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*
#4846
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: LHR/ATL
Programs: EY Gold, AS MVPG, BAEC Gold, DL PM
Posts: 821
Hi chaps, just had a flight in early Jan cancel. MMB offers an option to switch to another date but a separate search on BA shows that W is cheaper than Y right now on the new date. Would BA customer services consider switching me over to W?
#4847
Join Date: Oct 2019
Programs: BAEC Silver, Volare Executive / Skyteam Elite+
Posts: 672
No idea but presumably you could refund to FTV or cash and rebook W yourself to save a few pounds into the bargain?
#4848
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: 63,732
If the on screen refund screen works for you, as opposed to the Voucher option, you should get the cash back in a few days, depending on your merchant's policies.
#4849
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 327
Quick question regarding the FTV.
My flight was booked in cash in WTP, then later upgraded both legs to CW using Avios + small amount of extra cash.
The contents of the FTV should be approx. Ł800 + 66,000 Avios
Is this voucher only to be used for future cash (not Avios) bookings? It obviously looks very similar to an FTV from an Avios booking, but in this case the Avios came from UUA.
My flight was booked in cash in WTP, then later upgraded both legs to CW using Avios + small amount of extra cash.
The contents of the FTV should be approx. Ł800 + 66,000 Avios
Is this voucher only to be used for future cash (not Avios) bookings? It obviously looks very similar to an FTV from an Avios booking, but in this case the Avios came from UUA.
#4850
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 1,735
I had booked lhr to Nashville in 1st during the recent reduced Avios offer
received an email saying downgraded in both legs to club and the return changed by 1 day
On the phone now and they say that can't rebook me in 1st for the way out via a different route as it is cabin closure and not a cancellation. On the way back they can book via Dallas as it is a flight cancellation. They will rebook the out via Dallas but only in club (not sure why that was offered as an option)
Does that sound right?
received an email saying downgraded in both legs to club and the return changed by 1 day
On the phone now and they say that can't rebook me in 1st for the way out via a different route as it is cabin closure and not a cancellation. On the way back they can book via Dallas as it is a flight cancellation. They will rebook the out via Dallas but only in club (not sure why that was offered as an option)
Does that sound right?
#4851
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: 63,732
Yes, the FTV can be used in a cash fare but there is at least one report of the FTV needing to be used on another UuA booking. I'm not convinced about that, but it definitely can't be used on an Avios booking, since the ticketing structure isn't compatible. I think it can be used on BAH but I bet the calculation will be messy. In some way it's better with UuA to take the Ł35 hit (or wait for the cancellation to avoid that), get the UuA component refunded, in terms of Avios and some of the cash, then you have a neat FTV for cash only, which may magically turn into an eVoucher if you are lucky. But if you don't want to lose the Ł35 and the flight is definitely operating then what you have done makes sense.
#4852
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: 63,732
Yes, but we can see at least some YouFirst agents have been rebooking cabin cancellations via other routes, so maybe a HUACA on that if you haven't accepted the proposed option. My left hand column wonders whether Nashville is not a JB route, there are a few which are not.
#4853
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Newcastle UK
Posts: 1,114
Hi. I've received an email regarding a May booking to Vancouver. The A380 has been swapped for an A350 and as I was in First I've been rebooked into Club World. I'm assuming I can request a full refund if I decide to cancel. I haven't accepted the changes online. Thanks.
#4854
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: 14,185
Hi. I've received an email regarding a May booking to Vancouver. The A380 has been swapped for an A350 and as I was in First I've been rebooked into Club World. I'm assuming I can request a full refund if I decide to cancel. I haven't accepted the changes online. Thanks.
You need to call in and as you mentioned, you shouldn't accept any changes before asking for a refund.
#4855
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 1,735
Thanks
I will have another go, I haven't accepted anything yet as I am expecting a cancellation based on every other flight.
I will have another go, I haven't accepted anything yet as I am expecting a cancellation based on every other flight.
#4856
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: 63,732
Hi. I've received an email regarding a May booking to Vancouver. The A380 has been swapped for an A350 and as I was in First I've been rebooked into Club World. I'm assuming I can request a full refund if I decide to cancel. I haven't accepted the changes online. Thanks.
#4858
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: UK
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 250
By all means ask, but there were reports of downgrades not giving a refund option if the flight number stayed the same, though of course there is the FTV and rebook options. Previously BA were very happy to give refunds but as of a few months ago there were reports that this wasn't allowed. Some commercial First tickets are flexible anyway, and Avios tickets are of course refundable. It's one of those questions that gets asked more often than people report back on their experiences, if I may give a hint!
So what are my options please? I guess I will get refund of the fare difference automatically (reduction of balance outstanding?), but I understand from other similar threats that, under EU261, I may be able to claim 75% reimbursement of the total fare? For that I understand I need to wait until we have completed the journey?
Obviously, they may change the equipment again and I could be back in F and I may not be flying anyway, so it may all be moot come May!
Thanks in advance for any guidance?
#4859
Join Date: Oct 2005
Programs: BA GGL & GfL, AA LTP, Marriott (sigh) Ambassador, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 3,229
i have an AA ticket (001-) but the BA sector was cancelled and automatically moved...violating the MCT at JFK for the AA transcon.
it still does not show on AA's side that the BA flight was cancelled and i was moved...how long does that take for the systems to speak, because obviously not meeting the MCT, i need to change the flight in question.
thanks!
it still does not show on AA's side that the BA flight was cancelled and i was moved...how long does that take for the systems to speak, because obviously not meeting the MCT, i need to change the flight in question.
thanks!
#4860
Join Date: Dec 2020
Programs: BA, Virgin,
Posts: 3
Avios 50% offer booking return leg cancelled from First
Apologies if this is in the wrong place, I made a booking last year under the 50% reduction deal on Avios in First to Denver and also used my Amex 241, I got an email last night cancelling the return First ticket on BA218 at the end of March2021 and rebooking me in to CW. All I have is click accept button or contact the call centre. What are my rights in regards to this booking - do I get a credit of the difference between First and Club Miles, can I ask for the booking to be moved maybe going for different destination later in year or would I then lose the 50% discount.