Expiring Points

[clarksnow1]

Emirates took 170,000 FF miles from me earlier this year and their excuse is that I should have known their points expired after x years. Few redeeming factors, I had a dormant email account not used due to change of employer, hence missed their email warnings, didnt receive any hand delivered mail advising of expiry and wasnt contacted by phone. it is noted that Emirates also dont have a secondary email section where they can contact you if your primary email expires. I only noticed the change 3-4 months later when I tried to redeem miles. I have filed complaint with Emirates and have stopped flying with them until it is sorted. I have travelled to South America and London on 3 occasions and have not used Emirates by choice. I need to escalate this up, but dont know who to talk to, all I get is someone from the middle east who has binary decision making authority.
Help what can I do???????

 

[markis10]

Emirates took 170,000 FF miles from me earlier this year and their excuse is that I should have known their points expired after x years.

Welcome to AFF, at the end of the day its not the airlines responsibility to track you down, its their responsibility to meet the terms and conditions of the program is it is your responsibility as well:

Skywards Miles will expire (and be deducted from the Member's Account) at the end of the month of a Member's birthday on/after the third anniversary of the relevant flight or applicable transaction. The precise period of validity of the Skywards Miles will depend on when a Member's birthday occurs but the validity of Skywards Miles shall not be less than three years. Unused, expired Skywards Miles, once deducted from the Member's Account, cannot be re-credited

 

[clarksnow1]

thanks for the prompt reply. your points are duly noted.

As a FF we are all busy and focussing ones attention on modifying an email address when one leaves an employer or not noticing you dont get Skywards electronic newsletters each month is problematic. I would cop it on the chin if it was 20,000 miles, but not 185,000 miles (its actually not 170,000) in one hit. Many online organisations have a section for a secondary email, in case a primary email is no longer valid in personal account settings. I have recommended Emirates change their account settings. Secondly there should be a function where an individual agrees and acknowledges that they have lost their points or they will lose their points. If a response is not received elkectorniclly, then Emirates should use another form of communication, eg: phone or mail. I'm sure that is not too hard. again 20,000 miles I would cop on the chin, but not 185,000 miles.

Does anyone out there know how I can escalate this through Emirates, if nothing more than to ensure Emirates enact continuous improvement to their notification system

 

[casanovawa]

I think you would have to do an awful lot of begging to get them back unfortunately... But no sorry, don't know the escalation route...

QF members seem to get some action if they tweet QF... Not sure if Emirates have any sort of Australian equivalent and they are empowered at all to try to fix issues raised...

 

[clarksnow1]

ok thanks for that, begging at moment, unfortunately cant get through Emirates firewall and only talking to people that are empowered to make binary decisions, eg: yes or no.

 

[yo yo ma]

Secondly there should be a function where an individual agrees and acknowledges that they have lost their points or they will lose their points. If a response is not received elkectorniclly, then Emirates should use another form of communication, eg: phone or mail. I'm sure that is not too hard. again 20,000 miles I would cop on the chin, but not 185,000 miles.

There is probably a function when you agree to the terms and conditions of their program. Unfortunately, I doubt there is much you can do but all the best with it.

 

[manlai]

As a FF we are all busy and focussing ones attention on modifying an email address when one leaves an employer or not noticing you dont get Skywards electronic newsletters each month is problematic. I would cop it on the chin if it was 20,000 miles, but not 185,000 miles (its actually not 170,000) in one hit.

Sorry mate - given it is a lot of points it is probably even more important for you too keep an eye on the dates they expire. Like it has been said before, it is in the T&C's - and i think when you log on to the system it even tells you when you have points due to expire.