Well, this doesn't look good. For the past week or so we've been hearing about issues with Marriott Bonvoy® points getting "stuck" when members have initiated transfers to Lufthansa Miles&More. This isn't entirely unusual, as post-merger many Marriott processes take longer than expected. But there are a significant number of transfers to Lufthansa that should…
Continue reading: What’s Going On With Marriott To Lufthansa Transfers?
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Miles & More s being sued in Germany to "cash out" miles at 3 EUR cents per mile, the plaintiff claiming that M&M miles should be considered e-cash.
Therefore, M&M is doing everything to stop transfers from other programs where points can be bought for cash and then transferred to M&M. Recently, they stopped transfers from Coop Superpoints (where you could pretty much outright buy miles at CHF 0.02/mile) and Coop trophy (where you could outright buy miles at CHF 0.0175/mile) in Switzerland. Now you can only transfer Superpoints you have accumulated the traditional way (i.e. by shopping).
Very likely, that's the reason behind this "ongoing issue".
Hah, Germans trying to ruin miles & points for the whole world.
Once it becomes cash, the IRS (and each country's equivalent) can easily justify it as income.
Loyalty Programs will be under the Patriot Act, Money Laundering Act, Currency control, etc. Makes it easier than ever for Big brother to now see where, when, and how we go around. Also let's Big Brother seize without notice or fair trial.
This is the 3rd Reich attacking the 21st century free world.
750,000 points transferred between 5/21-5/23 Marriott to M&M. Nothing posted so far ☹️ #Bonvoyed? So far seems like #Lufthansaed
Coop, a large Swiss supermarket chain, also stopped the transfer from their loyal points into miles. Swiss media now reported the reason behind this. Lufthansa stopped all transfer options from programs, where miles/points can be bought (and then transfered to LH).
Reason: someone in Germany tries to payout his miles and LH has to show the court that miles are not e-money:
https://www.handelszeitung.ch/unternehmen/das-steckt-hinter-dem-meilen-arger-von-coop-und-swiss
Really only a matter of time until points are considered "e-money". The day they tax points is the day this shit ramps up in difficulty.
Transferred points on 5/22; still in cyberspace..removed from Bonvoy; not credited to MM. Have a supervisor on both ends investigating. Sitting tight for now until they decide if they will credit to MM or bounce back (curious why they haven’t already given the 5/24 date I was given)
Hi Ben,
Maybe this is a more serious problem that one might suspect? @MilesForFamily is having problems with his Marriott Points transfer to Asia Miles. Maybe this is systemic issue?
As long as the lawsuit is pending it will not be possible to transfer points to MM.
There is a relative new law in Germany concerning electronic money. The Court has to decide whether miles are electronic money because at some partners it's possible to buy points.
I initiated a transfer on 29 May, and Marriott had returned the points to my account by 6 June with no action on my part. I'm a bit peeved because I had budgeted around having those miles in my M&M account for a trip at the end of the year, but I guess I have time to work out a plan B.