squawk

Hello everyone,

Back in September I booked a cheap trip (£320) to BOS in April using the World Cup discount code which brought it down to £260, but time pressures have meant I had already been mulling over cancelling this trip.

If I were to simply cancel, I know I'd get something back - but is there an easy way to work out how much would that be? The ticketing email says "government, authority and airport charges" were just over £170, and "BA fees/surcharges" just under £140. But obviously that's prior to the discount voucher, which complicates the calculation!

But... I also received an email notification of cancellation of the return BOS flight yesterday, which prompted me to check FT about what rights I have in this situation. As I understand it, if the time change to the auto-rebooked flight is >2 hours I would have the option of cancellation with full refund; if less than this I would be able to request rebooking to another flight on the same date (in the same cabin etc). In this case, it is less than 2 hours: BA214 (departing BOS 22:50) is cancelled and I've been rebooked to BA202 (21:40).

However, when I searched for that email, I realised I'd already received another cancellation in December for the same return trip from BOS: namely, my onward (dep LHR 13:20 the following day) was cancelled and I had been rebooked to one departing LHR 14:25. If I do nothing, my overall journey time is now >2 hours longer than when I booked it - starting an hour earlier, getting in to my destination an hour later - because of the two cancellations/rebookings.

This leads to two linked questions - the answers to which which may be useful to others - that previous threads haven't thrown light on:

a) Is there a time limit for exercising one's rights after a cancellation? i.e. regardless of whether it's greater or less than 2 hours, how long does one have to contact BA to discuss options - in my case, the first cancellation was in December.

b) What happens where there has been > 1 cancellation in the same trip, in a situation like mine? Do one's rights change in any way? Does this in turn change if the total changes exceed 2 hours?

Finally, in my specific case, what options do I have, and how long do I have to exercise those options? Would I be able to get a full refund given the circumstances? Or ask for a change of date (in my case to make the trip several days shorter, or to postpone it say 6 months)? I was more or less resigned to only getting some of the fees back if I cancel, so any improvement on this is a definite bonus.

Sorry for the amateur questions - this is the first time I've ever been in a situation like this.

Globaliser

I'm a bit confused about whether your booked trip was LHR-BOS-LHR or BOS-LHR-BOS, because the second paragraph that I've quoted describes LHR-BOS as "onward" and "the following day".

But one question in any event: did you accept the first rebooking, ie the one of which you were notified in December?

squawk

corporate-wage-slave

Having one or indeed more cancellation(s) give you the option for a refund, it's as simple as that. Or to move the flight to another date. There isn't a time limit, indeed when I get a cancellation notice I tend to sit on it for a bit just in case something else changes, particularly if there are codeshares involved since they often take a few days to reinstate. So in essence make a decision as to what you are going to do, bearing in mind you are strictly speaking only allowed one bite of the apple, and then ring up to implement it. But you don't need to rush (other than the risk of perhaps forgetting altogether).

Edit: you can also avail of the 300 mile rule, in order to change the destination. NYC, PHL and YUL are under 300 miles. BWI is a bit over - which you could try to haggle. You could I guess try for somewhere to beef up the TPs by taking in some New England backwater like SYR.

If there wasn't a cancellation, the TFC element on your e-ticket is what you would normally get back, but often WT tickets have a change fee which makes a date move more cost effective.

Often1

As you were planning on cancelling, refund or not, you might consider whether you still want to visit BOS at a later date. The segment cancellation gives you three options under EC 261/2004: 1. Cancel the ticket for a full refund to your original form of payment. 2. Reschedule under substantially similar circumstances. 3. Reschedule at a later date of your choosing.

Thus, if all you want to do is cancel, simply request that and do not be concerned about what part is refunded as it is all refunded. If you do decide to take the trip, BA will likely accommodate you on one of its other services on the route or offer connections through any number of US East Coast stations with BOS-XXX-LHR service. You might also consider taking advantage of the favorable fare and taking this trip at another later time.

squawk

Thank you, @corporate-wage-slave and @Often1 - your replies have been both informative and very helpful!

For some reason, I hadn’t twigged that the options available were related to (dependent on) EU261. I guess this is because I’ve never had need to look into EU261 provisions for cancelled flights - and therefore assumed that a cancellation and rebooking (no matter how minor the resultant change in times) would trigger these options.

The cancellation makes it very easy; as you’ve both said, I just need to decide whether I want to cancel entirely or rebook for another set of dates/times (or indeed to another airport within 300 miles). This is a significantly more positive outcome than I had anticipated!

I’m very glad I asked - once again, this board is a gold mine of helpful information. Thanks!