Programs: United Mileage Plus, BA Executive Club, Hyatt Gold Passport
Posts: 312
Lost 45,000 Avios for canceling too late
Was supposed to fly MNL HKG today with my family.on an Avios booking. We're in the Philippines visiting my wife's family. Yesterday, I injured my knee and we decided to postpone the trip as I can't walk. I tried finding alternate flights, but as I was looking, the 24 hour cancellation and change window closed. I called BA in the US when they opened last night, but they told me I could not change the reservation or receive a refund for canceling it because I'm inside the 24-hour window. I went ahead and canceled anyway so that CX could resell the seats. I thought that this would show that I'm acting in good faith.
Am I out of luck or is there anything I can do at this point?
Last edited by jsnearline; Dec 14, 12 at 2:30 am..
Reason: Fixed a typo
Probably out of luck. Sometimes it is possible to get the Avios back. I managed once - it was probably minutes within the 24h window and was due to Mrs funster being rather unwell. Honestly, I think we just got lucky. I wasn't expecting the Avios to be credited back.
Check your travel insurance as well. My policy has some provisions in relation to what can be claimed back on an award ticket. Thankfully.
Programs: United Mileage Plus, BA Executive Club, Hyatt Gold Passport
Posts: 312
Am I out the money I paid for the taxes too?
There is a provision in the executive club rules that states that they make exceptions for events that are beyond your control. However, I don't know if this would apply in my situation. The agent I spoke with didn't think so.
I don't think my travel insurance covers award tickets but I'll doublecheck that.
Do you have travel insurance? I would focus on getting a resolution through that. (You'll need to satisfy them you had no choice, but if you can't do that you'll get little from BA either.)
If your travel insurance gets you to HKG, you have little cause for a refund from BA as well as you would then have flown for free, i.e. you'd have gained from the situation rather than being protected.
No, I think that taxes are refunded, although you will have to pay a "service" charge. I think ours was either £90 each, or £90 for the two of us. Sorry, memory is a bit blurry as this was back in 2011.
Having looked again, you may have a claim with Cathay under "Force Majeure". That's a rather grand title but it's what BA call events beyond your control (CX define it as "unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our or your control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised").
It's a long running debate but I believe CX's conditions of carriage cover your ticket. They say:
If you have a Ticket, as described in 3.1.3 above, which is completely
unused, and you are prevented from travelling due to Force Majeure,
provided that you promptly advise us and furnish evidence of such Force
Majeure, we will provide you with a credit of the non-refundable amount
of the fare, for future travel on us, subject to deduction of a reasonable
administration fee.
It's probably worth a call to CX to see if they can help. It gets complicated because they would have to agree the refund/credit/change, but BA will probably have to re-ticket it.
Sorry I'm really going round in circles here. Of course as well as CX's CoCs, your booking is covered by the BAEC booking T&Cs (not the BA Cocs).
As you say, they include:
15.2. If flight bookings for Reward travel on British Airways or on flights operated by an Airline Partner are cancelled by the Member within 24 hours of departure, Avios Points in respect of the Reward will not be re-credited to the member. In the event you are prevented from travelling by an Event Beyond Your Control we will refund your Avios Points provided you have an unused Reward, have informed British Airways promptly, provided evidence of the event if requested to do so and paid the applicable fee specified on ba.com.
If you booking is just the MNL-HKG leg, I think you have a very simple claim for a refund if you can evidence it to BA if required.
Programs: United Mileage Plus, BA Executive Club, Hyatt Gold Passport
Posts: 312
Quote:
Originally Posted by pauldb
If your travel insurance gets you to HKG, you have little cause for a refund from BA as well as you would then have flown for free, i.e. you'd have gained from the situation rather than being protected.
My travel insurance requires me to attempt a resolution with the carrier first and they will only refund what BA doesn't. I'm not even sure award tickets qualify under my policy.
My travel insurance requires me to attempt a resolution with the carrier first and they will only refund what BA doesn't. I'm not even sure award tickets qualify under my policy.
I'm not suggesting your travel insurance will refund your tickets, rather that they cover you for medical issues and in these circumstances would provide your alternative travel to HKG. You don't need a refund if you get a replacement ticket. But it might be in a lower class you maybe you'd first want to try getting a re-booking from BA/CX.
My hope would be to rebook but at this time of year award seats are very hard to come by between HKG MNL and HKG.
The BA and CX rules above will only grant you a refund, which isn't going to help much getting to HKG if there's no award availability. So I would concentrate on the insurance angle: if you're covered they'll be buying you a cash ticket.
Having looked again, you may have a claim with Cathay under "Force Majeure". That's a rather grand title but it's what BA call events beyond your control (CX define it as "unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our or your control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised")......
I'd be surprised if this could be classified under Force Majeure, but not being legally trained, I couldn't say with any certainty.
I would agree that travel insurance is the better option. Yes, the insurer will expect you to have attempted resolution with the carrier, but that should be pretty straightforward. It shouldn't take a long time to get a definitive on whether they're willing to offer something or not, and as a consequence, assuming the terms of your insurance are satisfied, they should then step in and make necessary arrangements.
With the cancellation I referenced earlier, for example - which is similar, but not a match for your circumstances since I hadn't commenced travel so it was a straight cancellation - I had my answer from BA straight away, and initiated the claim with the insurer the same day. The BA part of the claim was actually the least of my worries since they'd recredited the Avios and refunded the necessary money. It was all the accommodation cancellation fees that amounted to the biggest chunk of cash.
Of course, the insurer expected and asked for medical evidence before a payout, but it need not take a long time to get things arranged.
Had a bit of a similar situation last month. My GP decided I wasn't fit to fly (on an reward flight) and I had to call the BAEC (UK) to cancel/postpone inside the 24 hour window. The Person I spoke to could not have been more helpful and cost nothing to change the booking till I was fit enough to fly (new booking 2 weeks after original)....however, she did want a letter from my GP to confirm this which he was more than happy to supply.
If you speak to the BAEC in the UK and can supply a medical certificate showing that you were not able to fly because of said medical reason I'm sure they would be able to help
Programs: United Mileage Plus, BA Executive Club, Hyatt Gold Passport
Posts: 312
Unfortunately BA doesn't have a call center in the Philippines. I'm not even really sure which one would have jurisdiction. I've been calling back to the one in the US, but the time difference makes finding times to call difficult.
