Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
……. The other catch is if you cancel the ticket, the refund is a bit unclear to me but there were reports of the refund being purely based against the full normal cash price, so you wouldn't get the Avios back, but you would get the same lousy cash exchange rate instead.
A data point from February. I booked a cash fare (£313.42) and reduced the amount with Avios, (5200 avios to save £40), so I paid a net £273.42. I realised it wasn't a great use of avios and cancelled within the 24 hour cooling off period. I was refunded exactly what I paid, the £273.42 and the 5200 avios.