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*
Mar 15, 2020, 5:25 am
#46
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: 63,804
I can see a lot of questions in a similar area, so I'll try and make this as straightforward as possible.
Do you not wish to travel in the near future (let's say the next couple of weeks)?
And are you OK with an eVoucher valid 12 months on future BA flights and Holidays? And did you book via BA channels (not a travel agent)?
Six easy steps, it will take you 30 seconds.
1) Go to ba.com/confidence
(that's a short cut which is easy to remember, that won't work on some tablets, so the full link is by clicking right here)
2) Fill in the form - you just need your PNR and it takes seconds to do. You do not need to login
3) TAKE A SNAPSHOP! Ideally include the computer's date and time, and note the timezone to which it relates.
4) Submit the form
5) Take another snapshot after BA.com has confirmed submission, file both snapshots away some where.
6) Get on with other things. There is no immediate change to your booking, an email may come but it could take a week (formally it's supposed to be 48 hours). You do not need to call. You must not cancel your booking in MMB.
Step 5 will look like this:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32187894-post198.html
The one possible exception to cancelling in MMB is if it is a redemption / Avios booking, there is a maximum £35 redeposit fee which you could argue about if you want, but frankly it's easier and automated just cancel and worry about the £35 in a month or two. On simple bookings you get the Avios nearly immedidately and remaining cash back in 3 days, so it has merit. If you have to fill in a form with your name and address then it will unfortunately take a few weeks.
If your flight is some way off, there is also merit in leaving everything until say 2 or 3 days to departure, just to see what happens. A cancelled flight will enable a full cash refund, whether Revenue or Avios. So that's 48 hours beforehand for BA Holidays, 24 hours beforehand for Avios redemptions, and say 90 minutes beforehand for revenue tickets. Don't leave it to the very last moment, usually BA don't cancel services on the day of departure if they can possibly avoid it.
EDIT: We know a bit more about the eVouchers - they are valid for 12 months from the date of your initial first flight, you have to book and travel at least the first sector before that 12 months is up, but the return can be after the 12 months.
Do you not wish to travel in the near future (let's say the next couple of weeks)?
And are you OK with an eVoucher valid 12 months on future BA flights and Holidays? And did you book via BA channels (not a travel agent)?
Six easy steps, it will take you 30 seconds.
1) Go to ba.com/confidence
(that's a short cut which is easy to remember, that won't work on some tablets, so the full link is by clicking right here)
2) Fill in the form - you just need your PNR and it takes seconds to do. You do not need to login
3) TAKE A SNAPSHOP! Ideally include the computer's date and time, and note the timezone to which it relates.
4) Submit the form
5) Take another snapshot after BA.com has confirmed submission, file both snapshots away some where.
6) Get on with other things. There is no immediate change to your booking, an email may come but it could take a week (formally it's supposed to be 48 hours). You do not need to call. You must not cancel your booking in MMB.
Step 5 will look like this:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32187894-post198.html
The one possible exception to cancelling in MMB is if it is a redemption / Avios booking, there is a maximum £35 redeposit fee which you could argue about if you want, but frankly it's easier and automated just cancel and worry about the £35 in a month or two. On simple bookings you get the Avios nearly immedidately and remaining cash back in 3 days, so it has merit. If you have to fill in a form with your name and address then it will unfortunately take a few weeks.
If your flight is some way off, there is also merit in leaving everything until say 2 or 3 days to departure, just to see what happens. A cancelled flight will enable a full cash refund, whether Revenue or Avios. So that's 48 hours beforehand for BA Holidays, 24 hours beforehand for Avios redemptions, and say 90 minutes beforehand for revenue tickets. Don't leave it to the very last moment, usually BA don't cancel services on the day of departure if they can possibly avoid it.
EDIT: We know a bit more about the eVouchers - they are valid for 12 months from the date of your initial first flight, you have to book and travel at least the first sector before that 12 months is up, but the return can be after the 12 months.
Last edited by corporate-wage-slave; Mar 16, 2020 at 11:52 am
Mar 15, 2020, 5:26 am
#47
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: 63,804
I have a flight booked for later next week to cancel/apply for an e-voucher. I understand you need to fill in the online form, but does anyone know if after entering that form that you receive a confirmation email or even a response on the page with some sort of reference or a time date stamp? Otherwise all you have is maybe a screenshot of your own that doesn't show time and date of request? Thanks for any information.
Mar 15, 2020, 5:28 am
#48
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: 63,804
I have a booking due to depart in the evening of the 16th March to Dubai which I used UuA to upgrade the outbound from W to J. We're looking to cancel as half the party are over 70, and happy to take BA credit but I was wonder what happens to the 24k Avios per person for the upgrade. Anyone have any experience with a UuA booking?
Mar 15, 2020, 5:29 am
#49
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: 63,804
Mar 15, 2020, 5:30 am
#50
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
I have a booking due to depart in the evening of the 16th March to Dubai which I used UuA to upgrade the outbound from W to J. We're looking to cancel as half the party are over 70, and happy to take BA credit but I was wonder what happens to the 24k Avios per person for the upgrade. Anyone have any experience with a UuA booking?
Mar 15, 2020, 5:31 am
#51
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
I have a flight booked for later next week to cancel/apply for an e-voucher. I understand you need to fill in the online form, but does anyone know if after entering that form that you receive a confirmation email or even a response on the page with some sort of reference or a time date stamp? Otherwise all you have is maybe a screenshot of your own that doesn't show time and date of request? Thanks for any information.
Mar 15, 2020, 5:35 am
#52
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: London. Or a plane.
Programs: "Only" 50,000 TPs until BA GGLfL
Posts: 2,774
If there are no services at all on BA or IB then the contact centre can rebook on OAL (other airlines). I would call on Monday or Tuesday, by which stage the rebooking options will be clearer anyway. There are still services to GRU so that is one option, and Swissair appears to be operating to Zurich, which will be stress free if you can get that. BA appears to be operating the Friday service (20 March), it's zeroed out but it should still be accessible.
Update. The FCO now advise against all but essential travel to Argentina and state: "The FCO strongly encourage non-resident British nationals in Argentina to consider leaving to avoid difficulties they will face if flights out of the country and the region are further restricted and they are unable to get home".
drakepassage why can't your parents come back sooner? If they are on a cruise have they considered helicopter evac?
Last edited by alexwuk; Mar 15, 2020 at 6:35 am
Mar 15, 2020, 5:37 am
#53
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: LHR & JER
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 253
Mar 15, 2020, 5:41 am
#54
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: 63,804
Mar 15, 2020, 6:05 am
#56
Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club, easyJet and Ryanair
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: UK/Las Vegas
Programs: BA Gold (GGL/CCR)
Posts: 15,926
The UK FCO have advised against all but essential travel to the USA.
Mar 15, 2020, 6:12 am
#57
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
Just done a quick check and from Tuesday any airport not in the list of 11 destinations the us is allowing ppl to enter has been zeroed out for booking which normally means cancellations due
Mar 15, 2020, 6:15 am
#58
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 135
Thanks for info. Fully expecting my Flight into IAD 19th to go ahead to take USA citizens home.
Mar 15, 2020, 6:19 am
#59
Join Date: May 2016
Location: UK
Posts: 456
We are booked on a 2-4-1 in F LHR-ORD on Thursday. I know I can call to cancel any time up to 24 hours before departure (MMB options are now all greyed out on BA.Com). At this point it is unclear whether the flight will operate or not. Rather than phone to cancel and add to the mayhem, does anyone know if BA will contact me to tell me if the flight gets cancelled and, if so, how long before the intended departure? Presumable, if BA contacts me to advise that the flight is cancelled, the refund of Avios, 2-4-1 etc will happen automatically in the fulness of time.
Mar 15, 2020, 6:23 am
#60
Join Date: Mar 2019
Programs: BA
Posts: 40
Currently in Dubai with BA holidays.
given new visa restrictions I’m expecting some flight disruption as there will be no requirement to fly 3x daily.
I’m still waiting to hear news and not going to contact BA unless there’s movement - question is am I covered by duty of care?
I have insurance but it’s just easier and less stressful.
given new visa restrictions I’m expecting some flight disruption as there will be no requirement to fly 3x daily.
I’m still waiting to hear news and not going to contact BA unless there’s movement - question is am I covered by duty of care?
I have insurance but it’s just easier and less stressful.