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
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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*
#2086
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: 63,851
It used to be 300 miles in the Standard Customer Guidelines, known as Option 7 so that isn't agent specific, but at the moment you are allowed to change to any airport in North America, due to so many cancellations. There is some flexibility on the mileage, 300 doesn't go very far in Canada....
#2087
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 148
It used to be 300 miles in the Standard Customer Guidelines, known as Option 7 so that isn't agent specific, but at the moment you are allowed to change to any airport in North America, due to so many cancellations. There is some flexibility on the mileage, 300 doesn't go very far in Canada....
#2088
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 579
As if by magic, new availability opened up to Asia this afternoon. Had to reverse itinerary, but A380 both ways (yay). Just reserved seats and there was no one else in the F Cabin, so BA are not releasing F seats on every flight it would seem, and they really COULD be reaccommodating people more than they are. I'm happy with my resolution, but it was just chance checking.
This said there was a slight difference in Avios (against me) which BA waived, so that WAS nice of them.
This said there was a slight difference in Avios (against me) which BA waived, so that WAS nice of them.
#2089
Join Date: May 2020
Programs: BA, UA, Delta, AA, Frontier
Posts: 2
Refund for Change Fees
Last August 2019, I booked two non-refundable round-trip tickets in Club World from Denver to London. In October of 2019 I was offered to upgrade to First Class and did so for an additional amount that included Tax/Fee/Charge of $1031.64.
The flight from the USA to London was cancelled yesterday and this morning I requested a refund via the BA toll free line. The BA representative told me that BA would refund all of the amount except $1000. She explained that the $1000 was a change fee that was charged to me for upgrading both tickets to First Class from Club World back in October 2019.
My e-receipt does show a fee of $1034.89 for taxes/fees/charges, in addition to the cost to upgrade. Is BA allowed to keep the $1000?
I thought that under the US DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION rules that if a carrier cancels a flight, the passenger is entitled to a full refund of costs regardless of the fact that it was a non-refundable ticket purchase.
The flight from the USA to London was cancelled yesterday and this morning I requested a refund via the BA toll free line. The BA representative told me that BA would refund all of the amount except $1000. She explained that the $1000 was a change fee that was charged to me for upgrading both tickets to First Class from Club World back in October 2019.
My e-receipt does show a fee of $1034.89 for taxes/fees/charges, in addition to the cost to upgrade. Is BA allowed to keep the $1000?
I thought that under the US DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION rules that if a carrier cancels a flight, the passenger is entitled to a full refund of costs regardless of the fact that it was a non-refundable ticket purchase.
#2090
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: 63,851
My e-receipt does show a fee of $1034.89 for taxes/fees/charges, in addition to the cost to upgrade. Is BA allowed to keep the $1000?
I thought that under the US DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION rules that if a carrier cancels a flight, the passenger is entitled to a full refund of costs regardless of the fact that it was a non-refundable ticket purchase.
I thought that under the US DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION rules that if a carrier cancels a flight, the passenger is entitled to a full refund of costs regardless of the fact that it was a non-refundable ticket purchase.
#2091
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 13
A week to go and flight still scheduled ?
We have a BA holiday to Washington via Dublin a week Monday and it's still showing in manage my booking, I've checked the Aer Lingus website and it's not showing.
Its really frustrating as they clearly aren't operating the flight, Are they hoping I cancel so they can keep the deposit?
Its really frustrating as they clearly aren't operating the flight, Are they hoping I cancel so they can keep the deposit?
#2092
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
We have a BA holiday to Washington via Dublin a week Monday and it's still showing in manage my booking, I've checked the Aer Lingus website and it's not showing.
Its really frustrating as they clearly aren't operating the flight, Are they hoping I cancel so they can keep the deposit?
Its really frustrating as they clearly aren't operating the flight, Are they hoping I cancel so they can keep the deposit?
Plus, Dublin flights also operate with a reduced schedule.
It’s likely that your flights aren’t cancelled.
If you write us the flight numbers and the dates, we can check the status of your flight.
#2093
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,015
BA holiday booking: if the flight is operating but due to destination country e.g Singapore not allowing short term visitors, would I be able to get full refund? Or would BA insist on voucher?
Thanks.
Thanks.
#2094
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 13
The flights we are due to go on are:
Bhx-Dub 18th May 0810 BA2013
Dub-Iad 18th May 1235 BA6141
All flown by Aer Lingua
Thank you
Bhx-Dub 18th May 0810 BA2013
Dub-Iad 18th May 1235 BA6141
All flown by Aer Lingua
Thank you
#2095
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
You would simply be denied boarding from the flight because you would not have the valid documents for travel.
Your best bet would be to wait until 24-48 hours before the flight, wait for a cancellation, if not canceled, convert it to a voucher.
Both flights seem to operate and still available for sale.
#2096
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,015
[QUOTE=ISTFlyer;32358025]If the flight operates and you are not allowed to fly due to government restrictions, you would not have the right to a full refund.
You would simply be denied boarding from the flight because you would not have the valid documents for travel.
Your best bet would be to wait until 24-48 hours before the flight, wait for a cancellation, if not canceled, convert it to a voucher. [QUOTE]
Thanks. That's put me off making a BA Holiday booking even for 2021. Looking ahead, it's far more likely that while flights will operate it will be destination government restrictions that will prevent folk being able to fly.
You would simply be denied boarding from the flight because you would not have the valid documents for travel.
Your best bet would be to wait until 24-48 hours before the flight, wait for a cancellation, if not canceled, convert it to a voucher. [QUOTE]
Thanks. That's put me off making a BA Holiday booking even for 2021. Looking ahead, it's far more likely that while flights will operate it will be destination government restrictions that will prevent folk being able to fly.
#2097
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,991
to be fair in normal times if the flight wasn't cancelled but you didn't want to travel you would only get some taxes and fees back usually. Under the current policy you would get a voucher at least so the total value of what you paid is available to book future travel.
#2098
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: 63,851
We have a BA holiday to Washington via Dublin a week Monday and it's still showing in manage my booking, I've checked the Aer Lingus website and it's not showing.
Its really frustrating as they clearly aren't operating the flight, Are they hoping I cancel so they can keep the deposit?
Its really frustrating as they clearly aren't operating the flight, Are they hoping I cancel so they can keep the deposit?
The worst case scenario here is that strictly speaking you may be on the hook for inflexible hotel reservations, but the main hotel providers have waived that too, at least for the time being. As places emerge from lockdown then this may change but this is going to take some weeks / months.
Last edited by corporate-wage-slave; May 8, 2020 at 2:00 am
#2099
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 335
CWS are you saying my BA holiday mid June (outbound flight segments have been cancelled) will be cancelled and refunded without me contacting them to say that is my preferred option? If that is not the case what is the best contact number for BA holidays as I am confused? I am silver currently.
#2100
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: 63,851