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
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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*
#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
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?
#3737
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: 63,819
But how can you have a GUF on DEN-SFO?
#3738
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
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.
#3739
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: 63,819
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.
#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?
#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
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
#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.
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.
#3743
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,968
What does status 'Flight rerouted' mean in MMB ?
#3744
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, Accor Live Limitless Gold, Hilton Honours Gold, Avis Preferred Plus
Posts: 1,807
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
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
#3745
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: 63,819
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.
#3746
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: 63,819
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.
#3747
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 94
Either one would be fine with myself, assuming the system doesn't glitch to £0
#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
thanks
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
- is there a cancellation fee for infants?
- if i Don’t use the full FTV of Avios/cash in the next booking, what happens the remnants?
thanks
#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.
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.