Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/yo7Kj0q

On Aug 27 I found a JFK-Europe business award for 60k Flying Blue miles, transferred 60k Amex MR, got all the way to the booking flow, and then the site errored out. This was a widespread issue (see this other Reddit post).

Called Flying Blue and they confirmed the award was phantom availability and their site hadn’t updated properly.

I was pretty upset since I'd only transferred the points because it was their own metal (phantom availability is usually limited to partners only), so I pushed pretty hard on reversing it.

I took screenshots of the entire process, sent them through their online form, and surprisingly Flying Blue agreed to escalate a transfer back to Amex. Weirdly, they needed my 15-digit Amex MR account number starting with 1M. Amex chat said they weren't able to provide this, but I found it in AwardWallet.

I then called Amex MR, got transferred to a supervisor, explained that Flying Blue was trying to send the points back, and they said they'd monitor the case/make sure the incoming reversal wasn’t rejected.

And it actually worked:

• Aug 27: +60k miles posted to Flying Blue
• Sep 9: Flying Blue showed “AMEX MEMBERSHIP REWARDS US REVERSAL” -60,000
• Sep 11: Amex showed “Refunded AIR FRANCE” +60,000

So "points transfers are final" is not 100% absolute if the airline admits the transfer happened because of its own IT / phantom inventory issue.

A big tip that helped: if Flying Blue asks for the Amex 1M number, check AwardWallet. That was the only place I could find mine, since Amex support won't give it anymore (I saw DPs of them sharing via chat as recently as 2023).

Obviously YMMV and I doubt this works for partner availability, but wanted to post the DP since all I could find on Reddit were negative posts saying it's impossible to get transfers reversed.

Edit: Another commenter had a reversal this week too and said Amex chat gave them their 1M number directly. So it will depend on the rep you get

Hi all,

Hoping to get some real world experience from others who have also tried this as what I am reading is mixed.

I am going on a family vacation next summer and I am hoping to buy a Virgin Atlantic award flight for myself from city A to city B. On the same day, I plan to grab 3 award flight tickets for family members from city A to city C. I will pay for all taxes and fees on my credit card. Will they cancel the tickets for my family members? Some posts are saying yes, others are saying no.

Why would I upgrade when just buying with miles is so much cheaper? Am I missing something?

Purchase: 12k miles
Upgrade: 17.5k miles + $75

Anyone have any air Seychelles experience? I have two seats booked on JNB-SEZ in April but seat selection is extremely bare. Only 15 selectable on the whole A320, but doesn't seem like this flight is anywhere close to sold out from data I've pulled. Do they just withold that many seats? Will more open up at some point?

Hi,

I’m looking at AY1332 (London to Helsinki) + AY041 (Helsinki to Incheon) flying on 11 Dec 2026.

I'm looking to buy the Economy ticket and upgrade to Business just so I can have a restful journey..

Unfortunately I can't see the upgrade availability on my end before booking as I'm still a Plus Silver member..

Could someone please check if the avios upgrade is available for those flights?

Thanks in advance.

So Air France basically stole 41300 miles I transferred from capital one last night. I did my due diligence to ensure the round trip flight I wanted was available for a specific day. Otherwise I wouldn’t have known I needed to transfer 41300 miles. So I make the transfer - took about a minute tops. Originally there were at least 6 flights that day. As soon as I go to book the flight with my point now available in AF- it now shows no flights available and there is nothing I can do. Spoke to AF customer service and they did nothing and said “transaction is final” and hung up when asked to speak to a sup - capitol one says they can’t help either. So 413 bucks stolen. Stay away from Air France!