Mar 14, 2020, 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, 2020, 2:18 pm
#286
Join Date: Apr 2019
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 228
I booked some flights for my daughter and her Boyfriend to go to Berlin on the 3rd April (They were originally meant to go to Rome, which was cancelled in the lockdown, silly me for rebooking). At the moment it's not showing as cancelled.
Was booked on a standard (reward flight saver) (32,000 avois and Ł2)
Says restricted refund.
I was looking at whether to cancel or not, but can't tell whether I will get the avois back or not, as don't want to press the cancel option and not see what the refund offer is. Shall I just wait for BA to cancel, or does anyone know what this means for the cancellation policy?
Was booked on a standard (reward flight saver) (32,000 avois and Ł2)
Says restricted refund.
I was looking at whether to cancel or not, but can't tell whether I will get the avois back or not, as don't want to press the cancel option and not see what the refund offer is. Shall I just wait for BA to cancel, or does anyone know what this means for the cancellation policy?
Mar 16, 2020, 2:22 pm
#287
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: 63,766
The standard cancellation on that is a full refund of the Avios and you lose the Ł2, nothing to do with the current situation. You probably don't want the eVoucher option, but if you are 101% sure they won't be travelling then you may as well cancel. Have a look at the main Avios sticky on the front page of the forum, but in essence covid-19 or otherwise, you won't lose your Avios so long as you cancel 24 hours before the first flight.
Mar 16, 2020, 2:43 pm
#288
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Devon, England
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum
Posts: 66
PNR updated to show flights don’t meet MCT when in fact flight cancelled?
I have a complex tier point run booked, starting tomorrow, CDG-LHR-HEL-JFK-LAX-SAN with same routing for the return. Finnair announced on 12th March the AY6 (booked as BA6006) for 24th March, my return flight, has been cancelled but was still showing in MMB as not cancelled. Then BA removed the last sector and edited the PNR to say MCT was not met, yet I had a 3hr 10min layover so plenty of time to transfer from LHR T3 to T5 on 25th March. The flight status page shows the BA316 LHR-CDG has been cancelled so why was the sector just removed? This was booked with a TA and they are in the dark as I am as to how to get a refund. I just called the Gold Line and they said to call 0906 706 0010 a premium rate number. Is this for real? Please can anyone suggest a solution here?
Mar 16, 2020, 2:44 pm
#289
Join Date: Jan 2000
Programs: UA 1k, AA EXPLT, NZ GE, VA PLT Hyatt Diam, Marr Plat, HH Diam
Posts: 3,445
A general comment on the voucher vs refund discussions occurring on various threads and boards. I’m not versed in BA’s blanket policies on refunds for cancelled flights, but if it’s similar to typical practice, then a cancelled flight entitles one to a full refund to original form of purchase. The airlines are going to be encouraging pax to be taking a voucher and will be using carefully crafted wording to make you believe that’s your only option.
If other airlines are an indicator, I expect BA will , within the next week, announce cancellation of a majority of their flights. BA keep sending me emails saying that my flights are still planned to operate, but that I can cancel now and apply the flight value to a voucher and once that voucher is issued, it’s generally non-refundable. Smart thinking on their part with their numberous emails trying to get me to convert to a voucher now, in advance of cancelling. But, I’m waiting until they cancel the flights I know they'll be cancelling so that I can get refunded rather than prematurely accepting a voucher.
Pax will need to stand their ground and be assertive in the face of the airlines and their agents wanting to issue vouchers when maybe you would prefer a refund.
If other airlines are an indicator, I expect BA will , within the next week, announce cancellation of a majority of their flights. BA keep sending me emails saying that my flights are still planned to operate, but that I can cancel now and apply the flight value to a voucher and once that voucher is issued, it’s generally non-refundable. Smart thinking on their part with their numberous emails trying to get me to convert to a voucher now, in advance of cancelling. But, I’m waiting until they cancel the flights I know they'll be cancelling so that I can get refunded rather than prematurely accepting a voucher.
Pax will need to stand their ground and be assertive in the face of the airlines and their agents wanting to issue vouchers when maybe you would prefer a refund.
Mar 16, 2020, 2:57 pm
#290
Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club, easyJet and Ryanair
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: UK/Las Vegas
Programs: BA Gold (GGL/CCR)
Posts: 15,922
I have a complex tier point run booked, starting tomorrow, CDG-LHR-HEL-JFK-LAX-SAN with same routing for the return. Finnair announced on 12th March the AY6 (booked as BA6006) for 24th March, my return flight, has been cancelled but was still showing in MMB as not cancelled. Then BA removed the last sector and edited the PNR to say MCT was not met, yet I had a 3hr 10min layover so plenty of time to transfer from LHR T3 to T5 on 25th March. The flight status page shows the BA316 LHR-CDG has been cancelled so why was the sector just removed? This was booked with a TA and they are in the dark as I am as to how to get a refund. I just called the Gold Line and they said to call 0906 706 0010 a premium rate number. Is this for real? Please can anyone suggest a solution here?
Mar 16, 2020, 3:19 pm
#291
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: 63,766
Mar 16, 2020, 3:25 pm
#292
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 907
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.
sorry!
Mar 16, 2020, 3:34 pm
#293
Join Date: Aug 2019
Programs: BAEC Gold (1w Emerald), United Platinum (*G), Marriott Plat Elite
Posts: 352
I'm supposed to fly to Tenerife this Friday (standalone flight w/ BA, NO HOLIDAYS) but w/ Spain on lockdown + FCO advising not to travel I'm looking to refund - I called BA and they mentioned the voucher might be the best despite the FCO advising against non-essential travel.
I booked non-refundable Y fare w/ AMEX - should I take the voucher or dispute the charge?
I booked non-refundable Y fare w/ AMEX - should I take the voucher or dispute the charge?
Last edited by jaro; Mar 16, 2020 at 3:44 pm
Mar 16, 2020, 3:36 pm
#294
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Juneau, Alaska.
Programs: AS 75K;BA Silver;AA G;HH Dia;HY Glob
Posts: 15,810
In regards to FCO and other travel advice: All but essential.
For example:
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/usa
For example:
The FCO advise against all but essential travel to the USA, due to restrictions put in place by the US government with effect from 03:59 GMT 17 March in response to the outbreak of coronavirus (Covid-19) (Summary and Entry Requirements)
Mar 16, 2020, 3:46 pm
#295
Join Date: Oct 2018
Programs: BA GGL, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 302
Booked onto BA2237 tomorrow LGW-SJO. We have 2x reward tickets in J and 1x paid but non-flex-fare in J. We're already checked in but CR have just notified border closures and expect FCO guidance to change in the morning. Currently looks like the flight is heavily delayed due to the aircraft flying it (LGW-LAS-LGW) being diverted to SFO.
Since we're already checked in and < 24 hours - what are the options here? Normally Avios cancellation would lose the Avios at this point - does the "voucher" apply here and offer any benefit? Would we be eligible for the "voucher" on the paid fare at such short notice - or is that also only up to certain time?
The return SJO-LGW BA2236 has had availability zeroed for a few days. Best case here I think is everything is cancelled or delayed >5hr and we can do a full refund - failing that any recommendations on best options to maximise fees paid, Avios refund and the fare-paying one?
As an aside earlier on we had an Avios booking (in WTP) on the same flight. This got cancelled at about T-22Hr as we couldn't cancel at T-24 due to app showing no bookings and failings. Do you think any chance of Avios back for this as well?
Since we're already checked in and < 24 hours - what are the options here? Normally Avios cancellation would lose the Avios at this point - does the "voucher" apply here and offer any benefit? Would we be eligible for the "voucher" on the paid fare at such short notice - or is that also only up to certain time?
The return SJO-LGW BA2236 has had availability zeroed for a few days. Best case here I think is everything is cancelled or delayed >5hr and we can do a full refund - failing that any recommendations on best options to maximise fees paid, Avios refund and the fare-paying one?
As an aside earlier on we had an Avios booking (in WTP) on the same flight. This got cancelled at about T-22Hr as we couldn't cancel at T-24 due to app showing no bookings and failings. Do you think any chance of Avios back for this as well?
Mar 16, 2020, 3:50 pm
#296
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
Booked onto BA2237 tomorrow LGW-SJO. We have 2x reward tickets in J and 1x paid but non-flex-fare in J. We're already checked in but CR have just notified border closures and expect FCO guidance to change in the morning. Currently looks like the flight is heavily delayed due to the aircraft flying it (LGW-LAS-LGW) being diverted to SFO.
Since we're already checked in and < 24 hours - what are the options here? Normally Avios cancellation would lose the Avios at this point - does the "voucher" apply here and offer any benefit? Would we be eligible for the "voucher" on the paid fare at such short notice - or is that also only up to certain time?
The return SJO-LGW BA2236 has had availability zeroed for a few days. Best case here I think is everything is cancelled or delayed >5hr and we can do a full refund - failing that any recommendations on best options to maximise fees paid, Avios refund and the fare-paying one?
As an aside earlier on we had an Avios booking (in WTP) on the same flight. This got cancelled at about T-22Hr as we couldn't cancel at T-24 due to app showing no bookings and failings. Do you think any chance of Avios back for this as well?
Since we're already checked in and < 24 hours - what are the options here? Normally Avios cancellation would lose the Avios at this point - does the "voucher" apply here and offer any benefit? Would we be eligible for the "voucher" on the paid fare at such short notice - or is that also only up to certain time?
The return SJO-LGW BA2236 has had availability zeroed for a few days. Best case here I think is everything is cancelled or delayed >5hr and we can do a full refund - failing that any recommendations on best options to maximise fees paid, Avios refund and the fare-paying one?
As an aside earlier on we had an Avios booking (in WTP) on the same flight. This got cancelled at about T-22Hr as we couldn't cancel at T-24 due to app showing no bookings and failings. Do you think any chance of Avios back for this as well?
BA2277 LGW-LAS
Diverted to SFO, due to customer illness on board, clearance required by senior official.
Plan is to disembark call customers and go through screening and than fuel and go depending on crew limitations.
Mar 16, 2020, 3:55 pm
#297
Join Date: Oct 2018
Programs: BA GGL, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 302
Thanks Hawk.
Any idea why BA2236 is showing zero availability?
Any idea why BA2236 is showing zero availability?
Mar 16, 2020, 4:19 pm
#299
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Devon, England
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum
Posts: 66
Mar 16, 2020, 4:22 pm
#300
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: 63,766