just_starting

Hi all,

I booked a £80 European return (cheapest booking class) that I won't be needing. I will get about £40 back when I cancel.

However, I've seen quite a few cancellations on that route recently, so I'm going to wait as long as I possibly can to maybe get a free refund or even bag the €250.

How close to departure can I cancel still? Is there any benefit in cancelling early?

corporate-wage-slave

Theoretically it is until they close the flight, which could be minutes before departure. However I wouldn't leave it that long, an hour before departure is probably more realistic. The benefit of doing it earlier probably revolves around random factors like phones / computers not working at importune moments. If the weather is behaving and there aren't ATC strikes on, it is quite rare for a flight to be cancelled on the day. So I'd do it several hours beforehand after checking (e.g.) Flyertalk to see if something is up. The only other precise benefit I can see in cancelling "now" rather than "later" is if there has been a big currency movement and some of the taxes are assessed in that currency. But it could of course be the other way around.

Don't forget to check if you can pay the change fee and make use of the flight at another time.

just_starting

Thanks very much! The change fee is £60, so I don't think there's any scenario where that would be better than just writing off the £40 and booking a new flight?

gms

I assume that you have also factored in the cancellation fee (online/phone)?

just_starting

Yea, BA would refund just over £40 on a £83 booking. Which is the equivalent to a "£42 change fee" if I just book a new flight myself I guess?

EsherFlyer

I think gms means allowing for these fees: https://www.britishairways.com/travel/service-fees/public/en_gb

corporate-wage-slave

Well yes, obviously, since if you were about to pay £300 for that new flight, it may be better to pay £60 to get that booking instead of paying £300. If you could get the flight for £15 then that would certainly be different. So it depends on the fares, the fare of the unused flight and the precise details.

Cymro

I'm not sure I follow there - wouldn't the fare difference apply regardless?

if a change fee is £60 and the amount for a cancellation is ~£40 then if a new ticket is £300:

- Cancel - take the £40 refund and find an additional £260
- Change - pay the £60, credit the original £80, and pay £220 = £280 total

On BA's very cheapest fares, where the fare component is a very small part of the price, there is in some senses more flexibility than there is on much more expensive ones.

corporate-wage-slave

Yes it would, and for the return leg it would probably be on historical terms. Now I was being generalised here, I didn't notice that (if I've now understood correctly) that the entire booking was £80, but often a single trip on a non historical basis - current fares in other words - could be dear, whereas on a historical basis the fare difference could be zero.

EsherFlyer

To make sure I'm following what you mean here...

- Non-historical: Repriced at current fare for bucket, such as when changing an itinerary before initial departure;
- Historical: Priced as per original purchase date, so no extra fare if moving from H on original booking to H on new in a part-flown itinerary. Would you also get original pricing of new bucket (hence potentially lower fare difference) if moving from (say) H to B?

just_starting

Yes, that's my scenario precisely - I'd be paying the difference in fares either way.

My entire return was £80, and I'll be changing both legs... So cancelling and booking again is cheaper than changing!

corporate-wage-slave

Yes, this seems in line with my understanding, however of course the change fee would always apply - unless the flight was changed in timing after it was ticketed, when a free change can be made within certain parameters.