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*
#2101
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 335
Thanks CWS the last message from them was we will contact you... should I wait longer to the 24day point.?
#2102
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: 63,821
#2103
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Glasgow
Programs: BA Silver, KLM, HILTON HONOURS
Posts: 184
Sorry if this question has been asked before but I wanted to check before phoning BA My flights from GLA-LAS in June have been cancelled.It was a cash booking in WTP with avios upgrade to CW. Can I change those flight to NYC for November or does it have to be the same routing. Thanks for all the great information
#2104
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,968
Sorry if this question has been asked before but I wanted to check before phoning BA My flights from GLA-LAS in June have been cancelled.It was a cash booking in WTP with avios upgrade to CW. Can I change those flight to NYC for November or does it have to be the same routing. Thanks for all the great information
If you want to rebook under the book with confidence allowance effectively the value of what you already paid will be put towards your new booking but you will pay any fare difference and you will need the reward seat in CW to maintain the UuA.
As an alternative you can just cancel now and get everything refunded, and just book again if and when you choose.
#2105
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 228
I think I might have messed up. We were due to fly to Barbados this Easter, Club World flights booked in the sale last summer, 2 adults and 2 children £6,600. Obviously, the flights didn’t go ahead, I was given a voucher which I planned to use for next year. I couldn’t book next years flight at the time because it was more than 355 days in advance. I’m now looking at next year and BA.COM is quoting me £17,850 for the same flights.
It looks like BGI is currently scheduled for 2 daily flights in March but drops down to 1 daily in April meaning the return on 10th April and a few days either side is really busy with only full fare tickets available.
A couple of questions:
- Is the April flying schedule fully loaded at this point? Or do they normally add the second rotation later based on demand (I know these aren’t normal times)
- Now I’ve accepted the voucher (at the time I thought it was my only option) can I get a refund
- Any other options you can think of?
Thanks for your help with this.
It looks like BGI is currently scheduled for 2 daily flights in March but drops down to 1 daily in April meaning the return on 10th April and a few days either side is really busy with only full fare tickets available.
A couple of questions:
- Is the April flying schedule fully loaded at this point? Or do they normally add the second rotation later based on demand (I know these aren’t normal times)
- Now I’ve accepted the voucher (at the time I thought it was my only option) can I get a refund
- Any other options you can think of?
Thanks for your help with this.
#2106
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, Accor Live Limitless Gold, Hilton Honours Gold, Avis Preferred Plus
Posts: 1,807
I think I might have messed up. We were due to fly to Barbados this Easter, Club World flights booked in the sale last summer, 2 adults and 2 children £6,600. Obviously, the flights didn’t go ahead, I was given a voucher which I planned to use for next year. I couldn’t book next years flight at the time because it was more than 355 days in advance. I’m now looking at next year and BA.COM is quoting me £17,850 for the same flights.
It looks like BGI is currently scheduled for 2 daily flights in March but drops down to 1 daily in April meaning the return on 10th April and a few days either side is really busy with only full fare tickets available.
A couple of questions:
- Is the April flying schedule fully loaded at this point? Or do they normally add the second rotation later based on demand (I know these aren’t normal times)
- Now I’ve accepted the voucher (at the time I thought it was my only option) can I get a refund
- Any other options you can think of?
Thanks for your help with this.
It looks like BGI is currently scheduled for 2 daily flights in March but drops down to 1 daily in April meaning the return on 10th April and a few days either side is really busy with only full fare tickets available.
A couple of questions:
- Is the April flying schedule fully loaded at this point? Or do they normally add the second rotation later based on demand (I know these aren’t normal times)
- Now I’ve accepted the voucher (at the time I thought it was my only option) can I get a refund
- Any other options you can think of?
Thanks for your help with this.
- Obviously given how strange these times are, nothing is certain but I would expect they will be reviewing their scheduled fairly regularly at the moment even for April next year
- As far as I know, no
- See if there are any Avios tickets for your dates, availability is very wide open on a lot of routes at the moment. Then if the fares come back to normal levels, cancel the Avios ticket and book the cash ones with your voucher
Edit: Frustratingly the Avios availability for BGI looks like this:
Taken from seatspy.com Green is business class availability
#2107
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: LHR
Programs: BAEC Silver, Delta Platinum medallion
Posts: 278
Fast automatic return of deposit from BA Holidays
A datapoint for those with BA holidays.
Had a BA Holiday, flight + car, booked for ABZ>LHR>DEN return leaving 2 June. £350 deposit paid.
Balance would normally be at 5 week before depart – 28 April, but all BA holidays bookings now have a 3 week before depart balance due.
Thu 30 April: email saying return LHR>ABZ cancelled and they would be in touch to discuss options
Tue 5 May: email saying whole holiday cancelled and they would refund deposit to original credit card
(saw on expertflyer that 2 June LHR>DEN flight had been zeroed out, was cancelled following day)
Fri 8 May: Money back in Amex account
Excellent service from BA Holidays (as usual). Only downside is that 280TP would have been enough to get Mrs K to 680 points silver renewal (year end 8 August). Live in hope they’ll change the points needed.
Had a BA Holiday, flight + car, booked for ABZ>LHR>DEN return leaving 2 June. £350 deposit paid.
Balance would normally be at 5 week before depart – 28 April, but all BA holidays bookings now have a 3 week before depart balance due.
Thu 30 April: email saying return LHR>ABZ cancelled and they would be in touch to discuss options
Tue 5 May: email saying whole holiday cancelled and they would refund deposit to original credit card
(saw on expertflyer that 2 June LHR>DEN flight had been zeroed out, was cancelled following day)
Fri 8 May: Money back in Amex account
Excellent service from BA Holidays (as usual). Only downside is that 280TP would have been enough to get Mrs K to 680 points silver renewal (year end 8 August). Live in hope they’ll change the points needed.
#2108
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 47
I booked using a 241 in August last year for this July. If my flight is cancelled I understand I can book without award availability for the 12 month validity, which would be until August. This isn't much use to me. My flights are MAN-LHR-BNA. If I was to change the MAN-LHR leg now to an earlier or later flight on the same day I understand I'd have to pay the £35 change fee. Would this also reset the ticket validity?
Thanks
Thanks
#2109
Join Date: Feb 2011
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 256
Datapoint
Called YouFirst number at 1pm UK time today, call picked up within seconds. Very helpful operator organised the points and taxes for my late June TLV flight and also did the same for my partners flights that were in paid economy.
#2110
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: New Orleans (MSY)
Programs: AA EXP, IHG PLT, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Explorist, Amtrak, WN
Posts: 2,617
Does anyone know if transit is permitted at LHR airport right now? Looking at a mileage run on BA flying USA-LHR-USA with a same-day turn.
#2111
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: 63,821
Yes, in fact my guess would be that a greater proportion (but far fewer) passengers are in transit than normal. Note that only T2 and T5 are open. However if it was purely a mileage run I doubt it would be currently legal under my understanding of the English legislation, never mind some of the comments that some FTers will be itching to post. I accept you would be unlikely to be be caught if staying airside. There will be more information released at 19:00 hrs BST on Sunday, which may give a clue as to when it would be legal to do this.
#2112
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 5,398
I have a recent booking that was cancelled once and changed for free under the usual rebook policy, I then made a further date change paying only the difference in fare under BWC, if I now request a FTV will I receive it for all monies paid? I recall but can’t easily find a conversation upthread about change fees not being included in FTV but I assume fare differences are?
For clarity:
For clarity:
- Booked after 3rd Mar so BWC applies
- £XX originally paid
- Flight cancelled, free rebook used to alternative date
- Further voluntary change made to a new date, £YY fare difference paid (no change fees)
#2113
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
I have a recent booking that was cancelled once and changed for free under the usual rebook policy, I then made a further date change paying only the difference in fare under BWC, if I now request a FTV will I receive it for all monies paid? I recall but can’t easily find a conversation upthread about change fees not being included in FTV but I assume fare differences are?
For clarity:
In case of dispute I have an email record (e-ticket receipt) of the first amount paid, but nothing confirming the the second...
For clarity:
- Booked after 3rd Mar so BWC applies
- £XX originally paid
- Flight cancelled, free rebook used to alternative date
- Further voluntary change made to a new date, £YY fare difference paid (no change fees)
In case of dispute I have an email record (e-ticket receipt) of the first amount paid, but nothing confirming the the second...
#2114
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: 63,821
Though there isn't a "one change only" rule on BWC, I wouldn't make too many changes if you can avoid it, it's best to go to FTV if travel dates are uncertain. Other guidelines generally do have a one change rule.
#2115
Join Date: Mar 2020
Programs: BA EXECUTIVE CLUB
Posts: 6
AVIOS booking refund
Advice please. Had an AvIoS booking for 29 March and a separate return flight booking AVIOS and cash for 12 April, both flights were cancelled on 19 March. The facility to ask for a refund of points and cash on MmB was replaced by a request voucher which I didn’t want. Unable to get through on the AVIOS line, it simply played a recorded message and went dead, I messaged through Twitter asking for a refund. I first started messaging in 19 March before both flights were due to depart. The process was very slow but I received a message on 11 April to say that the flights have been sent for refund. But still I have nothing. I have spoken to customer services twice who Struggle to find my bookings as the flight dates are past and ask me to keep waiting but we are 4 weeks now and I am getting concerned there is some issue. I hear some have received refunds in less than a week. Any advice as to how I should proceed?