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

Old Mar 14, 20, 4:58 pm
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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*

Old May 20, 20, 8:35 am
  #2386  
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Join Date: Jul 2006
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
I'm not sure of any OnBusiness factors, that's all a black box to me. But apart from that, I think you are simply ok for Guideline 1 (Coronovirus Update 3) to simply move everything over in the current cabins. In fact you could only be a few days over the standard Customer Guidelines in normal times. If there are flights to NCE / LYS / MRS / TRN then changes to that should be ok. Under standard guidelines you're only allowed 350 miles, Nice is 430 miles from Paris but that gateway change should currently be allowed and it's a marginal case anyway.
Thanks C-W-S. Your advice is always extremely useful.

I am glad to report that I had zero wait time at the European (Bremen) BA reservation number.
The lady was very friendly and efficient. It took 25 minutes to check with supervisor and so on. But change is free of charge, I keep my F class and changes already appear on my account. Ticket to be reissued in a few days.
Let's now pray that new flights are not cancelled.

With all due respects to some posters, my experience in the past 20 years with BA agents has been consistently good.

EDIT: my eticket was issued a couple of hours later.

Last edited by brunos; May 20, 20 at 9:38 am
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Old May 20, 20, 8:48 am
  #2387  
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: London(ish)
Programs: BA Gold
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So we had a 241 booking to Dubai in F return for early June that has understandably been cancelled.

I know you get 365 days from when you made this booking to rebook without the need for award availability but we were super keen and booked 11 months out.

I think we only have until 7th July this year to travel thus meaning nothing to us as that will be cancelled too.

I just called the Gold Line and they explained I now have 5 months from original flight date to rebook without the need for reward availability.

My questions is. Is that right?

Thanks again all.
eugegall is offline  
Old May 20, 20, 9:18 am
  #2388  
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Bristol
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Posts: 13
September 2019 Travel Agent holiday booking for SIngapore & Bali in July 2020

At the time of booking, we paid for our BA flights (LHR-SIN) and Garuda (SIN-DPS) in full so we could use our Avios to book seats together. Having contacted our TA today to find out what our options are (ideally postpone until similar time next year), they advise any flight changes will incur £350 pp fee + any fare differences. Is this right? If so, guess we will need to wait until -355 days to be able to book the flights and know what the difference in fare will be (we booked in a sale)
Thanks in advance for your advice.
FG
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Old May 20, 20, 9:26 am
  #2389  
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
 
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Originally Posted by eugegall
I just called the Gold Line and they explained I now have 5 months from original flight date to rebook without the need for reward availability.

My questions is. Is that right?
Did you not book this originally in CW? If so, when did you last change the reservation?

If 5 months works for you, I would just book it, unless you have specific dates in mind.
corporate-wage-slave is offline  
Old May 20, 20, 9:30 am
  #2390  
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Originally Posted by Family Guy
they advise any flight changes will incur £350 pp fee + any fare differences. Is this right?
Without knowing the dates involved it's difficult to say. But TAs have access to the same rebooking as BA's own customers, see Wiki, but they may have their own policies on top.
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Old May 20, 20, 9:32 am
  #2391  
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: London(ish)
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
Did you not book this originally in CW? If so, when did you last change the reservation?

If 5 months works for you, I would just book it, unless you have specific dates in mind.
This is a complete different booking. The one you are referring to is the JNB booking that we booked as a backup to the Dubai trip. Since, both have been cancelled.

The original Dubai has had no changes since the booking was made until it was cancelled.
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Old May 20, 20, 9:55 am
  #2392  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: London
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Posts: 4,979
Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
EC261 wasn't written with current circumstances in mind, and to the best of my knowledge there isn't any senior appellate precedent that definitely confirms that you can insist on another airline in this scenario. The Regulation just says "earliest opportunity", which airlines believe means "earliest opportunity on one of our services", whereas many consumers would believe it should be "earliest opportunity on any flight". Until that gets tested at a senior court you can't really rely on this to help you, in my opinion. It's certainly worth a conversation with BA after cancellation to see if they can rig up some codeshare route through for you, but mentioning EC261 won't help.
I might have to test this. In unfortunate position of having a non-cancellable hotel and travel insurance (from very start of the year) that precludes losses due to pandemics / epidemics. And Montenegro is aiming to reopen soon I read. Any other datapoints on rerouting within Europe would be appreciated. Not due to travel until early July so hoping Hilton moves their cut-off point for free cancellation from 30 June...

I see from other threads that BA pulled the route from sale several weeks ago so they haven't exactly acted in good faith by delaying cancelling the flights.
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Old May 20, 20, 10:24 am
  #2393  
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
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Lhr-sin 20/07, sin-dsp 25/07 & dsp-sin-lhr 8/08
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Old May 20, 20, 10:39 am
  #2394  
 
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 1,064
Originally Posted by Family Guy
At the time of booking, we paid for our BA flights (LHR-SIN) and Garuda (SIN-DPS) in full so we could use our Avios to book seats together. Having contacted our TA today to find out what our options are (ideally postpone until similar time next year), they advise any flight changes will incur £350 pp fee + any fare differences. Is this right? If so, guess we will need to wait until -355 days to be able to book the flights and know what the difference in fare will be (we booked in a sale)
Thanks in advance for your advice.
FG
I had an OTA flight that I changed without having to involve the OTA, e.g. i rang BA directly (after my flight was cancelled) and BA changed my flights (for free - they rebooked the seats (as i was silver when i booked too!) - there was no issue with the new date being +355 from the day i purchased the ticket.
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Old May 20, 20, 10:52 am
  #2395  
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Originally Posted by eugegall
This is a complete different booking. The one you are referring to is the JNB booking that we booked as a backup to the Dubai trip. Since, both have been cancelled.

The original Dubai has had no changes since the booking was made until it was cancelled.
Ah ok, yes your other booking was for South Africa. I thought perhaps the reason was explained by the fact that for some reason your tickets were re-issued after your initial booking, which would in turn explain the 5 months. In other words I can't find a logical reason for 5 months, I would take that as a bonus if offered again, but if your ticket is close to expiry it's usually refund or FTV, and FTV would involve repricing.
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Old May 20, 20, 10:56 am
  #2396  
 
Join Date: May 2012
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Apologies if this is already covered upthread but it's got so long I haven't been through it all.

Booked a BA Holiday to JNB (Flight + car) for a friend back in January. Travel date is 9 July. deposit paid, MMB says the balance due tomorrow. Flight not yet cancelled. The "pay three weeks out" appears to only apply to bookings made later in the year.

So - what's my best option? I'm assuming the flights won't run. Do I pay the balance and wait for the flight to be cancelled to get it all back? The help page I get sent to suggests the voucher offer is not open to packages booked before March. I assume if I don't pay in the next few days then I risk losing the booking and the deposit.

Obviously if I do pay the balance and the flights aren't cancelled, then I have to make a choice about going or forfeiting.
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Old May 20, 20, 11:22 am
  #2397  
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Originally Posted by windowontheAside
Apologies if this is already covered upthread but it's got so long I haven't been through it all.

Booked a BA Holiday to JNB (Flight + car) for a friend back in January. Travel date is 9 July. deposit paid, MMB says the balance due tomorrow. Flight not yet cancelled. The "pay three weeks out" appears to only apply to bookings made later in the year.

So - what's my best option? I'm assuming the flights won't run. Do I pay the balance and wait for the flight to be cancelled to get it all back? The help page I get sent to suggests the voucher offer is not open to packages booked before March. I assume if I don't pay in the next few days then I risk losing the booking and the deposit.

Obviously if I do pay the balance and the flights aren't cancelled, then I have to make a choice about going or forfeiting.
The pay three weeks out has been extended to all BA Holidays bookings. From ba.com:
We have reduced the ‘balance due’ date for all new and existing bookings that include a hotel and/or car. Your final balance is now due three weeks prior to your date of travel.
Read back in this thread for the last 2 or 3 days; there has been quite a bit of discussion of Holidays bookings.
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Old May 20, 20, 11:33 am
  #2398  
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Originally Posted by windowontheAside
Booked a BA Holiday to JNB (Flight + car) for a friend back in January. Travel date is 9 July. deposit paid, MMB says the balance due tomorrow. Flight not yet cancelled. The "pay three weeks out" appears to only apply to bookings made later in the year.
As Jerry rightly points out it is indeed 3 weeks. I would look to make a decision about 23 days to departure, and call BA Holidays if you don't get an email from them anyway. This is standard advice that I think applies to all BAH bookings with travel beore 1 August 2020, regardless of when book or whether any money is actually due.
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Old May 20, 20, 12:10 pm
  #2399  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Ipswich
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Ok, thanks corporate-wage-slave and jerry a. laska.

Apologies for not reading back first. I'll do that now.

It's a shame they haven't managed to update MMB or the help links they sent out with the change in policy. I will set a new reminder for 23 days.
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Old May 20, 20, 12:29 pm
  #2400  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 443
Originally Posted by Hawk777
Finally after a couple of weeks we have had some clarification 're vouchers and use.

Q - Customer has called and the booking has been processed for voucher issue. Can they now get a refund?
A - No, once the itinerary has been cancelled through the voucher process, the customer is no longer eligible for a refund
Is this still the case? I canceled a redemption online and it automatically generated a voucher (which I don't want).

This is pretty nonsensical. With phone times exceeding several hours, the only practical way to cancel the booking was online.

Last edited by slice; May 20, 20 at 1:21 pm
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