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Covid-19 BA Rebooking/Cancellation/Refund HELP & ADVICE *No Speculation etc*

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Old Mar 14, 2020, 4:58 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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:
  • 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.

Paid Seating Refund:
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.
How to find out the status of your voucher and the amount it contains Future Travel Vouchers versus eVouchers
  • See posts 3052 and 3151 to understand the difference. FTVs cannot be used online (and are not really vouchers), whereas eVouchers, issued for simple bookings, can be used online.
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Covid-19 BA Rebooking/Cancellation/Refund HELP & ADVICE *No Speculation etc*

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Old Mar 16, 2020, 8:43 am
  #226  
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, VS Gold
Posts: 398
Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
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).
I have a LHR-JFK outbound on 21st March and PHL-LHR 27th March inbound booking (same/one ticket). I am hanging on to see if it gets cancelled later this week. The JFK flight might operate but I'm pretty sure the PHL won't and its been zeroed out on Expert Flyer and is not showing on BA.com if I try to book it (BA66) - however if they don't officially cancel that flight until after my outbound then I'll have to go down the voucher route won't I?
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Old Mar 16, 2020, 8:46 am
  #227  
 
Join Date: May 2017
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 273
Firstly, thanks to everyone who has provided such great advice so far!

I have a BA holidays booking to Chicago over the Easter weekend. I had planned to sit tight until the week of departure.

Yesterday, I got the email saying I'd be refunded.

Today, I got an email to say that the flight was due to go ahead, but that I could apply for the voucher.

As far as I can tell, the trip is still available to book via Holiday Finder, just for Ł200 more per person than I paid!

Any thoughts as to what I should do, if anything? I guess I'll know in the next week if the refund is issued. I doubt that the trip will happen so I don't mind the refund - although if by some miracle it does go ahead, it'd be frustrating to have to pay more for it!

Thanks!
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Old Mar 16, 2020, 8:49 am
  #228  
 
Join Date: Mar 2020
Programs: BA Gold, BA Amex, Flyingblue Silver
Posts: 28
Originally Posted by stephenjc
Sorry, but I'm still not 100% clear on the voucher and Avios 241 bookings.

We are scheduled to go to Tokyo on April 6th in First using a 241. The 241 voucher would expire on April 30th 2020 if not used.

If I cancel using the standard process, I'd lose Ł35pp, but wouldn't be able to change the dates beyond April 30th.

If I take the voucher option, do I basically get to F seats at my date of choosing?

Ideally, we still want to go to Japan, but at a later date. I don't want to call BA as I'm not 3 days away from flying, but when I tried to change the dates online, I couldn't and MMB stated I'd have to call.

Would appreciate some advice please.
You can take the voucher and it can be used for travel for up to 12 months when rebooking. Avios Availability would be needed to rebook the seats. If you cancel you will be charged the Ł35pp but get the cash + avios back plus you get the 241 voucher back but the expiry date will still be the same. So a case would then need to made to extend the 241 voucher end date there is nothing official on them being extended yet. I took the evoucher option as I thought its the best option as you can still effectively get to use the 241 voucher in the same way with the option to rebook out to 12 months. Only restriction is that Avios availability is needed to rebook.
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Old Mar 16, 2020, 8:50 am
  #229  
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 152
Originally Posted by samfrost93
Hi there,

I'm flying LHR -> MIA 22 April on BA1528 (operated by AA). This is outside of the 30 day US travel ban, yet I've just received an email from BA to say:

As you may already be aware, your travel dates and destination have been affected by measures introduced in response to coronavirus COVID-19. We are sorry to advise that this means we are unable to provide your British Airways Holidays arrangements as originally booked.We will be processing a full refund of your British Airways Holidays.

This will be returned to your original payment card within the next 7 days, but may take a few more days to show on your statement. We will endeavour to process the refund sooner than this but due to the unprecedented volumes of affected bookings it will take some time to work through these. Thank you for your understanding. Until the refund is processed the booking will display as live in Manage My Booking. If you have already been in touch to arrange alternative plans, these will remain in place.

I'm a little bit confused as I'm outside the 30 day travel ban, and the flights are still available online.

Could someone please provide some advice? I don't want to change hotel dates if it's possible we can still fly at the moment.
UPDATE: New email from BA to say the initial one was sent in error. Classic! I should've known...
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Old Mar 16, 2020, 8:51 am
  #230  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 44
My parents are visiting me in the USA at the moment, they have flown LHR-DEN and have a DEN-LHR 'scheduled' on April 5th (same booking)

MMB says currently that the flight is scheduled to operate normally, but obviously with the fast changing situation I am not so sure. Before we call BA (there are others with situations far more urgent) will they have options to get home earlier? I know BA have a duty of care here but even they are limited as to what they can do. It looks like the BA218/219 rotations are starting to get cancelled from tomorrow.

They are retired and have nothing pressing to get home to, but I am worried that this could be months of disruption (and putting them beyond the 90 days they can stay in the US)
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Old Mar 16, 2020, 8:52 am
  #231  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
Originally Posted by NickRe2000
My parents are visiting me in the USA at the moment, they have flown LHR-DEN and have a DEN-LHR 'scheduled' on April 5th (same booking)

MMB says currently that the flight is scheduled to operate normally, but obviously with the fast changing situation I am not so sure. Before we call BA (there are others with situations far more urgent) will they have options to get home earlier? I know BA have a duty of care here but even they are limited as to what they can do. It looks like the BA218/219 rotations are starting to get cancelled from tomorrow.

They are retired and have nothing pressing to get home to, but I am worried that this could be months of disruption (and putting them beyond the 90 days they can stay in the US)
until if/when the flight is cancelled they can have a free change of flight but the fare difference if any has to be paid but the actual change fee is waived
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Old Mar 16, 2020, 8:56 am
  #232  
Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club, easyJet and Ryanair
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: UK/Las Vegas
Programs: BA Gold (GGL/CCR)
Posts: 15,914
Originally Posted by Mikey07
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?
If you click on the red link in your reservation you will see that your flight isn't actually cancelled at this stage, although it almost certainly will cancel before the scheduled departure.

You should be able to rebook all the flights for a future date and likely without any additional charge. If you do not wish to do that you can request the voucher (see up-thread) for the full amount and use that for any future bookings to any BA destination.

If you are after a full cash refund then you will need to wait until any one of the flights in your reservation is actually cancelled. The link in MMB will show the cancelled flights in red but with a strike-through: BA0275 to Las Vegas
Mikey07 likes this.
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Old Mar 16, 2020, 9:05 am
  #233  
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: ZRH
Programs: LH SEN, BAEC Bronze, S7 Приоритет, TrueBlue
Posts: 164
I have a booking where the return flight has been cancelled.


When clicking on "Cancel and refund flight(s)" in MMB I am taken to the eVoucher page ... can I assume that this is a temporary glitch in the system? I would hesitate to confirm the eVoucher request page as I would prefer a full refund for both legs.

Last edited by ParisMoskau; Mar 16, 2020 at 9:07 am Reason: Screenshot messed up
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Old Mar 16, 2020, 9:05 am
  #234  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 44
Originally Posted by Hawk777
until if/when the flight is cancelled they can have a free change of flight but the fare difference if any has to be paid but the actual change fee is waived
Thanks - sounds like the best advice financially is to sit tight and see what develops. Leaning towards flying them home at cost tomorrow
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Old Mar 16, 2020, 9:06 am
  #235  
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: KOI
Programs: BA
Posts: 309
Advice needed:
Wife is due to fly back on the return leg of an open jaw on BA34 on 18 Mar.
Malaysia is now banning all exit of its citizens wef 18 Mar.
BA lines are completely blocked, how do I contact them to cancel her booking?

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...vid19-12543454

"From Mar 18 to Mar 31, all Malaysians are prohibited from leaving the country."
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Old Mar 16, 2020, 9:09 am
  #236  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: London
Programs: Sir Ratechaser Seigneur de la Patience d'un Saint (Mucci), BA Silver, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 2,539
Not that urgent but would appreciate advice:

We have a BA Holidays package booked for MIA in August - Flights/Hotels/Car. Currently paid Ł450 deposit with another Ł8000ish balance due in July. Mrs RC is already of the view that it's not viable/sensible to go ahead, even if borders and Mouse-land have reopened by then. More than happy to make the call (not right now obviously) and cancel, and lose the Ł450, but I've also used 100k Avios upgrading the inbound leg from WTP to CW for the 4 of us. I'd rather like them back - we can debate separately whether they will really be worth much in the post COVID world... Can I get them refunded, i.e. downgrade back to WTP, before cancelling the trip as a whole?

thanks
RC
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Old Mar 16, 2020, 9:12 am
  #237  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Home Counties, UK
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 537
Originally Posted by Shingi
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.
Oh WOW, I have just received an email to say that “the total amount to be refunded has been allocated bank to the individual bank account” and I have been fully compensated, nothing lost at all. Well done BA. I shall make a donation to Help The Aged and book exactly the same holiday for next year but not just yet. I am really chuffed.
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Old Mar 16, 2020, 9:30 am
  #238  
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL & CCR, GFL
Posts: 494
Originally Posted by Hawk777
until if/when the flight is cancelled they can have a free change of flight but the fare difference if any has to be paid but the actual change fee is waived
I think update 6 negates the need to pay a fare difference? It did with mine back from JFK.

*For part-flown customers who want to return as soon as possible*

Rebook onto an alternative British Airways service for travel as early as possible

Rebook without charge into the same class as original or lowest available in the same cabin
AdBoy is online now  
Old Mar 16, 2020, 9:53 am
  #239  
dnw
 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 5,398
On Friday* I could have cancelled my 10th April Avios 2for1 Club booking to Miami online for immediate refund. Today, that option has been removed and the only option is to "call us to find out what your options are", which directs to a page advising not to call until 72 hours before... so now I have to wait over 3 weeks to get my (aprox Ł1,350) back...?

The decision is either a) illogical, because it increases call volumes at a busy time when not necessary or b) perfectly logical (for BA) as cash is king and they get to hold on to mine for another 25 days...

*hindsight is a wonderful thing
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Old Mar 16, 2020, 9:54 am
  #240  
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Some where in the Mountains
Posts: 5,346
Originally Posted by NickRe2000
Thanks - sounds like the best advice financially is to sit tight and see what develops. Leaning towards flying them home at cost tomorrow
I'm sticking with this advice for the time being. I received the following email from BA this morning. (Edited to shorten the full content.) I have my doubts that my April 16th SFO-ORD-LHR flight will take place.

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 London on 16 April 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.
toadman is offline  


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