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

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

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Old Sep 4, 2020, 2:56 pm
  #3736  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Programs: BA GGL; AA LT Gold; AS 100K; DL MM GM; Hyatt G*list, Hilton Diamond; SQ silver
Posts: 3,806
Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
  • I am not sure I understand this question, but a lot depends on the exact fare basis involved. If the domestic segment is an "end-on" fare construction, it's just supplement that is deducted if it was actually flown
This is a purely BA ticket. The fare is a single fare to DEN with a stopover in SFO. We are in DEN but have an upcoming DEN-SFO in a month. What would happen if we fly that segment and ask for refund vs ask now without flying the DEN-SFO?
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Old Sep 4, 2020, 3:01 pm
  #3737  
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Originally Posted by DeltaFlyingProf
This is a purely BA ticket. The fare is a single fare to DEN with a stopover in SFO. We are in DEN but have an upcoming DEN-SFO in a month. What would happen if we fly that segment and ask for refund vs ask now without flying the DEN-SFO?
But how can you have a GUF on DEN-SFO?
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Old Sep 4, 2020, 6:15 pm
  #3738  
 
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
But how can you have a GUF on DEN-SFO?
The GUF was applied on the LHR-SFO-LHR. Not the US domestic flights. The question is on the monetary side.... If possible, I'd like to finish the ticket back to the origin, but the flight from LHR keeps being canceled... So I can try to rebook for a later date and fly the DEN-SFO. If at the end they cancel the new booking, I'd ask for refund from SFO.
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Old Sep 4, 2020, 11:27 pm
  #3739  
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Originally Posted by DeltaFlyingProf
The GUF was applied on the LHR-SFO-LHR. Not the US domestic flights. The question is on the monetary side.... If possible, I'd like to finish the ticket back to the origin, but the flight from LHR keeps being canceled... So I can try to rebook for a later date and fly the DEN-SFO. If at the end they cancel the new booking, I'd ask for refund from SFO.
I see, so actually the ticket is LHR-SFO-DEN-SFO-LHR? If it's something else then the following may not apply. There are three ways that ticket could be constructed, as LHR-DEN with stopovers allowed in the fare basis; LHR-SFO with DEN added "end-on"; as a combined pair of tickets LHR-SFO plus SFO-DEN. If it's the first example then going to SFO would reduce the return half by both the taxes and by an additional amount for the DEN-SFO sector, so you'd get back less than half probably. If it is the second then you essentially get half the fare back, perhaps slightly more than half due to APD. In the final construction then the BA sector would come back at 50%+ and there may be a change fee / fare difference on the SFO-DEN sector if that got changed along the way or the refund process triggers it. However almost certainly that last example would be under AA rules which have recently changed in your favour.
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Old Sep 5, 2020, 2:23 am
  #3740  
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 94
If a booked holiday that was made using a flight travel voucher gets cancelled does it automatically generate another voucher to the same value?
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Old Sep 5, 2020, 4:09 am
  #3741  
 
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 4
Changing FTV to a refund

My 85 year old father accepted FTV when his flights were cancelled by BA - he thought that was the only option and was in Portugal at the time.

BA are refusing to change the vouchers to a cash refund - is there anything we can do? As he says, at his age planning ahead too much is optimistic at best!

Thank you for any help
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Old Sep 5, 2020, 4:14 am
  #3742  
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Devon, England
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum
Posts: 66
Rerouted meaning?

I’m booked to fly to Faro from LHR on BA2692 this coming Friday (11th Sep) and in the BA app the flight is now showing the status of Rerouted.
can anyone please enlighten me as to the meaning of this? I do want to travel, i’m not looking to cancel or delay the trip.
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Old Sep 5, 2020, 4:18 am
  #3743  
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
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Originally Posted by SkiSunday
I’m booked to fly to Faro from LHR on BA2692 this coming Friday (11th Sep) and in the BA app the flight is now showing the status of Rerouted.
can anyone please enlighten me as to the meaning of this? I do want to travel, i’m not looking to cancel or delay the trip.
it just means this was a LGW flight which has been moved to LHR

What does status 'Flight rerouted' mean in MMB ?
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Old Sep 5, 2020, 4:28 am
  #3744  
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: London
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Posts: 1,807
Originally Posted by Njbdevon
My 85 year old father accepted FTV when his flights were cancelled by BA - he thought that was the only option and was in Portugal at the time.

BA are refusing to change the vouchers to a cash refund - is there anything we can do? As he says, at his age planning ahead too much is optimistic at best!

Thank you for any help
There have been reports that people have had FTVs converted into a voucher if it is a simple booking without any additional fiddling (POUG, UuA etc).
wilsnunn is offline  
Old Sep 5, 2020, 4:29 am
  #3745  
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
 
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Originally Posted by Njbdevon
BA are refusing to change the vouchers to a cash refund - is there anything we can do? As he says, at his age planning ahead too much is optimistic at best!
Unfortunately there isn't anything I can suggest here, unless it was a pure Avios booking. The relevant screens were clear about the implications of applying for an FTV and I'm not aware of BA changing their position on this. If it was a simple booking he may be able to ask BA to turn it into an eVoucher, which gives more flexibility and can be used by other people. But it may just be easier for him to book another trip to Portugal (or elsewhere) with the FTV.
corporate-wage-slave is online now  
Old Sep 5, 2020, 4:31 am
  #3746  
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Posts: 63,819
Originally Posted by pc32435
If a booked holiday that was made using a flight travel voucher gets cancelled does it automatically generate another voucher to the same value?
My understanding is that it will generate another FTV of the same value, however if it was cash only it may come back to you as an eVoucher, which would be more flexible.
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Old Sep 5, 2020, 5:42 am
  #3747  
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 94
Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
My understanding is that it will generate another FTV of the same value, however if it was cash only it may come back to you as an eVoucher, which would be more flexible.
It was an originally a cash booking that got re-booked recently for next year. Hopefully to go ahead.

Either one would be fine with myself, assuming the system doesn't glitch to £0
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Old Sep 5, 2020, 6:49 am
  #3748  
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Programs: Marriott Titanium
Posts: 461
Hi

Deciding whether to cancel an Avios flight or just claim a FTV.

two questions, which I suspect have been answered before but I can’t find an answer
  1. is there a cancellation fee for infants?
  2. if i Don’t use the full FTV of Avios/cash in the next booking, what happens the remnants?

thanks
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Old Sep 5, 2020, 6:50 am
  #3749  
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Programs: Marriott Titanium
Posts: 461
Duplicate
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Old Sep 6, 2020, 1:18 am
  #3750  
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 572
With BA Holidays at the moment you can cancel the booking up to three weeks prior to departure, three weeks before is the same time the balance becomes due if you have just paid a deposit.

If you cancel the Holiday before this time do you still get your deposit back in the form of vouchers.

The reason I am asking is that I have parallel bookings at the start of October for short city breaks., one to Albania and one to Germany.

The Albanian trip looks like it will be a non-starter as they have never been on the approved list from the FCO and this looks unlikely to change in the next few weeks. I booked it in the hope this madness would be over by now. The Berlin trip is a back up as the occasion is a special Birthday. Both bookings have Club Europe Flights as part of the package. Barring an earthquake I don't expect Germany to join the list and if they did I would be (unlike Albania) be covered for the whole cost as no FCO restrictions were in place at the time of booking..

Any guidance much appreciated.
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