Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > British Airways | Executive Club
Reload this Page >

Covid-19 BA Rebooking/Cancellation/Refund HELP & ADVICE *No Speculation etc*

Old Mar 14, 20, 4:58 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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:
  • 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.

Paid Seating Refund:
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.
How to find out the status of your voucher and the amount it contains Future Travel Vouchers versus eVouchers
  • See posts 3052 and 3151 to understand the difference. FTVs cannot be used online (and are not really vouchers), whereas eVouchers, issued for simple bookings, can be used online.
Print Wikipost

Covid-19 BA Rebooking/Cancellation/Refund HELP & ADVICE *No Speculation etc*

Old Mar 25, 20, 5:47 am
  #976  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: RIX
Programs: BA Executive Club GOLD, LH Miles & More, DL SkyMiles
Posts: 17
Thanks, Java script option worked perfectly for Avios and cash refund. For Gold members no cancelation (transaction) fee.
Albert1980 is offline  
Old Mar 25, 20, 6:29 am
  #977  
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 11
Thank You Folks

Glad I'm not the only one to whom the 'rules' and the reclaim process are not clear on this one; there is clearly a lot of confusion out there.
That said, many thanks to the dedicated few who are trying to unravel the confusion and provide some much needed guidance.
CharlieMike is offline  
Old Mar 25, 20, 6:44 am
  #978  
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: Portsmouth UK and New York
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 18
Do we know if BA have started cancellation short haul flights in April. Booked for LHR-NCL in April. I have no intention travelling now. The flight is not yet cancelled. Will it be cancelled?
pompeyflyer is offline  
Old Mar 25, 20, 6:47 am
  #979  
 
Join Date: Nov 2019
Programs: BA - Bronze , IHG - Spire Ambassador, Hilton - Diamond
Posts: 117
Originally Posted by pompeyflyer
Do we know if BA have started cancellation short haul flights in April. Booked for LHR-NCL in April. I have no intention travelling now. The flight is not yet cancelled. Will it be cancelled?
I had an Email saying my EDI - LHR flight on 31st April was cancelled yesterday. I had already applied for a voucher on Friday but still waiting on that. Oddly the return flight one day later was still showing as active, maybe because it's in May? Just waiting until I get a voucher and the whole booking disappears.
Hawkbat is offline  
Old Mar 25, 20, 7:11 am
  #980  
 
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: Dubai
Programs: Marriott Ambassador, Hilton Diamond, Accor Diamond, BA Gold
Posts: 284
Originally Posted by pompeyflyer
Do we know if BA have started cancellation short haul flights in April. Booked for LHR-NCL in April. I have no intention travelling now. The flight is not yet cancelled. Will it be cancelled?
I got a notification yesterday that my LHR-ARN-LHR trip has been cancelled (early April), and today for LHR-KEF-LHR (mid-April)
CanaryWharf is offline  
Old Mar 25, 20, 7:13 am
  #981  
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Programs: AA EP; WN CP;UA SILVER; MARRIOTT TITANIUM; HH DIAMOND; IHG PLAT; RADISSON PLAT; HYATT GLOBAL
Posts: 1,931
Originally Posted by ORD-TGU
I have 4 Avios Awards on AA metal ORD-PVR for holiday travel within 72 hours.
U.S.-Mexico border crossing is now restricted to Essential travel.
I know I can cancel online for full Avios redeposit, but there is a $55 cancel/redeposit fee per passenger. I want to avoid paying $220 in fees. (I paid more than that in departure taxes). Is there any successful DP for full redeposit with no fees for travel bans/restrictions due to Covid?
I am a blue member and tried calling 3 times today, each time getting disconnected after 45 minutes on hold. Any tips on calling international call center? I tried BA Mexico Spanish, disconnected. Maybe Spain #?Asia?
Flight has flown all week and has not been cancelled or schedule change (which I am surprised, maybe expats returning home?).
TIA.
First thing in the morning I called the Spanish call center and I learned the one and only worldwide Spanish speaking call center is located in Germany, yes, there is only 1 place that takes call for all of Latin America for BA, located in Bremen.

Anyone know why in Bremen?
ORD-TGU is offline  
Old Mar 25, 20, 7:26 am
  #982  
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: 59,455
Originally Posted by pompeyflyer
Do we know if BA have started cancellation short haul flights in April. Booked for LHR-NCL in April. I have no intention travelling now. The flight is not yet cancelled. Will it be cancelled?
NCL is going twice a day at the moment, and that I think you can say is the skeleton service level. So as and when cancellations sweep into April, as they surely will, I would expect that you can see two flights a day there. EDI will have somewhat more services, and LNER continues to offer an hourly service at the moment.
corporate-wage-slave is offline  
Old Mar 25, 20, 7:46 am
  #983  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 1
Originally Posted by ORD-TGU
First thing in the morning I called the Spanish call center and I learned the one and only worldwide Spanish speaking call center is located in Germany, yes, there is only 1 place that takes call for all of Latin America for BA, located in Bremen.

Anyone know why in Bremen?
Sounds like the call was most likely handled by Flyline who are based in Bremen and according to their website is a subsidiary of BA. They handle a lot of non-English speaking calls for BA.
jdog is offline  
Old Mar 25, 20, 7:50 am
  #984  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,501
Originally Posted by Albert1980
Thanks, Java script option worked perfectly for Avios and cash refund. For Gold members no cancelation (transaction) fee.
GGL there will be no fee, but for Gold there will be the standard £35 cancellation fee; unless of course they have cancelled the flight then as a Gold you would get the full amount refunded.

Originally Posted by pompeyflyer
Do we know if BA have started cancellation short haul flights in April. Booked for LHR-NCL in April. I have no intention travelling now. The flight is not yet cancelled. Will it be cancelled?
5/6 of my April flights have been cancelled. Another one came in this morning, so just give it time.
flashware is offline  
Old Mar 25, 20, 8:20 am
  #985  
RJ1
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: SoCal
Posts: 604
Originally Posted by Hawk777
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
Thank you for all your contributions to this thread.

Yesterday I cancelled an Avios booking for Friday, 27 Mar (BA 125 stock, AA metal, LAX-OGG). One of the few remaining flights they are still running before full cessation of service to Maui. Anyway, I used the Javascript disable method, and received an email acknowledging the cancellation and refund request.

My the reservation is no longer showing on my account and the miles have not been redeposited yet. In this situation, should I also expect 4-6 weeks for the redeposit?
RJ1 is offline  
Old Mar 25, 20, 8:22 am
  #986  
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 156
Very frustrating that BA dont allow you to rebook in a few months time as they restricting the cancelled flight rebooking to same bucket
Sam Lewis is offline  
Old Mar 25, 20, 8:41 am
  #987  
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: 59,455
Originally Posted by Sam Lewis
Very frustrating that BA dont allow you to rebook in a few months time as they restricting the cancelled flight rebooking to same bucket
Let;s go through the longer version of this, which is part of the Standard Customer Guidelines.

If you have a cancelled flight, cancelled by the airline, revenue ticket, then BA allow you to rebook into the same cabin for 14 days thereafter or 3 days beforehand - you don't need the same fare selling class (bucket). If you want to rebook further out than 14 days, then yes it has to be in the same bucket. Apart from the July / August peak I would hope that most buckets would be wide open, but if you don't have Expertflyer or KVS or find ITA Matrix too tricky, by all means reach out in this forum for help finding a suitable date. This is one of the three remedies, the other being a cash cancellation or an eVoucher.

You can find the selling class / bucket on your existing reservation by Manage My Booking, find the flight in question, open up the line and click on the More Flight Info hyperlink. A box should open and the selling class to towards the end. If you have several flights it's not unusual to have multiple buckets.

For Avios bookings it is similar in that for 2 weeks you just need space in the cabin, after that you do need Avios availability., Other remedies being refund of Avios and any taxes, fees and charges; or an eVoucher though I dno't see much point in that.
corporate-wage-slave is offline  
Old Mar 25, 20, 9:01 am
  #988  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,501
Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
Let;s go through the longer version of this, which is part of the Standard Customer Guidelines.

If you have a cancelled flight, cancelled by the airline, revenue ticket, then BA allow you to rebook into the same cabin for 14 days thereafter or 3 days beforehand - you don't need the same fare selling class (bucket). If you want to rebook further out than 14 days, then yes it has to be in the same bucket. Apart from the July / August peak I would hope that most buckets would be wide open, but if you don't have Expertflyer or KVS or find ITA Matrix too tricky, by all means reach out in this forum for help finding a suitable date. This is one of the three remedies, the other being a cash cancellation or an eVoucher.

You can find the selling class / bucket on your existing reservation by Manage My Booking, find the flight in question, open up the line and click on the More Flight Info hyperlink. A box should open and the selling class to towards the end. If you have several flights it's not unusual to have multiple buckets.

For Avios bookings it is similar in that for 2 weeks you just need space in the cabin, after that you do need Avios availability., Other remedies being refund of Avios and any taxes, fees and charges; or an eVoucher though I dno't see much point in that.
I have a flight booked using OnBusiness points that were going to expire, which are well past expiry now. If I opt for a cash refund (the co-pay on it) do you expect the OB points would therefore be lost due to expiry? In that case would my only option be to opt for a) rebooking or b) eVoucher ?
flashware is offline  
Old Mar 25, 20, 9:04 am
  #989  
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: 59,455
Originally Posted by flashware
I have a flight booked using OnBusiness points that were going to expire, which are well past expiry now. If I opt for a cash refund (the co-pay on it) do you expect the OB points would therefore be lost due to expiry? In that case would my only option be to opt for a) rebooking or b) eVoucher ?
Sorry, outside my circle of competence I am afraid. Something has to be.
corporate-wage-slave is offline  
Old Mar 25, 20, 9:05 am
  #990  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
Originally Posted by RJ1
Thank you for all your contributions to this thread.

Yesterday I cancelled an Avios booking for Friday, 27 Mar (BA 125 stock, AA metal, LAX-OGG). One of the few remaining flights they are still running before full cessation of service to Maui. Anyway, I used the Javascript disable method, and received an email acknowledging the cancellation and refund request.

My the reservation is no longer showing on my account and the miles have not been redeposited yet. In this situation, should I also expect 4-6 weeks for the redeposit?
not sure sorry how long the javascript way is taking if it's going into the manual queue then yes unfortunately it could take that time scale
Hawk777 is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread