Last edit by: corporate-wage-slave
BA Covid-19 Rebooking / Cancellation / Refund Help & Advice
If your flight is cancelled by BA:
Commercial booking: Your options are: cash refund OR Future Travel Voucher (FTV) OR rebooking OR Avios credit
Redemption booking: Your options are: full refund of cash and Avios OR FTV OR rebooking.
BA Holidays booking: You should be given a refund pro-actively.
If your flight is cancelled by BA - any flight in the PNR - you can get a full refund so long as you booked directly with BA. You can only get a refund by telephoning BA. Refunds are taking between a few hours to a few weeks to be repaid, depending on the sort of booking made. If you don't wish to travel you can opt for an FTV or eVoucher valid for travel until 30 April 2022, though flights more than 355 days away are not currently bookable - flights are enabled at 355 days before departure. Vouchers such as 2-4-1 are also thereby extended. You can do this even if the flight is operating. The best advice we can give is to delay opting for an eVoucher options until the last moment, since if BA cancel your flight you have more options. BA have also adjusted the Standard Customer Guidelines so that if BA cancel the flight you can be rebooked to anytime in 12 months after you originally bought the ticket, so long as there is space in the cabin - there is no need to have a fare bucket available or Avios availability. If you choose the Avios credit you will get between 108 to 126 Avios per GBP of your fare. Note older posts in this thread may now be inaccuarate since the current policy has been amended several times.
===
If your flight is not cancelled but you don't wish to travel
Commercial booking: If you are eligible for Buy with Confidence, you can have an FTV valid until April 2022. Rebooking may lead to a fare recalculation but no change fee.
Redemption booking: Your can do the normal Avios refund, with the redeposit fee capped at GBP 35 per person. Alternatively for the same fee you can rebook to new dates subject to availability. Alternatively you can have an FTV.
BA Holidays booking: You may be get a refund proactively, otherwise you are looking at an FTV for at least the flight component of your trip, maybe for all components.
If all of the flights in your booking are still scheduled and you don't wish to travel then you best wait until a few days before departure in case there is a cancellation. As you can see above, a cancellation gives you better options. You are in scope with Buy with Confidence if you are flying between now and completing travel before 31 August 2021, also if you bought your ticket after 3 March and due to complete all flights before September 2021. The BA web page on this is:
ba.com/confidence
===
Below are some of the options / workarounds being suggested in order to obtain a refund as opposed to a Future Travel Voucher, but they probably no longer work:
Refund of Cancelled Flights:
Paid Seating Refund:
Bookings made using Lloyds Upgrade Voucher
You should expect to receive:
Lloyds Upgrade Voucher Notes
If your flight is cancelled by BA:
Commercial booking: Your options are: cash refund OR Future Travel Voucher (FTV) OR rebooking OR Avios credit
Redemption booking: Your options are: full refund of cash and Avios OR FTV OR rebooking.
BA Holidays booking: You should be given a refund pro-actively.
If your flight is cancelled by BA - any flight in the PNR - you can get a full refund so long as you booked directly with BA. You can only get a refund by telephoning BA. Refunds are taking between a few hours to a few weeks to be repaid, depending on the sort of booking made. If you don't wish to travel you can opt for an FTV or eVoucher valid for travel until 30 April 2022, though flights more than 355 days away are not currently bookable - flights are enabled at 355 days before departure. Vouchers such as 2-4-1 are also thereby extended. You can do this even if the flight is operating. The best advice we can give is to delay opting for an eVoucher options until the last moment, since if BA cancel your flight you have more options. BA have also adjusted the Standard Customer Guidelines so that if BA cancel the flight you can be rebooked to anytime in 12 months after you originally bought the ticket, so long as there is space in the cabin - there is no need to have a fare bucket available or Avios availability. If you choose the Avios credit you will get between 108 to 126 Avios per GBP of your fare. Note older posts in this thread may now be inaccuarate since the current policy has been amended several times.
===
If your flight is not cancelled but you don't wish to travel
Commercial booking: If you are eligible for Buy with Confidence, you can have an FTV valid until April 2022. Rebooking may lead to a fare recalculation but no change fee.
Redemption booking: Your can do the normal Avios refund, with the redeposit fee capped at GBP 35 per person. Alternatively for the same fee you can rebook to new dates subject to availability. Alternatively you can have an FTV.
BA Holidays booking: You may be get a refund proactively, otherwise you are looking at an FTV for at least the flight component of your trip, maybe for all components.
If all of the flights in your booking are still scheduled and you don't wish to travel then you best wait until a few days before departure in case there is a cancellation. As you can see above, a cancellation gives you better options. You are in scope with Buy with Confidence if you are flying between now and completing travel before 31 August 2021, also if you bought your ticket after 3 March and due to complete all flights before September 2021. The BA web page on this is:
ba.com/confidence
===
Below are some of the options / workarounds being suggested in order to obtain a refund as opposed to a Future Travel Voucher, but they probably no longer work:
Refund of Cancelled Flights:
- Call BA (no longer a requirement to be travelling in the next 72 hours, you may need to make repeated calls to get through). Telephone numbers are in this thread, but you can also find them on BA.com at the bottom left of the website, under Help and Contacts.
- Online forms (Post #435 - corporate-wage-slave) - manual process which may take many weeks
Paid Seating Refund:
- https://www.britishairways.com/trave...ing_claim_form (Post #765 - travelhappypair)
Bookings made using Lloyds Upgrade Voucher
You should expect to receive:
- Full refund of Avios and money paid
- A new voucher issued, which has validity for 6 months (from the date of issue, i.e. when you request the 'refund')
Lloyds Upgrade Voucher Notes
- Flights can be used within 12 months, so it will be good for travel up until the end 6 months plus 12 months if you book just before the new expiry
- It's been advised to take the voucher instead of rebooking as it gives me more flexibility.
- The original expiry date of the voucher was irrelevant because the booking was cancelled.
- You must book within 6 months of the voucher being issued and the ticket has 12 months validity so you can change flights after, provided the new flights are within the 12 month window.
- You won't receive any email, only the refund and the miles.
- Use the Qantas website and look back to your original PNR. Step by step guide in post 954
Covid-19 BA Rebooking/Cancellation/Refund HELP & ADVICE *No Speculation etc*
#1981
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,848
There is a standard condition in almost all Guidelines that I've seen allowing for only one involuntary change. It's basically to prevent people constantly switching between services just become something happened to their original flight. Now there is often some flexibility on this, so for example if you rebooked and then suddenly BA restored the original service, you would be allowed tor revert back. But when i'm giving advice on Guidelines I try to remember to add in the point that people should think carefully before rebooking. Having said that, if a second event happens, then you can rebook a second time, which may well apply in your scenario. However if you are genuinely unsure - as implied by your supplementary question above - you best avoid a rebooking that is implausible, and look to the eVoucher instead.
Incidentally if your first flight is cancelled, you don't need to rush to rebook or take the refund / eVoucher. You can resolve that after the original date of travel.
Incidentally if your first flight is cancelled, you don't need to rush to rebook or take the refund / eVoucher. You can resolve that after the original date of travel.
#1982
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,990
#1983
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Germany
Programs: BA GGL, CCR - TK G
Posts: 809
There is a standard condition in almost all Guidelines that I've seen allowing for only one involuntary change. It's basically to prevent people constantly switching between services just become something happened to their original flight. Now there is often some flexibility on this, so for example if you rebooked and then suddenly BA restored the original service, you would be allowed tor revert back. But when i'm giving advice on Guidelines I try to remember to add in the point that people should think carefully before rebooking. Having said that, if a second event happens, then you can rebook a second time, which may well apply in your scenario. However if you are genuinely unsure - as implied by your supplementary question above - you best avoid a rebooking that is implausible, and look to the eVoucher instead.
Incidentally if your first flight is cancelled, you don't need to rush to rebook or take the refund / eVoucher. You can resolve that after the original date of travel.
Incidentally if your first flight is cancelled, you don't need to rush to rebook or take the refund / eVoucher. You can resolve that after the original date of travel.
Im totally confident I want to travel IF the Donster lets me in... so your explenations make sense.. IF the US will prolong the ban...
#1984
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,848
You're a frequent flyer, you know how this all works. Just book to a date that looks plausible and if by some miracle the doors open up sooner - and the price / Avios is right - you get to have two trips to California, which I would term a win-win. It's just possible you may be able to bring the flight forward too, due to a new Guideline or because you're comfortable to pay the fee for so doing.
#1985
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 85
Hi everyone and apologies if this was asked previously.
I have a BA booking which I paid cash and upgraded with On Business Points last December, these On Business points were expiring at the end of 2019.
One segment has just been cancelled, do you know if I will get my On Business Points back with an extended expiry date if I ask for a ticket refund? Maybe some FTers have been facing this situation recently?
Thank you all
I have a BA booking which I paid cash and upgraded with On Business Points last December, these On Business points were expiring at the end of 2019.
One segment has just been cancelled, do you know if I will get my On Business Points back with an extended expiry date if I ask for a ticket refund? Maybe some FTers have been facing this situation recently?
Thank you all
#1986
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,709
Hi everyone and apologies if this was asked previously.
I have a BA booking which I paid cash and upgraded with On Business Points last December, these On Business points were expiring at the end of 2019.
One segment has just been cancelled, do you know if I will get my On Business Points back with an extended expiry date if I ask for a ticket refund? Maybe some FTers have been facing this situation recently?
Thank you all
I have a BA booking which I paid cash and upgraded with On Business Points last December, these On Business points were expiring at the end of 2019.
One segment has just been cancelled, do you know if I will get my On Business Points back with an extended expiry date if I ask for a ticket refund? Maybe some FTers have been facing this situation recently?
Thank you all
#1987
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 5,398
Would anyone with a recently cancelled (revenue, not Avios) flight able to check/confirm if the new policy of a fee free rebook onto the same route within the validity of the ticket is available online?
Normally with a cancellation it allows you to select any flight within 14 days, and any over 14 days that are less than or equal to the fare code of your ticket. It's not set up to collect the fare difference for more expensive flights so just shows those that are equal or less, at least this is my experience to date.
Is it now letting you select any flight over 14 days? I would haven thought that even for BA IT this would be a really simple implementation
Normally with a cancellation it allows you to select any flight within 14 days, and any over 14 days that are less than or equal to the fare code of your ticket. It's not set up to collect the fare difference for more expensive flights so just shows those that are equal or less, at least this is my experience to date.
Is it now letting you select any flight over 14 days? I would haven thought that even for BA IT this would be a really simple implementation
#1988
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,709
Would anyone with a recently cancelled (revenue, not Avios) flight able to check/confirm if the new policy of a fee free rebook onto the same route within the validity of the ticket is available online?
Normally with a cancellation it allows you to select any flight within 14 days, and any over 14 days that are less than or equal to the fare code of your ticket. It's not set up to collect the fare difference for more expensive flights so just shows those that are equal or less, at least this is my experience to date.
Is it now letting you select any flight over 14 days? I would haven thought that even for BA IT this would be a really simple implementation
Normally with a cancellation it allows you to select any flight within 14 days, and any over 14 days that are less than or equal to the fare code of your ticket. It's not set up to collect the fare difference for more expensive flights so just shows those that are equal or less, at least this is my experience to date.
Is it now letting you select any flight over 14 days? I would haven thought that even for BA IT this would be a really simple implementation
#1989
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,990
Would anyone with a recently cancelled (revenue, not Avios) flight able to check/confirm if the new policy of a fee free rebook onto the same route within the validity of the ticket is available online?
Normally with a cancellation it allows you to select any flight within 14 days, and any over 14 days that are less than or equal to the fare code of your ticket. It's not set up to collect the fare difference for more expensive flights so just shows those that are equal or less, at least this is my experience to date.
Is it now letting you select any flight over 14 days? I would haven thought that even for BA IT this would be a really simple implementation
Normally with a cancellation it allows you to select any flight within 14 days, and any over 14 days that are less than or equal to the fare code of your ticket. It's not set up to collect the fare difference for more expensive flights so just shows those that are equal or less, at least this is my experience to date.
Is it now letting you select any flight over 14 days? I would haven thought that even for BA IT this would be a really simple implementation
#1990
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: MHK
Programs: AA Exec Plat - some level of status in IHG, Marriot & HIlton
Posts: 1,516
If I book a trip using miles for a basic award today for a trip in June and need to cancel because of Covid restrictions, do I get the miles back or how does that work? I tried searching, but couldn't find this question even though I am sure it has been asked.
#1991
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,990
For all rewards you can cancel at any time up to 24 hours before the flight and you will get back everything minus a £35/$55 per person cancellation fee. If your flight is cancelled then you can cancel the booking and you will get back everything with no cancellation fee being charged.
#1992
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: MHK
Programs: AA Exec Plat - some level of status in IHG, Marriot & HIlton
Posts: 1,516
For all rewards you can cancel at any time up to 24 hours before the flight and you will get back everything minus a £35/$55 per person cancellation fee. If your flight is cancelled then you can cancel the booking and you will get back everything with no cancellation fee being charged.
#1993
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Juneau, Alaska.
Programs: AS 75K;BA Silver;AA G;HH Dia;HY Glob
Posts: 15,822
https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/incident/coronavirus/latest-information?
#1994
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Programs: TK Elite Plus,BAEC GGL,ITA Executive, AFKL Gold,QR Gold,HH Diamond,Bonvoy Gold,ALL Gold
Posts: 14,186
Booking now for June you are covered by the Book with Confidence policy (outlined at ba.com) and if the flight isn’t cancelled by BA then you can rebook for later, accept a voucher for travel through April 2022, or pay the redeposit fee.
https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/incident/coronavirus/latest-information?
https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/incident/coronavirus/latest-information?
#1995
Join Date: Dec 2017
Programs: mileage plus
Posts: 22
i booked for several people under 1 reservation for upcoming travel that hasn't been cancelled yet. regardless if the trip goes on or not, 1 person cannot make it. can i get a voucher from now for their ticket on the reservation, but leave the rest of the reservation untouched?