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*
#4621
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 81
Can my wife use avios FTVs issued in my name/account to complete a booking on her account. All FTVs we have are from flights where we travelled together, and the booking we want to make involves using the 2-4-1 voucher on her account.
#4622
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: LON
Programs: Mucci, BAEC, Eurostar
Posts: 3,293
FTVs are associated with the passengers booked on the original ticket(s) so as long as they match the new booking I don't see an issue.
#4623
Join Date: Apr 2005
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 313
https://tradeuk.custhelp.com/app/ans...mer-guidelines
Just to re-emphasise, it is only up to 1 year from when you made the booking, so if you made the booking on say 30 December 2019 you can move the flights no later than 30 December 2020.
Just to re-emphasise, it is only up to 1 year from when you made the booking, so if you made the booking on say 30 December 2019 you can move the flights no later than 30 December 2020.
if the first leg of a journey is short haul, would it be possible to book that flight before the 1 year limit and the rest sometime in the future?
#4624
Join Date: Feb 2009
Programs: Executive Club
Posts: 1,115
Hello I need some help please. I'm trying to find a way to fly my mother out to be with me in Dominican Republic for Christmas. BA cancelled her flight LGW to PUJ on 8th December. All dates in December, January and February are showing 0 in Expertflyer, but they seem to be available on BA.com, at least when I try to make a booking for December it gets me through to the payment page. And Reward Flight Finder is showing Avios availability for most dates in December, but when I go onto BA.com it it showing no Avios flights available. Word on the street in Dom Rep is that BA is about to pull the route completely. Which site should I trust? BA.com or Expertflyer?
#4625
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,967
#4626
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Juneau, Alaska.
Programs: AS 75K;BA Silver;AA G;HH Dia;HY Glob
Posts: 15,815
Hello I need some help please. I'm trying to find a way to fly my mother out to be with me in Dominican Republic for Christmas. BA cancelled her flight LGW to PUJ on 8th December. All dates in December, January and February are showing 0 in Expertflyer, but they seem to be available on BA.com, at least when I try to make a booking for December it gets me through to the payment page. And Reward Flight Finder is showing Avios availability for most dates in December, but when I go onto BA.com it it showing no Avios flights available. Word on the street in Dom Rep is that BA is about to pull the route completely. Which site should I trust? BA.com or Expertflyer?
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32776561-post2237.html
#4627
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: LHR / LCY / DXB
Programs: QR Silver / BA Silver
Posts: 324
Hi all. I've searched the thread and the forum (cue sighs of relief) regarding extending BA Amex Companion Vouchers. Specifically, there have been claims of people booking short flights ie. LCY-EDI with the 241 and then requesting an FTV through the Book with Confidence policy to extend the validity of a soon-expiring 241, but unfortunately did not find any answer to these questions below:
- Can I do it immediately? Feels a little sly - as if I'm taking advantage of their generous policy?
- If I actually wanted to fly LHR-SIN J return, but I did the above (ie. took an FTV by purchasing LCY-EDI Y one-way), would I need to find availability in LHR-SIN J for the dates I intend to travel?
Additionally, if I know I'm going to be doing LHR-SIN J return, should I just 'bite the bullet' and look for prospective travel dates now? And if I do - would I be able to book off-peak for both legs, and voluntarily switch them to peak flights, without having to fork out the extra Avios?
- Can I do it immediately? Feels a little sly - as if I'm taking advantage of their generous policy?
- If I actually wanted to fly LHR-SIN J return, but I did the above (ie. took an FTV by purchasing LCY-EDI Y one-way), would I need to find availability in LHR-SIN J for the dates I intend to travel?
Additionally, if I know I'm going to be doing LHR-SIN J return, should I just 'bite the bullet' and look for prospective travel dates now? And if I do - would I be able to book off-peak for both legs, and voluntarily switch them to peak flights, without having to fork out the extra Avios?
#4628
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,967
Yes to your first two questions, so you can book and do an FTV to preserve your 241 for travel up to April 2022, and you will need reward availability when you come to book.
if you book a reward now on off peak days you would have to pay any extra avios is changing to peak days.
if you book a reward now on off peak days you would have to pay any extra avios is changing to peak days.
#4629
Join Date: Feb 2009
Programs: Executive Club
Posts: 1,115
Are you checking EF using UK or USA POS? If UK, then BA availability display on EF is still an issue. See:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32776561-post2237.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32776561-post2237.html
#4630
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: LHR / LCY / DXB
Programs: QR Silver / BA Silver
Posts: 324
Yes to your first two questions, so you can book and do an FTV to preserve your 241 for travel up to April 2022, and you will need reward availability when you come to book.
if you book a reward now on off peak days you would have to pay any extra avios is changing to peak days.
if you book a reward now on off peak days you would have to pay any extra avios is changing to peak days.
Thought of another - can't seem to get the right search terms, suspect it might've been asked before. Can you change your companion on the FTV?
#4631
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: 63,809
Just watch out that they do turn it into an FTV, I think we have had one report of it ending up as an eVoucher instead. As is usual, we didn't get to find out exactly why that happened, but the speculation was a manual error by the back office team.
#4632
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: LHR / LCY / DXB
Programs: QR Silver / BA Silver
Posts: 324
For non BAH bookings, the FTV is made out to the person travelling on the booking that turned into an FTV. Two travellers = two FTVs. The FTV then has to be used by the person concerned.
Just watch out that they do turn it into an FTV, I think we have had one report of it ending up as an eVoucher instead. As is usual, we didn't get to find out exactly why that happened, but the speculation was a manual error by the back office team.
Just watch out that they do turn it into an FTV, I think we have had one report of it ending up as an eVoucher instead. As is usual, we didn't get to find out exactly why that happened, but the speculation was a manual error by the back office team.
#4633
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: 63,809
Think of it in ticketing terms, rather than PNR, then it makes sense, given that an FTV is an IATA ticket devoid of flights. As I understand it, the Companion Voucher will still be attached to the same ticket for which it was originally deployed, but indeed the other FTV can be used for a separate booking since it won't have the Companion Voucher wrapped inside it.
#4634
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 81
Is this true?
#4635
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,967
maybe the suggestion is an avios FTV can’t be used with a companion voucher unless the companion voucher was already in the FTV?