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.
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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*
#271
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: London, ARN, HEL, ..... or MAN
Programs: BA GGL / GFL, Mucci Diamond!, HH Diamond, Radisson Premium, IHG Gold, Hertz Gold
Posts: 5,893
If you booked with Avios, you should be able to cancel for just a £35 fee as long as you cancel more than 24 hours before departure.
#272
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
Voucher on Avios Bookings
just spoke to a friend who works in duty desk in Warrington office (Where redemption calls are taken)
and he said that Avios bookings are being held pts not returned and vouchers not being issued they are being held under current booking reference number like they do when bookings are held for medical reasons, and pax call up to rebook new dates and quote the current ref number.
just spoke to a friend who works in duty desk in Warrington office (Where redemption calls are taken)
and he said that Avios bookings are being held pts not returned and vouchers not being issued they are being held under current booking reference number like they do when bookings are held for medical reasons, and pax call up to rebook new dates and quote the current ref number.
#273
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: DEN
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 3
The general advice is to wait and see if your flight is cancelled. If your flight is cancelled, then you are entitled to a full refund. If you want to cancel a booking where the flights are still technically operating then you can either (1) cancel and pay the GBP35 redeposit fee -- you will be refunded your avios and taxes and surcharges, less the GBP35, or (2) fill out the voucher form and receive the voucher. This ends up being the same advice that has been previously provided.
#274
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: 63,780
and he said that Avios bookings are being held pts not returned and vouchers not being issued they are being held under current booking reference number like they do when bookings are held for medical reasons, and pax call up to rebook new dates and quote the current ref number.
#275
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Juneau, Alaska.
Programs: AS 75K;BA Silver;AA G;HH Dia;HY Glob
Posts: 15,812
However, your option (1) appears to no longer be possible. I want to cancel an Avios booking that I have for June and get the Avios, taxes, and surcharges refunded (less the redeposit fee). When I go into my Avios booking and select "Cancellation options for this booking" I get taken to the "Future Travel Voucher Application" form, there is no option at all to get a refund. This doesn't seem right for an Avios booking, per the terms and conditions attached to the booking. Thanks for any insight on this issue.
#276
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: 63,780
However, your option (1) appears to no longer be possible. I want to cancel an Avios booking that I have for June and get the Avios, taxes, and surcharges refunded (less the redeposit fee). When I go into my Avios booking and select "Cancellation options for this booking" I get taken to the "Future Travel Voucher Application" form, there is no option at all to get a refund. This doesn't seem right for an Avios booking, per the terms and conditions attached to the booking. Thanks for any insight on this issue.
http://www.britishairways.com/travel..._ticket_refund
Because of the published Conditions of Carriage I think it is safe to use this form if it is an Avios booking and you're ok to pay the redeposit fee. Don't forget to take screenshots.
#277
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: 63,780
And we have a new Customer Guideline - this time for Egypt, Albania, Austria and Cyprus. Same as the USA one (and many other places too) - for flights that operate rather than cancelled.
- part flown bookings can return as soon as possible
- rebooking to 1 August, possibly involving a fare difference in some cases, but no change fee. For Egypt the rebooking period is 1 April to 1 August,Albania and Austria the start is 30 March, Cyprus is 1 May to 1 August
- 12 month eVoucher instead of rebooking.
All above are Update 1.
- part flown bookings can return as soon as possible
- rebooking to 1 August, possibly involving a fare difference in some cases, but no change fee. For Egypt the rebooking period is 1 April to 1 August,Albania and Austria the start is 30 March, Cyprus is 1 May to 1 August
- 12 month eVoucher instead of rebooking.
All above are Update 1.
#278
Join Date: Apr 2014
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 397
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 £35pp 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.
Sounds like I just need to wait and then go for the voucher or wait until BA cancel the flight.
As I understand it, if I get the voucher, then there still needs to be award availability to reschedule.
If BA cancel, then I can reschedule even if there is no award availability, is that right?
Final question, if I go for the voucher, is it valid for 12 months from the date of the original flight (6th April 2020), or when I apply for the voucher?
Thanks again.
#279
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: 63,780
As I understand it, if I get the voucher, then there still needs to be award availability to reschedule.
If BA cancel, then I can reschedule even if there is no award availability, is that right?
Final question, if I go for the voucher, is it valid for 12 months from the date of the original flight (6th April 2020), or when I apply for the voucher?
If BA cancel, then I can reschedule even if there is no award availability, is that right?
Final question, if I go for the voucher, is it valid for 12 months from the date of the original flight (6th April 2020), or when I apply for the voucher?
#280
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Somerset
Programs: BA Gold, Mucci des Transports de Navette
Posts: 270
Another Data Point for you.
I had a BA holidays booking for for car only in Maui. I have had an email saying that have had to cancel the booking and will refund the full amount in the next 7 days.
I had a BA holidays booking for for car only in Maui. I have had an email saying that have had to cancel the booking and will refund the full amount in the next 7 days.
#281
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 1,624
My F booking for DEN on thur has completely vanished now from my bookings...
#282
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Frozen north
Programs: BAEC Silver, HiltonH
Posts: 49
We have a BA Holidays booking to Bermuda for Sunday 22 March which, owing to their recent quarantine restrictions we felt obliged to pull out of. I completed the online evoucher request form yesterday as there was no option to cancel, given that the flights were still operating. However, I was very relieved to receive an email from BA just now advising that they were no longer in a position to offer the holiday and would be cancelling the whole package and refunding my credit card. Oh joy! Such a relief as it is not an insignificant amount for me and I would feel happier with the money in my hand rather than a voucher!
Thank you BA!
Thank you BA!
#283
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: 63,780
That's good to hear, but for anyone else, it's best not to go for the eVouchers too early, 48 hours is the deadline for BA Holidays and it's best to go fairly close to that deadline since BA is clearly cancelling flights / working with ABE concentrating on the next few days at the moment.
#284
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 59
It should have been in the original booking documentation, but I would guess at this stage it is not changeable. However if the flight is cancelled then you'll get the full amount returned, cash or eVoucher. As with all the advice here, do this just before the T-48 deadline for BA Holiday bookings, follow the advice about screenshots, and do it after checking to see if the flights are still running.
#285
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 35
Process
For those who are worried... Don't be
There is a very manual process behind all of this. Tens of thousands of PNRs to work through presently.
Requests being worked through 1 day at a time...
Hence no correlation to travel date.
There is a very manual process behind all of this. Tens of thousands of PNRs to work through presently.
Requests being worked through 1 day at a time...
Hence no correlation to travel date.