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*
Oct 4, 2020, 9:43 am
#4066
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 335
Quote:
Originally Posted by KARFA
probably unlikely as standard guidelines are rebook to within 300 miles. You never know tho, they may agree to it if you ask.
What is the 300 mile rule? I am a eager student of flyertalk so would be interested where I can read up on it. I have a booking Amsterdam that may include sectors that may be cancelled. I was looking to rebook to Stockholm would that be possible? Or has my situation nothing to do with this rule?
Originally Posted by KARFA
probably unlikely as standard guidelines are rebook to within 300 miles. You never know tho, they may agree to it if you ask.
What is the 300 mile rule? I am a eager student of flyertalk so would be interested where I can read up on it. I have a booking Amsterdam that may include sectors that may be cancelled. I was looking to rebook to Stockholm would that be possible? Or has my situation nothing to do with this rule?
Oct 4, 2020, 9:47 am
#4067
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,990
Quote:
Originally Posted by KARFA
probably unlikely as standard guidelines are rebook to within 300 miles. You never know tho, they may agree to it if you ask.
What is the 300 mile rule? I am a eager student of flyertalk so would be interested where I can read up on it. I have a booking Amsterdam that may include sectors that may be cancelled. I was looking to rebook to Stockholm would that be possible? Or has my situation nothing to do with this rule?
Originally Posted by KARFA
probably unlikely as standard guidelines are rebook to within 300 miles. You never know tho, they may agree to it if you ask.
What is the 300 mile rule? I am a eager student of flyertalk so would be interested where I can read up on it. I have a booking Amsterdam that may include sectors that may be cancelled. I was looking to rebook to Stockholm would that be possible? Or has my situation nothing to do with this rule?
Oct 4, 2020, 9:48 am
#4068
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: 63,851
What is the 300 mile rule? I am a eager student of flyertalk so would be interested where I can read up on it. I have a booking Amsterdam that may include sectors that may be cancelled. I was looking to rebook to Stockholm would that be possible? Or has my situation nothing to do with this rule?
Oct 4, 2020, 9:55 am
#4069
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 335
It's in the general customer guidelines for flights which are cancelled by BA, so it doesn't apply to flights which you don't wish to take. The obvious one is if BA cancels LHR to EDI, it can be changed to LHR to GLA, since these airports are just 42 miles apart as the crow flies. But 42 miles isn't the limit, you can change it to 300 miles instead, which means NCL, ABZ, INV, BHD, even DUB.
Oct 4, 2020, 10:03 am
#4070
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: 63,851
Best to use this calculator, but BA have their own distances table, which you can find in back issues of Highlife magazine.
Great Circle Mapper
Oct 4, 2020, 10:10 am
#4071
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 335
Yes. If it's a whisker over 300 miles they may allow it. But your second point is the alternative, FTVing it, and indeed depending on the specifics, it's worth considering for trips under 300 miles too, depending on what you paid and any last minute bargains. It's possible the FTV could be financially advantageous, given that change fees aren't being charged.
Best to use this calculator, but BA have their own distances table, which you can find in back issues of Highlife magazine.
Great Circle Mapper
Best to use this calculator, but BA have their own distances table, which you can find in back issues of Highlife magazine.
Great Circle Mapper
Oct 5, 2020, 2:16 am
#4072
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,709
Has anyone tried calling BA today? Gold line keeps dropping as it starts to read out the menu options (so before I even select one). Have tried from my mobile and tried the workaround calling from Skype. Guessing I'll have to try call the standard line instead?
Oct 5, 2020, 2:33 am
#4073
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,709
No good on 0800 727800 also, call dropped from both my mobile and Skype.
Oct 5, 2020, 4:53 am
#4074
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: London, UK
Posts: 5,657
No issues with the gold line, through in about three minutes calling the UK 0800 number from EE.
Just got myself rebooked but and e-ticket confirmation has come through (with new numbers), but am I going to get into any issues? There's now over 12 months between the first sector and the final sector (almost 14). Will there be a computer says no moment at check-in, or am I all good to go?
Just got myself rebooked but and e-ticket confirmation has come through (with new numbers), but am I going to get into any issues? There's now over 12 months between the first sector and the final sector (almost 14). Will there be a computer says no moment at check-in, or am I all good to go?
Oct 5, 2020, 5:21 am
#4075
Join Date: Jul 2020
Programs: BA EC
Posts: 41
Yes. If it's a whisker over 300 miles they may allow it. But your second point is the alternative, FTVing it, and indeed depending on the specifics, it's worth considering for trips under 300 miles too, depending on what you paid and any last minute bargains. It's possible the FTV could be financially advantageous, given that change fees aren't being charged.
Best to use this calculator, but BA have their own distances table, which you can find in back issues of Highlife magazine.
Best to use this calculator, but BA have their own distances table, which you can find in back issues of Highlife magazine.
For example, imagine if a flight to BCN was cancelled. LIS is 600 miles away from BCN, but LHR to BCN is 713 and LHR to LIS is 972, so the difference in mileage is under 300 miles.
In this hypothetical example would rebooking for LIS from a cancelled flight to BCN be free of charge?
Oct 5, 2020, 5:30 am
#4076
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: 63,851
It's a 300 mile limit by "gateway". for either the origin or final destination. The actual mileage you fly isn't relevant here. I seem to recall people changing both origin and destination, but the wording used simply says "or". In that context a change from LHR to LCY does not count as a gateway change, since they are both inside LON.
Oct 5, 2020, 7:55 am
#4077
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: London
Programs: KLM, BA Silver, Etihad
Posts: 918
I see there are two categories in the Wiki
Cancelled and do not wish to travel.
Is there not a third category, not cancelled but impossible to travel?
Due to the Presidential Decree I will not be allowed onto the flight; does this not null and void the contract of travel? BA cannot enforce me to break the law (decree ok not a law but as far as it affects me it is a law); any contract that needs a law to be broken is declared null and void?
J
Cancelled and do not wish to travel.
Is there not a third category, not cancelled but impossible to travel?
Due to the Presidential Decree I will not be allowed onto the flight; does this not null and void the contract of travel? BA cannot enforce me to break the law (decree ok not a law but as far as it affects me it is a law); any contract that needs a law to be broken is declared null and void?
J
Oct 5, 2020, 8:06 am
#4078
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,709
I see there are two categories in the Wiki
Cancelled and do not wish to travel.
Is there not a third category, not cancelled but impossible to travel?
Due to the Presidential Decree I will not be allowed onto the flight; does this not null and void the contract of travel? BA cannot enforce me to break the law (decree ok not a law but as far as it affects me it is a law); any contract that needs a law to be broken is declared null and void?
J
Cancelled and do not wish to travel.
Is there not a third category, not cancelled but impossible to travel?
Due to the Presidential Decree I will not be allowed onto the flight; does this not null and void the contract of travel? BA cannot enforce me to break the law (decree ok not a law but as far as it affects me it is a law); any contract that needs a law to be broken is declared null and void?
J
Oct 5, 2020, 8:22 am
#4079
Join Date: Apr 2005
Programs: BA GOLD
Posts: 604
Gatwick to Orlando flights in October now cancelled.
Oct 6, 2020, 2:14 am
#4080
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: London
Programs: KLM, BA Silver, Etihad
Posts: 918
I so do want to fly 