r/avios

Hi guys I'm kind of new to Avios and starting to build up points. Im in a household who fly with BA regularly but as I live in Liverpool BA flights are harder to come by. My family lives in Reading so using their house as heathrow base but trying to plan ahead as from 2028 we are trying to hit all the 7 wonders of the world, one a year.

We have a cathay pacific flight for 4 people in the household going to Auckland, Sydney and Hong Kong in November but I locked that into a cathay pacific account I created.

We are planning a honeymoon to Japan for september 2027 for just me and my fiance (obviously) but trying to figure out the best way to work it.

Also any other tips to gain as much points as we can through daily habits would be appreciated. We were looking to get the free barclaycard credit card but also don't think we'd get to the £20,000 year spend so is it worth it.

Sorry if this has already been answered before somewhere else or if I cant ask these questions. I asked the Google AI but I'm getting a little confused so would think human answers would be easier to understand. Thanks for all your help!

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone has had this exact problem and, more importantly, actually managed to get it resolved.
I’ve been trying to link my British Airways Club account with Qatar Airways Privilege Club so I can move/use my Avios with Qatar.
Every time I try to link the accounts, it fails. On the Qatar side the URL eventually shows:
linking_error=link error
error_code=1008
error=LINKING_ERROR

I’ve checked the obvious things repeatedly. My name, date of birth, email address and other account details match between BA and Qatar.
I’ve contacted Qatar several times and keep getting told to check that my personal details match, wait 48–72 hours and try again. I’ve done all of that and the error remains.

This has now been going on since August and I’ve made a formal complaint because it has prevented me from being able to use my Avios for flights I wanted to book. I have a substantial Avios balance, so being unable to link the accounts is pretty frustrating.
Has anyone specifically encountered error code 1008?

If so:
• What actually caused it?
• Was the problem on the BA or Qatar side?
• Did either airline have to manually reset/unblock something?
• How long did it eventually take?
• Is there a particular department at BA/Qatar/Avios that actually understands this issue?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from anyone who got past the standard “make sure your details match and wait 48 hours” response, because I’ve been through that multiple times already.
Thanks!

Hi,

I have about 70,000 miles on Avios and would like to convert these to Miles and More. Doing some research online, I only found the Marriot Bonvoy way (convert to Marriot Bonvoy points and from Marriot Bonvoy to Miles and More).

The issue is that this will only give me about 15000 miles for the 70000 avios I have, is there another way to transfer these?

Thanks in advance!

I was able to use the avios app before to find reward flights from madrid to non UK destination i.e. i just did madrid to quito using my avios and a companion voucher - but the avios app is no longer showing these flights operated by iberia.

Has there been a change to reward flight availability on the app that anyone is aware of?

Background:

I need to book an AA flight through Finnair using Avios. I transferred Amex points to BA which worked instantly. I then go to transfer Avios from BA to Finnair on the Avios.com site. Everything looks normal and the transfer says it was successful on the Avios website. I will then get an email from Avios asking me to verify my identity which I complete (have tried both my DL and Passport) and it says verification complete. As soon as I do this I get another email saying the Avios transfer was unsuccessful.

I have found a few similar examples to this but never a straight up answer on what the issue is.

Some other data points:

• My name, email, phone number, address, DOB, and passport info is identical across BA and Finnair (Qatar too).
• My name in all places is only First and Last.
• My BA and Finnair accounts have both been open >30 days.
• My BA and Finnair accounts are linked. I can see both of them in the Avios website with my account numbers and Avios balances.
• 2FA is set up on all accounts.
• I'm only trying to transfer 30k points so its not a large amount.
• My Qatar and BA accounts are also linked and I can see my BA Avios balance on the Qatar website without having done anything else.

There are only 2 possible causes of this I could find but not verify if either is true. I'm hoping anyone here may have better information on what the issue is.

1. My DL and Passport both list my middle name but none of my accounts (including Amex) have my middle name. I do not list my middle name ever when flying and have never had a single issue with it. Could the verification not work because my middle name is listed on my DL and Passport but not the accounts?
2. I saw one unverified comment on one thread that there could be a 7 day waiting period between transferring in Avios (via Amex) before you're able to move them between Avios accounts.