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*
#946
Join Date: May 2010
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, AF/KL Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 830
If a flight is cancelled by BA, due to the EC261 protection you are covered for a full refund. Moreover EC261 clearly states that airlines cannot use small print to avoid their responsibilities. See the main EC261 thread for details. In practice BA will refund the full amount, and if they make a mistake then it can and will be corrected, despite that wording. As ever it is important to keep screenshots with timestamps.

#947
Join Date: Jun 2005
Programs: AS MVPG
Posts: 2,181
I would rather I had my money than BA holding onto it of course. I can be patient since I know their staff is overwhelmed, but it's not very clear what is going on with refunds. Just a matter of, is it even in process of happening? Or do I still need to do something with it. Other airlines I've been dealing with have been easy.

#948
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Surrey, UK
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 440
Thanks. I did screenshot the claim to excess! Think I'll screenshot this now so I have something to refer back to


#949
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
https://www.britishairways.com/trave..._ticket_refund
for people struggling with work around link and have had flights cancelled for the future the above is a link to the manual cancel request but please note THIS WAY NORMALLY MEANS A 4-6 WEEK WAIT FOR MANUAL PROCESS TO HAPPEN EVEN NORMALLY SO MAYBE EVEN LONGER AT MOMENT
for people struggling with work around link and have had flights cancelled for the future the above is a link to the manual cancel request but please note THIS WAY NORMALLY MEANS A 4-6 WEEK WAIT FOR MANUAL PROCESS TO HAPPEN EVEN NORMALLY SO MAYBE EVEN LONGER AT MOMENT

#950
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: London, United Kingdom
Programs: BA Gold, TK *G, Virgin Flying Club, IHG Spire, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 34
Cancellation with GUF2
I couldn’t find an answer to this question. I had a flight to MIA booked for April as a redemption with a GUF2. The flights have been cancelled. The GUF2 has now expired. If I ask for a refund do I understand right that I would lose the GUF2?
if I would lose it with a refund would accepting an evoucher preserve the GUF2? And how do evouchers work with reward bookings? Can you only use them on routes with the same Avios cost or can you top up any difference in Avios and cash?
if I would lose it with a refund would accepting an evoucher preserve the GUF2? And how do evouchers work with reward bookings? Can you only use them on routes with the same Avios cost or can you top up any difference in Avios and cash?

#951
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
I couldn’t find an answer to this question. I had a flight to MIA booked for April as a redemption with a GUF2. The flights have been cancelled. The GUF2 has now expired. If I ask for a refund do I understand right that I would lose the GUF2?
if I would lose it with a refund would accepting an evoucher preserve the GUF2? And how do evouchers work with reward bookings? Can you only use them on routes with the same Avios cost or can you top up any difference in Avios and cash?
if I would lose it with a refund would accepting an evoucher preserve the GUF2? And how do evouchers work with reward bookings? Can you only use them on routes with the same Avios cost or can you top up any difference in Avios and cash?
gufts are generally usually extended on request in normal circumstances and certainly are being in these so just call in 72 hours before travel and sort this option out if you wish

#952
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: 58,431
Update. I applied for a voucher at 12:35 GMT on Tuesday 17 March. I have received the email "Update on your Future Travel Voucher request" at 23:38 GMT on Sunday 22 March 2020. This email says "We’re now processing your voucher and you’ll receive it within the next seven days".

#953
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
Further data point: I have now been sent another email entitled "Your British Airways Future Travel Voucher", which gave the eVoucher number (beginning 125) which I can now use on future travels. This arrived today 24 March 2020 at 22:27 hrs GMT. It's the same ticket number as my original booking and has to be used via a Contact Centre, only eVouchers beginning 125-82 can be used online.

#954
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: 58,431
How to find out whether you have an eVoucher set up to use?
I had a look on Amadeus yesterday and today, so before and after my voucher was issued. And indeed I have the prospect of a trip to Mount-Joli on an A380 coming up, which would be wonderful if true. So as soon as you see Mt Joli on your booking then you will know your eVoucher is ready for use. The easiest way to do this is via the Qantas version of Manage My Booking.
RCAF Mount-Joli is 200 miles north east of Québec on the south bank of the St Lawrence River. The 1500 metre runways may be a little tight for an A380.
The steps are
- find the PNR, let's say it is "XXXXXX" of your original booking, the one you decided to opt for an eVoucher.
- In your email system, locate that PNR by searching for XXXXXX, you are looking for an email from sender "British Airways e-ticket", with the subject "Your e-ticket receipt XXXXXX: 18 Mar 2020 13:40"
- This will have an e-ticket with "payment information", then ticket numbers starting 125 and 10 more numbers. If it was a complicated booking it may with something like "3-4" to indicate you have extra consecutive tickets for all the legs, the one ending 3 is the lead ticket.
- Below you will see the "Payment total", the cash amount which should be in the eVoucher, it may also have Avios and vouchers such as 2-4-1.
-Then go to the Qantas version of MMB, enter your PNR and surname. You will then see something like the image below. This means your eVoucher is set up and is ready for use by calling up the Contact Centre.
I had a look on Amadeus yesterday and today, so before and after my voucher was issued. And indeed I have the prospect of a trip to Mount-Joli on an A380 coming up, which would be wonderful if true. So as soon as you see Mt Joli on your booking then you will know your eVoucher is ready for use. The easiest way to do this is via the Qantas version of Manage My Booking.
RCAF Mount-Joli is 200 miles north east of Québec on the south bank of the St Lawrence River. The 1500 metre runways may be a little tight for an A380.
The steps are
- find the PNR, let's say it is "XXXXXX" of your original booking, the one you decided to opt for an eVoucher.
- In your email system, locate that PNR by searching for XXXXXX, you are looking for an email from sender "British Airways e-ticket", with the subject "Your e-ticket receipt XXXXXX: 18 Mar 2020 13:40"
- This will have an e-ticket with "payment information", then ticket numbers starting 125 and 10 more numbers. If it was a complicated booking it may with something like "3-4" to indicate you have extra consecutive tickets for all the legs, the one ending 3 is the lead ticket.
- Below you will see the "Payment total", the cash amount which should be in the eVoucher, it may also have Avios and vouchers such as 2-4-1.
-Then go to the Qantas version of MMB, enter your PNR and surname. You will then see something like the image below. This means your eVoucher is set up and is ready for use by calling up the Contact Centre.


#955
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: York, UK
Programs: BAEC GGL, Hilton Diamond, Marriott GOLD, Accor Club Gold
Posts: 670
TA ticket on cancelled flight mess - thoughts please?
Shortly before Christmas I booked a ticket for a friend in Britain to visit me in the US, flying NCL/LHR/ORD and back, outbound 19 March, return 24 March. Because there was a good offer, I booked through Amex Travel (here in the USA). A few days before the outbound date it became plain that he should not come because of the pandemic, and we agreed he'd come when everything had died down. He emailed me to say that he had looked on the BA website and could get a voucher for the ticket value, so he duly completed the form and thought no more about the matter - especially as the website made plain it would take several days to get a reply due to the volume of travel plans being affected by the virus.
Today he emailed me to say that BA had refused to give him a voucher, because it was a TA booking, and that he should contact the agency. It was only after I went to the BA Confidence page twice and thought to click on the T&Cs that I discovered the exclusion on TA tickets being handled this way. At this point it was 3 hours before his return leg flights would have departed - had they still been operating. As it happens both ORD/LHR and LHR/NCL were amongst the many cancelled flights.
I called Amex Travel. Bewilderment at their end. I get passed to a supervisor after 40 minutes. After another 40 minutes she tells me that Amex will honor the one year flight credit. I can live with that - but I raised the question that the return flights were not even operating (something which Amex did not notify me or the passenger), and that surely I was entitled to a refund of the money paid. The supervisor could not cope with this question and kept talking about the cancellation conditions for the fare I had purchased, as if that had anything to do with it.
I almost always book direct with BA. Please do not waste bandwidth on this thread telling me I shouldn't have used an agency. In this instance I did. But what do I do now? I regard BA at fault in that by the time they responded to my friend asking for a voucher, we were days past the date of outbound travel. I regard Amex Travel as being at fault for not knowing how to handle this or alerting me to the cancelled return leg.
While - obviously - I understand why everything is in crisis and working very slowly, I think I've been caught between pillar and post between the airline and the agency. I am almost certain that if I ring Amex Travel in, say, a couple of months to try and rebook a flight for my friend I will have hours of hassle, despite the supervisor's assurances and hard work. And surely, with half the ticket cancelled, I am entitled to a refund of this ticket - which I am sure is as legally valid a position in the USA as in the UK.
Thoughts, anyone?
Today he emailed me to say that BA had refused to give him a voucher, because it was a TA booking, and that he should contact the agency. It was only after I went to the BA Confidence page twice and thought to click on the T&Cs that I discovered the exclusion on TA tickets being handled this way. At this point it was 3 hours before his return leg flights would have departed - had they still been operating. As it happens both ORD/LHR and LHR/NCL were amongst the many cancelled flights.
I called Amex Travel. Bewilderment at their end. I get passed to a supervisor after 40 minutes. After another 40 minutes she tells me that Amex will honor the one year flight credit. I can live with that - but I raised the question that the return flights were not even operating (something which Amex did not notify me or the passenger), and that surely I was entitled to a refund of the money paid. The supervisor could not cope with this question and kept talking about the cancellation conditions for the fare I had purchased, as if that had anything to do with it.
I almost always book direct with BA. Please do not waste bandwidth on this thread telling me I shouldn't have used an agency. In this instance I did. But what do I do now? I regard BA at fault in that by the time they responded to my friend asking for a voucher, we were days past the date of outbound travel. I regard Amex Travel as being at fault for not knowing how to handle this or alerting me to the cancelled return leg.
While - obviously - I understand why everything is in crisis and working very slowly, I think I've been caught between pillar and post between the airline and the agency. I am almost certain that if I ring Amex Travel in, say, a couple of months to try and rebook a flight for my friend I will have hours of hassle, despite the supervisor's assurances and hard work. And surely, with half the ticket cancelled, I am entitled to a refund of this ticket - which I am sure is as legally valid a position in the USA as in the UK.
Thoughts, anyone?

#956
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: 58,431
I almost always book direct with BA. Please do not waste bandwidth on this thread telling me I shouldn't have used an agency. In this instance I did. But what do I do now? I regard BA at fault in that by the time they responded to my friend asking for a voucher, we were days past the date of outbound travel. I regard Amex Travel as being at fault for not knowing how to handle this or alerting me to the cancelled return leg.
Now Amex has offered the credit anyway, and I think to be honest the realistic option is to either accept that, which will allow you to replace the flights hopefully in full; or to get an involuntary cancellation refund - this may end up as around 40% of the original expenditure as a very, very rough guide. I can't see the case in having both, not least because I think there is some responsibility on you to know - or to find out - how TA tickets are cancelled.
A perhaps critical factor is finding out whether the return was cancelled before the outbound. I suspect it wasn't, since most cancellations seem to have happened on short horizons. But if it was before the departure then that does give some credibility to the argument that the TA should have informed you. If Amex think there is there is some merit in your arguments they may be able to persuade BA to give a a more generous, but I have to say it's not looking that likely based on what you have said in your post. Personally I'd accept the voucher, it seems a reasonable solution to me.

#957
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 2,204
It's really been a reminder not to use OTAs or even TAs - I had two tickets on another airline via an OTA and both of them completely went into meltdown - hadn't advised me of cancellations, one of them told me they just couldn't help by email days later, one said they would call back and never did.
Luckily I am a paid up member here so had been monitoring my flights closely and once I got through to a supervisor at the airline he was able to take over the tickets and get me rebooked just a few hours before (the last flight out !) was fully sold out. If I hadn't been proactive I would have been in deep sh*t !
I've got another part flown ticket I need to get a refund on from another OTA, though I have had a dealing with them before that was OK, so I'll leave that a while and am moderately hopeful they'll be able to help once the dust settles
Luckily I am a paid up member here so had been monitoring my flights closely and once I got through to a supervisor at the airline he was able to take over the tickets and get me rebooked just a few hours before (the last flight out !) was fully sold out. If I hadn't been proactive I would have been in deep sh*t !
I've got another part flown ticket I need to get a refund on from another OTA, though I have had a dealing with them before that was OK, so I'll leave that a while and am moderately hopeful they'll be able to help once the dust settles

#958
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: LHR
Programs: Ex-NWA Plat
Posts: 1,464
I need some FTer advice please.
September 2019: booked a June 2020 holiday to the USA beginning late June 2020.
The better half has decided that it would be best to postpone the holiday to Summer 2021.
Spoke to the BA gold desk.
Representative said I could apply for a voucher that can be used within one year of the original date of travel (currently late June 2020, therefore voucher valid till late June 2021)
I specifically asked the representative whether we must complete the journey by the voucher date or only begin the journey by that date - the representative clearly mentioned that we only need to start the journey by this date.
My previous knowledge of credits suggests that these are valid for one year from the date of original issue of the ticket and that all travel must be completed within one year of the original issue date (i.e. all travel must be completed by September 2020.)
What am I missing?
Was the representative wrong in stating the new rules surrounding COVID 19 voucher policies?
Or I am wrong in interpreting that the COVID 19 voucher follows the traditional credit rules and policies?
What should I do to ensure that the voucher will actually allow me to postpone the beginning of the journey to June 2021?
Its a trip costing us several thousand dollars so I dont want to risk a problem down the road...
September 2019: booked a June 2020 holiday to the USA beginning late June 2020.
The better half has decided that it would be best to postpone the holiday to Summer 2021.
Spoke to the BA gold desk.
Representative said I could apply for a voucher that can be used within one year of the original date of travel (currently late June 2020, therefore voucher valid till late June 2021)
I specifically asked the representative whether we must complete the journey by the voucher date or only begin the journey by that date - the representative clearly mentioned that we only need to start the journey by this date.
My previous knowledge of credits suggests that these are valid for one year from the date of original issue of the ticket and that all travel must be completed within one year of the original issue date (i.e. all travel must be completed by September 2020.)
What am I missing?
Was the representative wrong in stating the new rules surrounding COVID 19 voucher policies?
Or I am wrong in interpreting that the COVID 19 voucher follows the traditional credit rules and policies?
What should I do to ensure that the voucher will actually allow me to postpone the beginning of the journey to June 2021?
Its a trip costing us several thousand dollars so I dont want to risk a problem down the road...

#959
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Jersey CI
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 46
I spoke to the call center last week, and asked for cash refunds to my cancelled flights, as I didn't want vouchers, the very pleasant lady I talked to assured me I would get refunds.
Today I got an email from BA with voucher numbers (no £ amounts) for the flights I was expecting the refunds for. Has anyone else had this issue?
Today I got an email from BA with voucher numbers (no £ amounts) for the flights I was expecting the refunds for. Has anyone else had this issue?

#960
Join Date: Oct 2013
Programs: BA Gold, VS Gold, IHG Platinum, Hilton Gold, Hertz Presidents Circle.
Posts: 1,232
Vouchers
I got this in an email for my first one today....
Booking Reference:xxxxxxx
Dear Mr Tuonopepper,
Thank you for contacting British Airways, please find below your voucher code(s)
125-xxxxxxxx
This voucher can be used as part payment towards a future booking. It must be redeemed for travel on flights taken within 12 months from the date of the first flight in your original booking.
When you wish to make a booking in the future, please phone the British Airways contact centre. They can redeem the voucher against a future booking.
Warm regards,
British Airways Customer Service
Things of note for me.... No value, while I have a post it with the original 125 numbers and value on it would help, I assume Twitter team could advise value in quieter times. Second must be used within 12 months of date of first flight in original booking, not voucher issue date... As I'd paid to change the date of some of those bookings I ha e no idea which date applies. Finally no indication if multiple vouchers can be used on 1 single booking, if they can be used for POUG etc, and of course no online use.
Booking Reference:xxxxxxx
Dear Mr Tuonopepper,
Thank you for contacting British Airways, please find below your voucher code(s)
125-xxxxxxxx
This voucher can be used as part payment towards a future booking. It must be redeemed for travel on flights taken within 12 months from the date of the first flight in your original booking.
When you wish to make a booking in the future, please phone the British Airways contact centre. They can redeem the voucher against a future booking.
Warm regards,
British Airways Customer Service
Things of note for me.... No value, while I have a post it with the original 125 numbers and value on it would help, I assume Twitter team could advise value in quieter times. Second must be used within 12 months of date of first flight in original booking, not voucher issue date... As I'd paid to change the date of some of those bookings I ha e no idea which date applies. Finally no indication if multiple vouchers can be used on 1 single booking, if they can be used for POUG etc, and of course no online use.
