Amex Transfers Points Twice! The Fight Is On!

Transferring points to travel partners is a one-way street. We all know this. I am conservative when it comes to transferring points because I would much rather have MRs, URs, or TYP in my bank account than in a partner account. In need of a flight to Doha for the World Cup (see Is TPOL Going to The World Cup?), I needed 38,000 more Avios points. Unfortunately, Chase and Amex did not have a transfer bonus at this time, which can be as high as 40%. Annoyed that I didn’t transfer more points when there was a promotion, I begrudgingly hit ‘confirm’ to initiate the MR to Avios transfer. Instantly, I received an error, “Your transaction did not go through. Try again later.” Since award availability can disappear instantly, I tried again right away. This time the transfer went through. However, I noticed that my MR balance had dropped substantially. I checked the account activity and saw that 38,000 points were deducted twice from my account. A feeling of nausea came over me as I contacted Amex via chat. It came as no surprise that they were utterly useless and did not accept accountability for their mistake. Indeed, the first agent tried to get rid of me by telling me to call back the following day to see what could be done. Another agent told me to contact British to see if British could reverse the transfer despite knowing that British would not be able to do so.

By the time I chatted with the supervisor, I had spent over an hour pleading my case. My urgency for booking my award ticket was hijacked by my quest for justice. Alas, there was no justice. Amex awarded me zero points and did not wish any mercy on my soul. The fight will continue!