Mar 14, 20, 4:58 pm
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*
Mar 16, 20, 6:14 am
#211
Join Date: Jul 2010
Programs: BD Silver, HH Gold, BA Silver, CX Gold
Posts: 434
Would anyone with more knowledge of the industry be able to advise on the following? We have a pair of return flights London to South Africa outbound on the 21st March. We have travel insurance via Amex, and as the FCO is advising against all but essential travel, should be covered. We've been offered the vouchers by BA, but don't think we should take them because this would stop us getting the money back as cash either from insurance or BA depending on if it is cancelled or not; I'm also concerned that us "cancelling" the booking may make the process of claiming for other elements of the holiday harder with insurance. Thanks for any help.
Mar 16, 20, 6:30 am
#212
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Home Counties, UK
Programs: BA blue, Emirates blue
Posts: 448
Talk about left hand, right hand! On Friday afternoon I applied for a voucher for my forthcoming BA holiday to Madeira on 23rd March, only to then read info about holding off because some hotels are non-refundable/changeable (t&c’s don’t you know?) Less than 24 hours later I get an email from BA apologising that they are sorry but they cannot provide my holiday and will give me a full refund but to ignore this if I had already made other arrangements - drat and double drat! I will probably lose half the value with the voucher. If only I had waited another day. This morning I get yet another email from them telling me that my flight is still currently due to depart but that, if I want I can change the date or destination of my holiday by way of a voucher. Is this an example of BA’s not very good IT. All I can do is wait and see what comes my way.
Mar 16, 20, 6:36 am
#213
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: 59,455
As a very general point, which may have appeared in one or two previous posts, it's best to leave any eVoucher application until the day of travel, or T-48 hours if a BA Holidays booking, or T-24 for Avios (when you're probably best to go for the straight cash refund rather than eVouchers).
Mar 16, 20, 6:44 am
#214
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Home Counties, UK
Programs: BA blue, Emirates blue
Posts: 448
Thank you c-w-s. Just out of interest, if I do only get my CE flights back and not the hotel or car, does the hotel still get the money or will BA keep it? If I must lose it I wouldn’t mind losing it to the hotel as they will suffer through all this but very annoying if BA keep it to shore up their losses.
Mar 16, 20, 6:55 am
#216
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Home Counties, UK
Programs: BA blue, Emirates blue
Posts: 448
Mar 16, 20, 6:55 am
#217
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: 59,455
Thank you c-w-s. Just out of interest, if I do only get my CE flights back and not the hotel or car, does the hotel still get the money or will BA keep it? If I must lose it I wouldn’t mind losing it to the hotel as they will suffer through all this but very annoying if BA keep it to shore up their losses.
As mentioned previously, don't apply for the eVoucher now unless you are 101% certain you want that. Apply for it before T-48 hours on BA Holidays, T-24 on Avios, T-2 on revenue. And check your emails.
Mar 16, 20, 6:55 am
#218
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver, VIPorter, Miles+Bonus Blue
Posts: 27
The flight (BA993 on 23/03) is still being sold, so it would appear to be operating... but my app still shows it as cancelled, and when I drill down in Manage My Booking (on a different device) and enter the flight number and date into the flight status box, it also shows it as cancelled. Regardless, as BA believe it is operating, there are no cancellation options other than the voucher.
Slightly frustrating - but definitely a “first world problem” with what is going on, so no big deal!
Thanks
Jimmy
Mar 16, 20, 6:58 am
#219
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: 59,455
I just managed to get through on the phone. They are adamant that my return flight will be operating and that it must be a glitch with my app.
The flight (BA993 on 23/03) is still being sold, so it would appear to be operating... but my app still shows it as cancelled, and when I drill down in Manage My Booking (on a different device) and enter the flight number and date into the flight status box, it also shows it as cancelled. Regardless, as BA believe it is operating, there are no cancellation options other than the voucher.
The flight (BA993 on 23/03) is still being sold, so it would appear to be operating... but my app still shows it as cancelled, and when I drill down in Manage My Booking (on a different device) and enter the flight number and date into the flight status box, it also shows it as cancelled. Regardless, as BA believe it is operating, there are no cancellation options other than the voucher.
J9 C9 D9 R6 I0 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M8 L5 V0 N0 O0 Q9 S9 G9
which is almost normal to my mind, so it looks OK to operate to me.
Mar 16, 20, 7:01 am
#220
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver, VIPorter, Miles+Bonus Blue
Posts: 27
Mar 16, 20, 8:20 am
#221
Join Date: Feb 2009
Programs: Executive Club
Posts: 960
I'm confused. We are due to fly to PUJ on 14th April. On Saturday the Dominican Republic government had a press conference stating that they were banning all flights from and to Europe effective from 6am local time today, this ban will stay in place for one month. So I assume our flight will be cancelled. The FCO website is confirming this ban is in place and advising against ABE.
Today I received an email from BA saying the flight was still operating as normal but would I like a voucher. And I can see on Flightradar and BA.com that the 2204/5 is showing as operating for example tomorrow, even though the ban is in place. BA only flies on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday but Air France from PAR > PUJ which was supposed to depart 12pm local today is showing as delayed until 18.00 but not yet cancelled. So both airlines are encouraging people to go the airport and check-in even though the flights probably won't operate.
We booked 1 ticket using a Lloyds voucher and the other as a revenue fare, which allows cancellation for £300. As I presume the flight will be cancelled at some point, I am going to wait until this happens, not accept any vouchers. But I just wondered if anyone knows what will happen to the Lloyds voucher booking, and whether I will have to call the dreaded Lloyds team at some point when the flight is cancelled?
Today I received an email from BA saying the flight was still operating as normal but would I like a voucher. And I can see on Flightradar and BA.com that the 2204/5 is showing as operating for example tomorrow, even though the ban is in place. BA only flies on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday but Air France from PAR > PUJ which was supposed to depart 12pm local today is showing as delayed until 18.00 but not yet cancelled. So both airlines are encouraging people to go the airport and check-in even though the flights probably won't operate.
We booked 1 ticket using a Lloyds voucher and the other as a revenue fare, which allows cancellation for £300. As I presume the flight will be cancelled at some point, I am going to wait until this happens, not accept any vouchers. But I just wondered if anyone knows what will happen to the Lloyds voucher booking, and whether I will have to call the dreaded Lloyds team at some point when the flight is cancelled?
Mar 16, 20, 8:29 am
#222
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: 59,455
We booked 1 ticket using a Lloyds voucher and the other as a revenue fare, which allows cancellation for £300. As I presume the flight will be cancelled at some point, I am going to wait until this happens, not accept any vouchers. But I just wondered if anyone knows what will happen to the Lloyds voucher booking, and whether I will have to call the dreaded Lloyds team at some point when the flight is cancelled?
Mar 16, 20, 8:33 am
#223
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
A lot of the confusion is being called by how people are interpreting some of the countries bans, most aren't banning the flights but are banning people of certain nationalities so some flights will still operate to these countries. As has been said a few times if you are after cash refund rather than voucher then hold on if you think the flight will be cancelled then you will be due a cash refund the voucher doesn't have to be claimed until 1 hr before departure
Mar 16, 20, 8:36 am
#224
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Edinburgh
Posts: 214
One of the flights in our booking has been cancelled. Can we assume that BA will now cancel and refund the whole itinerary or are we not at that stage yet?
Mar 16, 20, 8:41 am
#225
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: 59,455
I suspect the return may also be cancelled. But if a cash refund is your preference, you can assume your flight is cancelled and therefore you get the full refund. Have another look tomorrow to see if the robots have caught up with this, but probably you'll be auto-queued for refund at some point.
