Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > British Airways | Executive Club
Reload this Page >

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

Community
Wiki Posts
Search
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.
Print Wikipost

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

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Mar 17, 2020, 3:08 am
  #331  
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: KOI
Programs: BA
Posts: 309
Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
Keep trying, maybe drop a DM via Twitter too. People clearly are getting through to the Contact Centres eventually. You have a good reason to call, I'm guessing MMB won't offer anything helpful since I imagine it's a complex trip. If you do call, have a think about a realistic date in the future which may work for you just in case that's more palatable than a part refund.
UPDATE: Since she is flying from KUL and BA only have 1 flight daily from KUL, I got her to call the helpline in MY. She got through within 10 minutes and secured a refund on the taxes. Tip for anyone else, if possible, do not call the helpline in the UK if possible.
alvinlwh is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2020, 3:32 am
  #332  
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: UK
Programs: Virgin Flying Club Red, Emirates Skywards Blue, BA Executive Club Blue, Amex BA
Posts: 2,382
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advise against all but essential travel to all of Malaysia, due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and in line with restrictions imposed by the Malaysian government that will come into effect on 18 March 2020.
So will BA give me a full monetary refund now, or only vouchers?
GodAtum is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2020, 3:40 am
  #333  
 
Join Date: Mar 2020
Posts: 47
Is anyone else seeing an e-voucher request when trying to cancel an avios redemption booking? I thought these types of bookings would follow the normal process and would be fully automated and would redeposit Avios back to my account.
HP28 is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2020, 3:46 am
  #334  
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: London
Programs: Mucci (Scirocco Sash), BAEC Gold, IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 864
Has anyone encountered this scenario? I have a future booking this Saturday 21 March (on BA4462 LCY-DUB) is showing as cancelled in the BA app, but when I go to MMB online it is not showing as cancelled – so I can’t go in and select my preferred option (which is refund). The flight is showing as cancelled on Expertflyer.

Keen to avoid taking up unnecessary call centre time, particularly as I am not looking to reschedule (if I could even get through in the first place); is it a safe option to do nothing at this point and assume MMB will catch up between now and the flight? Or will I just be automatically refunded in due course without having to do anything?
daftboy is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2020, 4:16 am
  #335  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 1,736
I have an avios booking to USA on 2nd April (not to one of the 13 transit airports and I am a UK citizen). It is still not showing as cancelled. They have cancelled the associated car booking and refunded. I know that I can cancel and pay a small fee, however I have been sitting it out waiting for BA to cancel to avoid a fee. Any idea how long it is likely to be ?
Barnaby100 is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2020, 4:27 am
  #336  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Singapore
Programs: BA Gold. KrisFlyer Gold
Posts: 732
Originally Posted by HP28
Is anyone else seeing an e-voucher request when trying to cancel an avios redemption booking? I thought these types of bookings would follow the normal process and would be fully automated and would redeposit Avios back to my account.
Yes, same for me. It now means I need to call in to get the refund (these are for flights that BA have cancelled, not ones I'm choosing not to fly on but that are still scheduled).

I think I'll wait until closer to the departure date rather than clogging up the phone lines right now.
crazyanglaisy is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2020, 4:53 am
  #337  
 
Join Date: Mar 2020
Posts: 47
Originally Posted by crazyanglaisy
Yes, same for me. It now means I need to call in to get the refund (these are for flights that BA have cancelled, not ones I'm choosing not to fly on but that are still scheduled).

I think I'll wait until closer to the departure date rather than clogging up the phone lines right now.
yes, I’ve just submitted the request. I was hoping the Avios would redeposit automatically like normal so that I could book a new redemption

Last edited by HP28; Mar 17, 2020 at 4:59 am
HP28 is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2020, 5:34 am
  #338  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 1,736
Just seen that there is no option to cancel my avios booking online.
Barnaby100 is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2020, 5:38 am
  #339  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 140
I have had an email from BA saying we need to speak to you about a flight in mid May. This obviously conflicts with understandable request to only call in if flight is in next 72 hours so I will ignore it for now.

I assume it has come from an automated IT process that it is too difficult to temporarily disable!
HSR1234 is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2020, 5:41 am
  #340  
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 67
Question time and have been reading on/off and don't recall seeing this.

Outbound flight to Sofia just got cancelled, though return two days later still showing as flying.

Q1. If I go through the refund path from button in app does it also refund the other flight in the same booking?
Q2. The buttons say refund/voucher but ends up on a webpage inside the app that only gives voucher option. How to get to the refund page?

The voucher would probably work, but better to get the cash back for flexibility as had already booked rest of years flights (some more of which are likely to end up cancelled so don't want to be in scenario of having to use or lose the voucher before it expires.
FlyingGarden is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2020, 5:46 am
  #341  
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: antwerp Belgium
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 183
I was just on the phone with BA in Belgium. I told her I applied for the voucher and she said to me it could take 72 hours up to 5 days before you get the mail with the voucher. She also told me when you apply for the voucher you do not have to cancel your booking. I was flying to Delhi tomorrow and applied for the voucher 2 days ago. I hope it is useful for somebody too.
scubadave is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2020, 6:02 am
  #342  
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Oxford (&Western Isles )
Programs: BA GGL, CCR; RyanAir MillionMiler :( ;
Posts: 756
Originally Posted by Barnaby100
Just seen that there is no option to cancel my avios booking online.
same here - and then i tried to use the Refund Form linked to by CWS upthread. I think there is a (deliberate?) bug now that the email field doesnt think it has been completed, when it has. so it is impossibly to submit the form.

Managed to get through on phone lines and helpful and cheery person sorted the cancel/refund in 2 mins.
wanderingjock is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2020, 6:11 am
  #343  
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,334
Originally Posted by KARFA
Sorry, do you mean if your flight is cancelled and you ask for a full cash refund how long does it take?

the voucher relates more to where the flight isn’t cancelled but you don’t want to take the flight anymore.
My apologies for my lack of clarity.

I have a US booking, I'm expecting it to be cancelled, and am waiting for that time so that I can re book/change without charge. If, once cancelled, I do nothing, I assume that the default is a credit back to your payment method. How long do you have to make the new booking/changes to existing before the "system" credits your payment card?

This may have been answered elsewhere but I couldn't find it.
mclachlan4321 is online now  
Old Mar 17, 2020, 6:15 am
  #344  
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,992
Originally Posted by mclachlan4321
My apologies for my lack of clarity.

I have a US booking, I'm expecting it to be cancelled, and am waiting for that time so that I can re book/change without charge. If, once cancelled, I do nothing, I assume that the default is a credit back to your payment method. How long do you have to make the new booking/changes to existing before the "system" credits your payment card?

This may have been answered elsewhere but I couldn't find it.
If you do nothing I am not sure what happens - I wouldn't recommend doing nothing.

If your flight is cancelled you need to choose to rebook for a different date or get a full cash refund back to the payment method you originally used. You will have the money back so you can make a new booking with that money whenever you want.

Your alternative option would be to apply for the voucher which can be done even if your flight has not been cancelled. For this choice you will have a voucher of the value equivalent to how much your booking cost. I understand you need to use it for a booking within 12 months of the original booking.
KARFA is online now  
Old Mar 17, 2020, 6:26 am
  #345  
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: 63,855
Originally Posted by wanderingjock
same here - and then i tried to use the Refund Form linked to by CWS upthread. I think there is a (deliberate?) bug now that the email field doesnt think it has been completed, when it has. so it is impossibly to submit the form.
How annoying.

Has anyone else been able to submit this form? I wonder if the UK versus USA version works better?
[To be clear: only use this form if you don't want to call AND there is statutory or Conditions of Carriage protection, so where BA has cancelled flights OR Avios redemptions more that 24 hours from departure, and take loads of screenshots with time/date stamps]

USA:
https://www.britishairways.com/trave..._ticket_refund

UK:
https://www.britishairways.com/trave..._ticket_refund
wanderingjock likes this.
corporate-wage-slave is online now  


Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.