Originally Posted by
Confus
Chargebacks incur significant fees for merchants, plus much higher internal processing and admin costs. For many of us, this crosses a moral line - totally fine if BA has screwed up and it’s the easiest way to get a resolution, but as here they’ve agreed - and paid - a full refund without question or hesitation and have done nothing wrong, I personally don’t think it’s fair to screw them over for it.
In addition, in Europe chargebacks are only allowed (under Visa/MC rules) if an attempt has first been made to get a refund from a merchant, so your advice would not be permitted anyway (although I appreciate the OP is in the US, where rules differ in this respect).
On the other hand, BA is supposed to refund within 7 days and frequently flouts this requirement. And of course with no website option and long phone waits (not so relevant for silver / gold members) getting a refund can be frustrating. I don't think its fair for the OP to have to take on exchange rate risk for as long as is convenient for BA, and once it's day 8 after seeking a refund I think BA is fair game.