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*
#1051
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
HeadForPoints has now posted this link for cancelled ticket cash refunds: https://www.britishairways.com/trave..._ticket_refund
Only use it for bookings where you have received a formal cancellation email - do not use it otherwise or you will only get taxes back!!
Only use it for bookings where you have received a formal cancellation email - do not use it otherwise or you will only get taxes back!!

#1052
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: near to SFO and LHR
Programs: BA Gold, B6 Mosiac, VS, AA, DL (and a legacy UA 2MM)
Posts: 2,225
I found a workaround for cancelled flights to enable you to get a refund even if clicking on refund takes you to the voucher page.
It is similar to the JavaScript workaround already mentioned in relation to Avios bookings but it includes an extra step.
It is similar to the JavaScript workaround already mentioned in relation to Avios bookings but it includes an extra step.
- From your MMB page where the flight is shown as cancelled go into your browser's settings and disable JavaScript.
- Click on the cancel and refund button.
- Confirm that you now see the correct cash refund form and not the voucher refund form.
- Turn JavaScript back on in your browser settings.
- Click on the "Yes" radio button to select that you are a person in the booking.
- When nothing happens press "Enter" on your keyboard. (This works in Firefox and Chrome)
- The page refreshes and shows an error at the top of the page "email address invalid"
- Click on the "Yes" radio button again and this time it will allow you to select the name of the traveller and complete the rest of the form.
From the "Sorry - Cancelled" page, the choices are either "Cancel" or "Change Booking". Whether or not Javascript is enabled when you press the Cancel button, it goes to the voucher page.
Hopefully I didn't miss a post saying that it no longer works!
Thanks

#1053
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
Hi - just wondering if this script is still working? Tried it on Chrome, Firefox, and even Internet Explorer.
From the "Sorry - Cancelled" page, the choices are either "Cancel" or "Change Booking". Whether or not Javascript is enabled when you press the Cancel button, it goes to the voucher page.
Hopefully I didn't miss a post saying that it no longer works!
Thanks
From the "Sorry - Cancelled" page, the choices are either "Cancel" or "Change Booking". Whether or not Javascript is enabled when you press the Cancel button, it goes to the voucher page.
Hopefully I didn't miss a post saying that it no longer works!
Thanks

#1054
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 39,846
Hi - just wondering if this script is still working? Tried it on Chrome, Firefox, and even Internet Explorer.
From the "Sorry - Cancelled" page, the choices are either "Cancel" or "Change Booking". Whether or not Javascript is enabled when you press the Cancel button, it goes to the voucher page.
Hopefully I didn't miss a post saying that it no longer works!
Thanks
From the "Sorry - Cancelled" page, the choices are either "Cancel" or "Change Booking". Whether or not Javascript is enabled when you press the Cancel button, it goes to the voucher page.
Hopefully I didn't miss a post saying that it no longer works!
Thanks

#1055
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,490
She was very clear that the original expiry date of the voucher was irrelevant because the booking was cancelled. And it is six months from the day you call - it's like they issue you a new voucher with 6 months validity. And she stressed I had to book within 6 months and then the ticket had 12 months validity so I could change flights up after that if I needed to, provided the new flights were within the 12 month window. She also said that I would be receiving any email, only the refund and the miles.


#1056
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: near to SFO and LHR
Programs: BA Gold, B6 Mosiac, VS, AA, DL (and a legacy UA 2MM)
Posts: 2,225
As suggested above, I can always use the manual refund form, but by the looks of it, that one would go right to the bottom of the pile, sort of like my experience in the past having my reservation sent to the "Fare Desk", which took weeks, even in good times


#1057
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 91
Does anyone have any experience of the following?
Halfway through my itinerary. Outbound was a flight out to the Caribbean. My inbound leg is from the states in May. Transfer flight booked separately (due to go next week)
There’s no way we’ll get to our departure airport now. Do we qualify for a voucher? Or does anyone know if it’s possible to change our inbound so we retain the benefit of a return flight? Or will it have to be new purchase of one ways?
Halfway through my itinerary. Outbound was a flight out to the Caribbean. My inbound leg is from the states in May. Transfer flight booked separately (due to go next week)
There’s no way we’ll get to our departure airport now. Do we qualify for a voucher? Or does anyone know if it’s possible to change our inbound so we retain the benefit of a return flight? Or will it have to be new purchase of one ways?

#1058
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 23
What is BA's position on a refund for a flight, (BA0716 LHR-ZRH 14:50, 30 Mar, On time), that hasn't been cancelled but Swiss Govt. has restricted entry for non citizens (Only Swiss citizens, Swiss residents, those entering the country for professional reasons (e.g., those who work here and have a permit to prove it), and those transiting through, can enter.)?

#1059
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: South East, UK
Programs: BA Gold / GfL, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,369
How long is it taking for Avios and 2-4-1/GUF2 vouchers to be returned to accounts after a full cash cancellation? In my case, I canceled online (full cash refund, not a credit voucher)

#1060
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
What is BA's position on a refund for a flight, (BA0716 LHR-ZRH 14:50, 30 Mar, On time), that hasn't been cancelled but Swiss Govt. has restricted entry for non citizens (Only Swiss citizens, Swiss residents, those entering the country for professional reasons (e.g., those who work here and have a permit to prove it), and those transiting through, can enter.)?

#1062
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: South East, UK
Programs: BA Gold / GfL, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,369
Hi - just wondering if this script is still working? Tried it on Chrome, Firefox, and even Internet Explorer.
From the "Sorry - Cancelled" page, the choices are either "Cancel" or "Change Booking". Whether or not Javascript is enabled when you press the Cancel button, it goes to the voucher page.
Hopefully I didn't miss a post saying that it no longer works!
Thanks
From the "Sorry - Cancelled" page, the choices are either "Cancel" or "Change Booking". Whether or not Javascript is enabled when you press the Cancel button, it goes to the voucher page.
Hopefully I didn't miss a post saying that it no longer works!
Thanks
Yes, thanks! When I went to Manage My Booking today, instead of the usual screens (including the Red button you mention), it goes to a "Sorry, cancelled ...etc" screen. The buttons to Cancel or Change are clear (not red), and pressing them goes to the Voucher page, no matter what the state of Javascript is. I think they really like don't to refund money haha!
As suggested above, I can always use the manual refund form, but by the looks of it, that one would go right to the bottom of the pile, sort of like my experience in the past having my reservation sent to the "Fare Desk", which took weeks, even in good times
As suggested above, I can always use the manual refund form, but by the looks of it, that one would go right to the bottom of the pile, sort of like my experience in the past having my reservation sent to the "Fare Desk", which took weeks, even in good times



#1063
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Waterloo Canada
Programs: QF SG, AC, AA
Posts: 386
Refund for Partly Flown Itinerary and Seat Selection
Any assistance with any parts of my questions would be appreciated.
As phone lines are hard to get through on, knowing who to phone for what would be helpful.
I have three cancellations to deal with.
1. Jrobin flights
YYZ-LHR-BCN-LHR-YYZ all BA flights booked online with AA (001 ticket), YYZ-LHR-BCN (N class) flown Feb 11; return booked March 31 BCN-LHR-YYZ (S-class).
Booked flight BA 485 BCN-LHR March 31 has been cancelled. I would prefer refund over voucher or flight change for entire return trip.
(a) will BA provide refund? or only a voucher?
(b) how can I estimate the amount of the refund/voucher? (Is the return half of a RT booking essentially valueless?) Is any EC261 compensation applicable? Is any Canada Transportation Agency compensation applicable?
(c) If only a voucher is an option, should I just apply for a voucher on BA's Manage My Booking or should I contact AA?
2. Mrs Jrobin flights
YYZ-LHR-BCN-LHR-YYZ all BA flights booked online with travel agency (001 ticket), YYZ-LHR-BCN (N class) flown Feb 11; return booked March 31 BCN-LHR-YYZ (S-class).
For some reason Manage My Booking on BA states that all flights have been flown.
Again I would prefer refund over voucher or flight change for entire return trip.
Should I contact BA, AA, or the travel agent? (Does BA take over a booking once one segment has been flown?
3. Mrs Jrobin Seat Selection Fees
Paid directly to BA.
How do I get those for the return refunded? Or will I only get a voucher? How do I proceed? (Telephone?)
Thank you in advance

#1064
Join Date: Apr 2005
Programs: Eurostar Carte Blanche, SBB-CFF-FFS GA-AG, SNCF Grand Voyageur LeClub
Posts: 7,466
Sorry, I need to ocme back to this again:
I understand that they issue vouchers instead of refunding money (unless one uses the JS trick).
What I don't understand is how they handle award bookings: will they return the miles to the EC account and issue a voucher only for the taxes/fees (=the part that I actually paid for with GBP)? Or will they not return miles and issue a voucher for everything? If so, what is the basis on which they calculate the value of the voucher? My award was a one-way Business Class ticket from Japan to Europe on JAL, the GBP value of that is huge (almost 6,000 GBP fare only, according to expertflyer). So would they issue a voucher for GBP 6,000+tax?
Just asking because the information given made it sound as if I'd get a voucher, no mentioning of miles being returned to the account.
I understand that they issue vouchers instead of refunding money (unless one uses the JS trick).
What I don't understand is how they handle award bookings: will they return the miles to the EC account and issue a voucher only for the taxes/fees (=the part that I actually paid for with GBP)? Or will they not return miles and issue a voucher for everything? If so, what is the basis on which they calculate the value of the voucher? My award was a one-way Business Class ticket from Japan to Europe on JAL, the GBP value of that is huge (almost 6,000 GBP fare only, according to expertflyer). So would they issue a voucher for GBP 6,000+tax?
Just asking because the information given made it sound as if I'd get a voucher, no mentioning of miles being returned to the account.

#1065
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 40
Hi all - scheduled to be travelling on BA1462 on 30/03 at 20:05, but have just been notified that I have been moved to BA1454 at 17:30 instead.
As this is less than 7 days out does anyone know if I am eligible for EU261 compensation?
Thanks
As this is less than 7 days out does anyone know if I am eligible for EU261 compensation?
Thanks
Last edited by AI93; Mar 26, 20 at 11:51 am
