sunshinebob

I feel your pain however if you wander into Marks and Spencer and buy a £99 suit, take it home , try it on and decide you dont like it you can take it back for a refund. You cant swap it for a £199 suit if you prefer that one. Now I appreciate that flights and suits are different, and accept your argument that a LHR-JFK flight in March is the same as a LHR-JFK in November but we all know that flights cost different on different days (and sometimes on the same day), so I think that your grievance does not hold enough water currently.

travellingowl

Im in the same situation that I have 10+ bookings (for myself and close family members) between now and the end of May. I already have flights booked in August, September and November and then an optionstown package that kicks in from October for 9 months (for the whole family) so a voucher that expires 12 months from original trip date is no good to me.

If BA were to offer 24 months on the vouchers I would gladly take them as I do want to support them and not see them go under but 12 months is just not viable, especially since the longer it goes on the more vouchers I will end up with and then even less time to use them.

So it feels like I am playing a game of poker with BA at the moment. I was hoping that they would cancel the flights 14 days before (so they don't have to pay EU compensation), however since they probably wont have to pay this anyway they may well run the clock down until just before departure to cancel and see who blinks first.

alexwuk

Yes I know about Credit Card payment schedules to Merchants. My ticket isn't totally inflexible (not sure where you got that idea). The FCO has already advises against all but essential travel to Argentine. The only carrier allowed to repatriate citizens to/from EZE from today is AR, BA can't carry those passengers. Jet2's flights turned around in mid-air because the personal lockdown in Spain, not because they wouldn't be legally allowed to land/passengers wouldn't be allowed to immigrate in Spain (both of which are the case for my flight). I'm not asking BA to to make tickets flexible - I'm asking them not to send me email out of the blue that lies to me and thousands of others by telling us that flights are going to depart when they clearly won't be - absent a change in law to make travel easier, which isn't going to happen any time soon.

aceman

Not according to the first email, but since LAS is not on the airport list I assume actually that it will be officially cancelled after the Tuesday deadline.

The cynic in me thinks that this is an attempt by ba to corral at least some passengers into accepting a voucher for the flights before they are cancelled whereupon they would get hard cash back.

GabrielExea

So I too have received the 'cancel for a voucher' email now for my booking on the 27th of March to Kingston for a BA holiday booking... I'm a little confused having read a few of the threads on here, bearing in mind this is a holidays booking if I were to cancel this for a voucher would I receive the full value of the holiday as a voucher, or just the flights portion of it?

I'm just not sure how realistic it is that BA will keep running these flights for two more weeks, admittedly today's flight to KIN seems to have left on time, but at the same time it may make more sense for me to simply claim through my travel insurer for cash in full now that the FCO have advised against travel if BA are only giving a voucher for the flight portion.

corporate-wage-slave

Yes, but keep an eye on the timetable online on BA.com too. At the moment both the BA275 and BA2277 are shown as zeroed for sale, which is often the first sign of a cancellation. BA are cancelling flights by date order and it may take a few more days to get into April's schedule.

DYKWIA

You've been on here long enough to know that one-way same day flights cost a heck of a lot more than flights booked in advance... I bet it would have been cheaper if you'd booked a return with a date way in the future.

corporate-wage-slave

That's a very long way off. Unless you actually 101% want the eVoucher I would hold off for a lot longer. The eVoucher, if it came via proactive email, would be for the whole BA Holiday booking, not just the flight.

corporate-wage-slave

On Friday at least there was also Avios availability for Saturday. I didn't check on Saturday but usually BA only keep a few seats back from inventory on the day of departure.

botham

I think everyone needs to be aware that although it might not be possible for a UK citizen to board a flight to the USA, the actual flight may still take off and therefore not be cancelled. It may be returning US citizens home.

UK ticket holders should be able to transfer their bookings, without charge, or presumably wait until just before take off for more options or take the voucher.

Of course, with travel insurance, a refund may be possible through this channel.

GabrielExea

Thanks C-W-S - I meant 27th March not April, but still 11 days to go so will sit tight and see what else emerges.

Am I correct in thinking I have up until 48 hours before the flight departs to avail myself of the voucher option?

corporate-wage-slave

Yes if it is a BA Holiday. Madeira is an odd one. The Autonomous Region has imposed a lot of restrictions, hence the FCO has issued an ABE for the island, and yet there are no covid-19 cases in Madeira. If a place is ABE normally BA Holidays would look to cancel bookings.

GabrielExea

Thanks again.

I am going to hold out and see what happens, ideally they will cancel and process a full cash refund.

Just to add a bit more experience here - I did click through to the voucher link and, potentially misleadingly depending, the terms and conditions on the link I have been given still state under 'Terms and conditions - Holidays':

'If your holiday includes a non-changeable hotel and/or experience product and you wish to make a date change or apply for a voucher, the value of your original flights will be credited towards this. The amount paid for your original non-changeable hotel and/or experience reservation will be forfeited.'

Which sounds suspiciously like even for BA holiday bookings they would not be giving me a voucher for the full value... So I certainly won't be going for that if that is the case.

redrose59

I also had the email this morning regarding "my booking". However, I dont have a booking for this date nor have I ever flown to or from Inverness. The booking reference does not correspond to either of my bookings in May 2020. I have one from ABZ to JNB (2-4-1) and a cash booking from JNB to WDH. We are assuming that our flights will be cancelled at some point so will wait to get a full refund so that we can replan our whole trip. I just hope that we get a correct email once BA are further down the line with cancellations etc.

Dear Customer,

We understand that you may have questions about your upcoming travel at the moment, and we wanted to reassure you that we’re working around the clock to help our customers get to where they need to be.

We’re working closely with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) to continue flying, where travel restrictions allow and where it is safe to do so.

Your flight to Inverness on 30 March 2020 is currently due to depart as planned, however due to the fast changing situation, we wanted to let you know that if you’d like to change the date or destination of your trip - you can apply for a voucher online here. This can be redeemed against future travel, for flights taken within 12 months of your original date of departure.

Rubecula

Reluctantly I have cancelled my holiday to Barbados later this week. Although there are no reported cases at the moment, the uncertainty is too much for me.

I am ready to big up my autumn travel when, hopefully, the situation improves.