BA Holiday - Do I need to cancel?
 

I want to cancel a BA holiday package I booked a couple months ago, however I can't seem to do this in MMB and it suggests I call them up. Do I really need to do this, can I just not pay the outstanding balance and let BA cancel it later on? I don't fancy spending any time on the phone with BA if I don't have to and I understand I won't get the deposit back either way. I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything, is there any penalty or consequence to this approach?

Caveating it with Ive never done this myself, but looking at the terms and conditions I would definitely phone and cancel. Technically, they can pursue you for the remaining amount if you fail to cancel, indeed there may or may not be a further cancellation fee to pay.

Depending on how soon the holiday is, you may lose more than the deposit.

I had to cancel one before and they were taking 50% if the total so I paid to move it instead as it was a large difference.

Phoning BA Holidays is a rather different matter from phoning BA. In my limited experience of the former, I've never had to wait to have the call answered, and their staff are on the ball. It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes to call up and cancel. It may not be strictly necessary but for the sake of what should be a very simple call with competent agents, I'd do it - and I'm someone whose last preference is to phone any organisation.

I had a similar need to phone BA yesterday, and found it surprisingly (given the current issues) quick. Hopefully your call won't take long either.

From experience if you have only paid the minimum deposit if you don't pay the balance BA simply forfeit the deposit paid and cancel the booking..

They will however send you email reminders and telephone you after the balance due date passes before cancelling the booking. The booking is auto cancelled a few days after the balance due date with forfeiture of the deposit only.

As far as I can recall, I don't recall BA Holidays pursuing anyone for anything beyond the deposit already paid.

In fact it is almost the opposite in that BA Holidays have been known to accept a late payment or set of payments beyond the formalised dates. So either way it's probably worth calling since if you don't pay, they will send at least one email and one phone call to keep your booking alive. Equally I can't recall any normal event (so excluding things like route cancellations) where they have refunded a deposit. So I would call, and if there are any other factors involved (e.g. you want to go somewhere else instead or you have found a cheaper option) then by all means share it with the agent. If nothing else it will save you from being hassled as if you had simply forgotten to pay.

I would guess BA Holidays' dedicated line will not be so busy at the moment. I am expected BA to cancel flights around 27 September so you may want to jump in sooner rather than later.

Why do you need to cancel if you don’t mind me asking and when is travel for. You can amend a BA holiday booking for £125 by calling they really are flexible to my knowledge up to 5 weeks before travel you only lose the deposit.

Could you ,wait as this might be on a future strike date where a free cancellation would apply.

I had to cancel a weekend break booked through BA holidays last year (flight and hotel booking).

I had only paid the deposit so called BA and they confirmed the cancellation with just the forefeit of deposit and no further penalties.

Best wishes

James

+1 on this. I called the BA Holidays line in July to get an Avis preferred number added to a booking. It was about 8am on a Saturday and the call was answered immediately and I was done in 30 seconds with really helpful staff. Give it a go.

Thanks for all the helpful feedback. I'm cancelling because I had a GUF2 I needed to use and there was reward space available. I don't think there is a dedicated Holidays line for Hong Kong, so I guess I will try my luck with the general line.