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*
#4726
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: 63,850
Does the FTV just stay on the account till the return flights are available or do they issue another one for the difference? Would like to know what exactly happens so I don't make a mistake and don't muck up the timings if I have to wait for a new FTV or have to invest in some extra Avios.
#4727
Join Date: Feb 2020
Programs: British Airways Executive Club Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Amb
Posts: 1,774
corporate-wage-slave
I would appreciate a moment of your time.
As we previously discussed, I booked a very cheap BA holiday to Cape Town in January in the "747 sale" - NCL-LHR-CPT-LHR-NCL for £1100 each in Club, with car hire for the entire holiday. BA have just emailed to say that they have cancelled the 7th Jan NCL-LHR leg - big change of time for the alternative flight and a different flight number, so it's a clear cancellation.
As I booked this Holiday on 8/10/20, my understanding is I can move the booking 355 days from that date for free, or close to it depending on car hire, or accept a full refund of the £350 deposit?
My only thought is that numbers are looking low in South Africa - do you know if they might be added to the travel corridor in the next few weeks? That would encourage me to go in January.
Thanks, as always, for your invaluable advice.
I would appreciate a moment of your time.
As we previously discussed, I booked a very cheap BA holiday to Cape Town in January in the "747 sale" - NCL-LHR-CPT-LHR-NCL for £1100 each in Club, with car hire for the entire holiday. BA have just emailed to say that they have cancelled the 7th Jan NCL-LHR leg - big change of time for the alternative flight and a different flight number, so it's a clear cancellation.
As I booked this Holiday on 8/10/20, my understanding is I can move the booking 355 days from that date for free, or close to it depending on car hire, or accept a full refund of the £350 deposit?
My only thought is that numbers are looking low in South Africa - do you know if they might be added to the travel corridor in the next few weeks? That would encourage me to go in January.
Thanks, as always, for your invaluable advice.
#4728
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: 63,850
For the rebooking, it depends a bit on whether you have a flight only booking with a separate car hire contract OR a BAH booking - your booking emails will make it clear which it is. The 365 day free move arrangement is for flight only reservations. I gather that BAH have flexibility too, so you need to call up with some options of your own pre-prepared. You do have the refund option, and I know everyone thinks their booking was a uniquely low price, but the total reality is that we are heading into a buyers market coming up, so cash in your bank account now = lots of options in the future.
If you have already paid for the trip in full, then you may as well hang on a few weeks, time is on your side. If you paid a deposit then the cut off time is about 23 days to departure.
#4729
Join Date: Feb 2020
Programs: British Airways Executive Club Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Amb
Posts: 1,774
Thank you, I've just paid the £350 deposit. BA Holidays gentleman on the phone says we can move to October 7th for free, apart from perhaps difference in car hire price. He also says that we can decide whether to change up to three weeks before our original flights - so three weeks before 7th January 2021. Apparently, they won't automatically cancel our holiday booking if we don't change right now.
I'd prefer to travel in January, so do you reckon it's worth waiting until 17th December to make a decision?
I'd prefer to travel in January, so do you reckon it's worth waiting until 17th December to make a decision?
#4730
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: 63,850
Anything involving a deposit makes a booking BAH rather than a flight only booking. Some BAH breaks can't have deposits, for example if booked at short notice.
#4731
Join Date: Feb 2020
Programs: British Airways Executive Club Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Amb
Posts: 1,774
Yes, I would leave making a decision to the last moment. For example if there was a bad outbreak in either the UK or RSA this may change your perspective completely. This pandemic has been utterly unpredictable from the start to (hopefully) the end-game. RSA will still be there in a year from now.
Anything involving a deposit makes a booking BAH rather than a flight only booking. Some BAH breaks can't have deposits, for example if booked at short notice.
Anything involving a deposit makes a booking BAH rather than a flight only booking. Some BAH breaks can't have deposits, for example if booked at short notice.
I understand this is definitely a BAH then - the good news is I could apparently move it to October 7th outbound and even extend the holiday by a week and only increase the overall cost by an estimated £80 due to the extra car hire costs.
The other wildcard is that BA may launch a Black Friday sale with even better prices - so I could take a refund and use the cash to fund that.
Thanks so much for all your help, you actually replied whilst I was on the phone and helped sway me towards not making a hasty decision.
#4732
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 335
Yes if you want to move the booking to any date within ticket validity at no cost as a result of a cancelled flight, it would be for the same route. There is some debate whether the 300 mile allowance is also supposed to apply for that too but it seems agents are generally saying no.
There would be no cost for this move of dates (no fees or fare difference) and you just need space in the same cabin, same selling class availability isn't required.
There would be no cost for this move of dates (no fees or fare difference) and you just need space in the same cabin, same selling class availability isn't required.
#4733
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: 63,850
As ever, don't overlook the benefit of a full refund, that gives you the most flexibility, and be wary of "maybe" bookings. But yes, the usual advice to ring up on 21 December and give new dates. I think there is a provision to just remove your existing flights and not give new dates at that point. If you are definitely not travelling but definitely travelling on replacement dates (I guess sometime after Easter 2021) then I don't see any point in leaving it.
#4734
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 335
As ever, don't overlook the benefit of a full refund, that gives you the most flexibility, and be wary of "maybe" bookings. But yes, the usual advice to ring up on 21 December and give new dates. I think there is a provision to just remove your existing flights and not give new dates at that point. If you are definitely not travelling but definitely travelling on replacement dates (I guess sometime after Easter 2021) then I don't see any point in leaving it.
#4735
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Around somewhere
Programs: Gold, Some red card and some hotel cards.
Posts: 709
Using 2 flight only vouchers and 1 holiday voucher for 1 holiday booking
My family and I have 2 flight only vouchers and 1 potential voucher for a BA flydrive.
Can we use all 3 on one new holiday booking?
All the vouchers are in different names but all 3 passengers will be on the new booking.
I understand that I would have to ring up to use the the holiday one anyway.
Can we use all 3 on one new holiday booking?
All the vouchers are in different names but all 3 passengers will be on the new booking.
I understand that I would have to ring up to use the the holiday one anyway.
#4736
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: 63,850
My family and I have 2 flight only vouchers and 1 potential voucher for a BA flydrive.
Can we use all 3 on one new holiday booking?
All the vouchers are in different names but all 3 passengers will be on the new booking.
I understand that I would have to ring up to use the the holiday one anyway.
Can we use all 3 on one new holiday booking?
All the vouchers are in different names but all 3 passengers will be on the new booking.
I understand that I would have to ring up to use the the holiday one anyway.
#4737
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 148
Hello, looking for some advice.
In the summer I had a return flight to the US cancelled, which I had paid for with Avios and an Amex companion voucher (Club World). I moved these flights to April-May 2021 when that date became available as it worked well with other commitments. At that time April '21 seemed a lifetime away and we were sure the Covid situation would be resolved - now, even with the promise of vaccines on the horizon, I am not so sure, and even if the flight happens I am assuming the US will still be in a bit of a Covid mess and we may not be able to do all the things we planned (it is a 3 week 'trip of a lifetime' job).
Does anyone know if it is likely I will be allowed to move this flight again, and would I only be allowed to do so if one of the booked flights gets cancelled? Typically, how far out are flights being cancelled due to low take-up etc?
I am wondering if my best option is just to cancel and get a future travel voucher (if allowed) then booking it again in the distant future when things calm down, or am I best to wait until nearer the departure date?
Any advice much appreciated.
In the summer I had a return flight to the US cancelled, which I had paid for with Avios and an Amex companion voucher (Club World). I moved these flights to April-May 2021 when that date became available as it worked well with other commitments. At that time April '21 seemed a lifetime away and we were sure the Covid situation would be resolved - now, even with the promise of vaccines on the horizon, I am not so sure, and even if the flight happens I am assuming the US will still be in a bit of a Covid mess and we may not be able to do all the things we planned (it is a 3 week 'trip of a lifetime' job).
Does anyone know if it is likely I will be allowed to move this flight again, and would I only be allowed to do so if one of the booked flights gets cancelled? Typically, how far out are flights being cancelled due to low take-up etc?
I am wondering if my best option is just to cancel and get a future travel voucher (if allowed) then booking it again in the distant future when things calm down, or am I best to wait until nearer the departure date?
Any advice much appreciated.
#4738
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Programs: TK Elite Plus,BAEC GGL,ITA Executive, AFKL Gold,QR Gold,HH Diamond,Bonvoy Gold,ALL Gold
Posts: 14,186
Hello, looking for some advice.
In the summer I had a return flight to the US cancelled, which I had paid for with Avios and an Amex companion voucher (Club World). I moved these flights to April-May 2021 when that date became available as it worked well with other commitments. At that time April '21 seemed a lifetime away and we were sure the Covid situation would be resolved - now, even with the promise of vaccines on the horizon, I am not so sure, and even if the flight happens I am assuming the US will still be in a bit of a Covid mess and we may not be able to do all the things we planned (it is a 3 week 'trip of a lifetime' job).
Does anyone know if it is likely I will be allowed to move this flight again, and would I only be allowed to do so if one of the booked flights gets cancelled? Typically, how far out are flights being cancelled due to low take-up etc?
I am wondering if my best option is just to cancel and get a future travel voucher (if allowed) then booking it again in the distant future when things calm down, or am I best to wait until nearer the departure date?
Any advice much appreciated.
In the summer I had a return flight to the US cancelled, which I had paid for with Avios and an Amex companion voucher (Club World). I moved these flights to April-May 2021 when that date became available as it worked well with other commitments. At that time April '21 seemed a lifetime away and we were sure the Covid situation would be resolved - now, even with the promise of vaccines on the horizon, I am not so sure, and even if the flight happens I am assuming the US will still be in a bit of a Covid mess and we may not be able to do all the things we planned (it is a 3 week 'trip of a lifetime' job).
Does anyone know if it is likely I will be allowed to move this flight again, and would I only be allowed to do so if one of the booked flights gets cancelled? Typically, how far out are flights being cancelled due to low take-up etc?
I am wondering if my best option is just to cancel and get a future travel voucher (if allowed) then booking it again in the distant future when things calm down, or am I best to wait until nearer the departure date?
Any advice much appreciated.
Also, we still don't know if Biden would keep the current Presidential Proclamation imposed by the Trump government which could have a significant effect on the number of passengers traveling between the UK and the USA. ( a.k.a. the travel ban for people been in the EU/UK for the last 14 days )
If there is no cancellation, you would be able to request a Future Travel Voucher that you could use on flights until 30 April 2022.
#4739
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: 63,850
Your best option is to leave it as late as possible. A cancellation will give you a full refund option as well as an improved rebook option. You are covered by Buy With Confidence (which covers trips completed before end of August 2021). There isn't much point moving quickly on this, this pandemic is unpredictable beyond a 3 week timeframe. The exception would be if you make a firm decision to travel on a new date and the FTV will unlock that booking. However best to be very wary of "maybe" bookings, you may find yourself boxed in by shortening deadlines and changing rules.
#4740
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Around somewhere
Programs: Gold, Some red card and some hotel cards.
Posts: 709
A big thanks. Spoke a great guy at BA Holidays and got it all sorted in one phone call. Much better experience than when my wife tried at lunchtime and told it couldn't be done.