Avios hack: Tens of thousands of British Airways loyalty point accounts hacked

The airline has frozen affected accounts as a precaution

Tens of thousands of British Airways frequent-flier accounts have been hacked, the airline has said.

The company has responded by freezing the targeted accounts as a “precaution”, leaving some Executive Club members without access to their loyalty points.

The airline said no personal information had been viewed or stole during the attack.

“British Airways has become aware of some unauthorized activity in relation to a small number of frequent flyer executive club accounts," a spokesperson said.

“We would like to reassure customers that, at this stage we are not aware of any access to any subsequent information pages within accounts, including travel histories or payment card details.”

The airline said the attack had only affected a small number of its customers, some of whom took to internet forums and social media to vent their frustration.

“My Avios balance, which was 46,418 yesterday, is suddenly zero. Under recent transactions, there's an entry that says ‘ex gratia’ and the balance column says ‘-46,418’”, a user named Buzzz told the Flyertalk forum. “What the heck?!”

The attack on the airline is the latest in a string of high-profile hacks against services run by international corporations.

Targets taking direct hits last year included Sony Pictures, the PlayStation Network and Microsoft’s Xbox Live service.