenience to you. You will not lose your Avios; but do not expect for them to be restored to your account immediately.
