Originally Posted by DominicB

I'm having an utterly bizarre string of conversations with BA about getting a refund for a ticket for a flight they have cancelled. It's a slightly complex saga, summarized below:

Back in January I booked an A-class return LHR/ORD/LHR for £3,068, outbound in early March, back on 28 June. I was, of course, over-optimistic about how the pandemic would be playing out in March. And so was BA...

One week later I had notice of both a timing change (as they reduced March to one rotation and also put an A350 on the route, thus removing First).

A week after that they removed BA metal entirely, changed the time again, and rebooked me on the one AA flight operating, in business class.

In late Feb, I bowed to the inevitable and changed the outward date of travel to 20 May, putting myself back in First on BA metal. There was no charge for this, I was told, because of the previous cancellations/rebookings.

In early April I changed the outbound date again owing to work issues, now to travel on 5 June. I tried doing this on the GGL line and was asked to pay £900 more, but the agent suggested before doing that I see what it would cost online. That was good advice - it cost £4. Now meaning I had spent £3072 on the booking.

A week after that, the return flight was downgraded to Club following a switch to A350s.

Two days after this, the outbound flight was switched from 10.40 to 4pm, and downgraded.


At this point, I contacted BA and said I would like a refund. They agreed I was fully entitled to one because of the final time change, and said I would get c.£2,300 back on my card. I queried this and said this was not what I paid. This has led to a saga now running into its third week, when several GGL agents have consistently sent this down to the back office folk, who keep clarifying that is the refund due, but not explaining why it is not the £3,072 I actually paid. Over the three weeks, I've been offered two different explanations.

Last week I was told that at some point in February, I think when they switched me to AA, they 'revalued' the ticket, and their system was meant to have put £749 back on my credit card. Well - it didn't. And I've simply never heard of BA automatically refunding part of the value of a ticket proactively. But, so I was told, that means that the value showing in the system of the ticket has, indeed, been reduced, even though this refund was never processed.

And then, yesterday, I was told that it was my own change of date for which I paid £4 more that had somehow lessened the value of the ticket. I have to say I could not follow what the agent was trying to explain. It was sort of that although I'd paid a bit more, the base fare was lower, and it was only this that was eligible for refund. And - to the bewilderment of the agent I was speaking to (on a second call as a follow-up to one 24 hours previously) - a senior manager had looked at this and said it was correct.

I'm awaiting a third call back from the same agent after she's had a couple of days off. She is kind of 'on my side' but her seniors are telling her that it is correct I don't get a full refund. I'm fairly certain that if I raise this with the credit card, they'll deal with it pretty quickly. But I would rather not go down that route... and I'm posting this here to see whether a) this saga has happened to anyone else, and b) if anyone here can sort of understand what it is BA is attempting to say by way of justifying its claim to be allowed to keep about 25% of the value of this ticket. I'm utterly mystified...