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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 Mar 17, 20, 7:58 am
  #361  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: London
Programs: Sir Ratechaser Seigneur de la Patience d'un Saint (Mucci), BA Silver, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 2,175
Originally Posted by HFHFFlyer
HMG has just stated that UK citizens should now avoid all non essential travel abroad for 30 days. This could be extended.
Would be very interested to know what that actually means re right to cancel and get refunds for any bookings anywhere ex-UK for the next month...
ratechaser is online now  
Old Mar 17, 20, 7:59 am
  #362  
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: UK
Programs: MUCCI, British Airways Executive Club Gold
Posts: 1,758
Originally Posted by ratechaser
Would be very interested to know what that actually means re right to cancel and get refunds for any bookings anywhere ex-UK for the next month...
BA are still refusing refunds for imminent travel that is still shown as operating.
tom139 is offline  
Old Mar 17, 20, 8:00 am
  #363  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: UK
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 721
Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
Maybe there is something in the general exclusions. At least one major insurer (M&S Bank) has on their website a note that though they advise respecting ABE and will cover cancellation costs, they would still cover people if they went ahead and travelled to an ABE location. M&S is actially an Aviva policy so it may not be the only exception.
https://bank.marksandspencer.com/pdf...navirusFAQ.pdf
further update.
I talked to our insurers again this morning to gain clarification. Ive now been told that our medical cover is and always has been valid and the information I had been given by them yesterday was incorrect. Grrrrrrrrrr......... Also that I am covered for costs to get home from London. They have asked me to raise a formal complaint in writing and raise a claim.

I also finally managed to get through to Avios. I have to say they have been very reasonable. Full refund of fees and avios. They have also extended Lloyds upgrade vouchers by 6 months. One of the vouchers used expired in May last year, so it has gone. But the other voucher had an original expiry at end of October, so it is now good until end of April.
Despite not being on holiday in the US for the next 10 weeks, I think Ive got as good an outcome as I could have expected.
thanks to all for input, particularly CWS!
zanderblue is offline  
Old Mar 17, 20, 8:17 am
  #364  
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: clue is in the nym
Programs: BA Gold, TP Gold, VS Gold, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 690
Originally Posted by AJBChina
Thanks for the suggestion. I couldn't access the form using ba.com/confidence whether logged into my BAEC account or not. But it worked using an incognito window - no idea why that should be so, but hopefully others will find this tip helpful. Stay well!
cookies, maybe? worth clearing these out (at least the BA ones) for a re-set, but a private/incognito window has much the same effect
southlondonphil is offline  
Old Mar 17, 20, 8:21 am
  #365  
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: KOI
Programs: BA
Posts: 306
Originally Posted by alvinlwh
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.
Something strange is going on with MMB. On the top for this booking, it list the "next" flight as KUL-LHR on 18 Dec 2020(!) when the actual flight is 18 March 2020.
However scrolling down it does not list the next flights (BA34-BA1473-LM434) at all, only sectors flown shown as strike out. I assume it is just a bug with MMB?

Side note, BA App is very slow to load and still shows the next flight as live and OLCI in the next few hours.
alvinlwh is offline  
Old Mar 17, 20, 8:21 am
  #366  
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: clue is in the nym
Programs: BA Gold, TP Gold, VS Gold, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 690
Originally Posted by ratechaser
Would be very interested to know what that actually means re right to cancel and get refunds for any bookings anywhere ex-UK for the next month...
Theoretically nothing, as far as the airlines' policies are concerned (in practice there will be some effect, insofar as more flights will be cancelled, leading to more refund eligibility) but an All Bar Essential travel notice should allow you to claim against your travel insurance, presuming you have Cancellation Cover which responds to FCO notices.
southlondonphil is offline  
Old Mar 17, 20, 8:46 am
  #367  
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: BA Exec Club
Posts: 541
So my wife is due to fly to NYC tomorrow on a BA holidays package. We'd had the email saying we'd get a refund, but then we've now had an email telling her OLCI is open.

Should I assume the former trumps the latter as we've not got a refund, and there is no need for her to do anything else?
jimlad48 is offline  
Old Mar 17, 20, 8:48 am
  #368  
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 41,187
sorry,ignore
KARFA is online now  
Old Mar 17, 20, 8:54 am
  #369  
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: 61,232
Originally Posted by jimlad48
Should I assume the former trumps the latter as we've not got a refund, and there is no need for her to do anything else?
Yes.
jimlad48 likes this.
corporate-wage-slave is online now  
Old Mar 17, 20, 8:56 am
  #370  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: London
Programs: Sir Ratechaser Seigneur de la Patience d'un Saint (Mucci), BA Silver, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 2,175
Originally Posted by southlondonphil
Theoretically nothing, as far as the airlines' policies are concerned (in practice there will be some effect, insofar as more flights will be cancelled, leading to more refund eligibility) but an All Bar Essential travel notice should allow you to claim against your travel insurance, presuming you have Cancellation Cover which responds to FCO notices.
You may well be right, and our insurance would cover this - as a data point however (as my next holiday isn't BA - that's a different issue for the summer...), TUIs website is now saying:

Due to the ongoing situation regarding COVID-19, the Foreign Commonwealth Office have advised against all but essential travel. We will therefore no longer be offering TUI Airways flights and holidays departing between 17 March and 16 April 2020.

We will proactively contact all customers due to travel up to and including 16 April 2020 to offer a range of flexible options, including moving their holiday to a later date.


Firstly, will be interesting to see what options I'm offered, and secondly will be interested to see if BA follows suit in doing something proactive. I'd prefer not to have to go the insurance route if not needed...
ratechaser is online now  
Old Mar 17, 20, 8:57 am
  #371  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Jun 2019
Posts: 113
If one accepts an e-voucher, can they then get a refund in cash if that flight is cancelled?

I'm trying to figure out what to do. My Argentina flights are still running, but clearly cannot travel.
demolineux is offline  
Old Mar 17, 20, 9:15 am
  #372  
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Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
Originally Posted by demolineux
If one accepts an e-voucher, can they then get a refund in cash if that flight is cancelled?

I'm trying to figure out what to do. My Argentina flights are still running, but clearly cannot travel.
as far as I know no, but hold on if you think flight will be cancelled. Voucher can be claimed for flights 1 hour before travel
Hawk777 is offline  
Old Mar 17, 20, 9:17 am
  #373  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Lincolnshire, UK
Programs: BA GGL - maybe only briefly!
Posts: 1,361
Originally Posted by af101
Expected flight cancellation email for LHR-SJC has just landed....
What date was the flight - we are waiting for the same route cancellation - our flight is (was) 30 March.
vintagepilot is offline  
Old Mar 17, 20, 10:30 am
  #374  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Bronze, Virgin Atlantic Silver, Iraq Medal, Afghanistan Medal
Posts: 12
I would be really grateful for some clarification if possible.

My wife and I have a BA holiday to Dubai departing this Friday 20th Having looked at requesting a credit voucher, the terms state that I will only be reimbursed the flight element and not the hotel. Is it correct that the hotel element is going to be lost?
burns151 is offline  
Old Mar 17, 20, 10:33 am
  #375  
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: BAEC GGL, IHG Diamond, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 7,447
Originally Posted by xenole
I've just had a text saying that Saturday's OSL-LHR has been cancelled (happened 2 days ago) and that I can accept a re-booking onto a flight about 9 hrs or so later. This flight leaves about 6-7hrs after my connection to LAX.
Can't get to either flight, so why BA's systems even bother, I don't know.
Seems now that the flight I could rebook onto has been cancelled as well.
Says I can cancel the entire booking for a full refund, but when I click on the red link, it takes me to a future booking voucher page.
xenole is offline  

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