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 27, 2020, 12:32 am
#1096
Moderator: Luxury Hotels and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Palo Alto, California,USA
Posts: 17,856
If you opted for the voucher it incorporates the avios and cash you paid. No avios are returned.
For avios bookings the voucher does not seem to be as beneficial as just canceling. If BA has cancelled your flights then you are entitled to a full refund; see the wiki for the javascript method and if that does not work you have to call. If BA has not cancelled your flight then just pay the GBP35 redeposit fee as a voluntary cancellation. Read backwards in the thread you will find a number of similar questions and answers.
If you have opted for a voucher and now want to change your mind, see the Q and A here:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32231154-post1001.html
For avios bookings the voucher does not seem to be as beneficial as just canceling. If BA has cancelled your flights then you are entitled to a full refund; see the wiki for the javascript method and if that does not work you have to call. If BA has not cancelled your flight then just pay the GBP35 redeposit fee as a voluntary cancellation. Read backwards in the thread you will find a number of similar questions and answers.
If you have opted for a voucher and now want to change your mind, see the Q and A here:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32231154-post1001.html
Mar 27, 2020, 12:39 am
#1097
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Juneau, Alaska.
Programs: AS 75K;BA Silver;AA G;HH Dia;HY Glob
Posts: 15,815
Thanks, that answers my question. Looks like I am stuck with the voucher but it invites another question: The email didn't say how much the voucher was for, how do I find that out? Once again, I fear I have to call alth0ugh I guess I could make a dummy booking and cancel it before finalizing.
Mar 27, 2020, 12:47 am
#1098
Moderator: Luxury Hotels and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Palo Alto, California,USA
Posts: 17,856
I tried the Qantas website method and it contained no value, just that strange flight which indicated I had a voucher. I'll just do a dummy booking of an expensive one way in first class, apply the voucher, and see what's left, then not go through with it. Seems to me that ought to work.
Mar 27, 2020, 12:52 am
#1099
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,964
I tried the Qantas website method and it contained no value, just that strange flight which indicated I had a voucher. I'll just do a dummy booking of an expensive one way in first class, apply the voucher, and see what's left, then not go through with it. Seems to me that ought to work.
do you not have the original eticket email?
Mar 27, 2020, 1:01 am
#1100
Moderator: Luxury Hotels and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Palo Alto, California,USA
Posts: 17,856
Mar 27, 2020, 1:10 am
#1101
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Juneau, Alaska.
Programs: AS 75K;BA Silver;AA G;HH Dia;HY Glob
Posts: 15,815
I’m not entirely sure, but iirc from Hawk777’s previous posts the avios are only converted to a dollar value when one has used avios to reduce the cash cost of a cash ticket or part pay. For a straight avios booking, the cash and avios are retained on the voucher and avios availability is required when rebooking with the voucher.
Mar 27, 2020, 1:17 am
#1102
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,964
I’m not entirely sure, but iirc from Hawk777’s previous posts the avios are only converted to a dollar value when one has used avios to reduce the cash cost of a cash ticket or part pay. For a straight avios booking, the cash and avios are retained on the voucher and avios availability is required when rebooking with the voucher.
Mar 27, 2020, 1:22 am
#1103
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,964
Are you sure about that? Knowing how round trip tickets are generally priced I doubt that cancelling the inbound of a return booking having flown the outbound will be roughly half the total cost. I would generally assume that the refund would generally be just taxes and surcharges of the inbound and possibly something more.
This is why I have been pushing my inbound bookings out 6 months (or longer) as my refund if I were to cancel would be nowhere near half the total cost of my ticket.
This is why I have been pushing my inbound bookings out 6 months (or longer) as my refund if I were to cancel would be nowhere near half the total cost of my ticket.
Mar 27, 2020, 1:39 am
#1104
Moderator: Luxury Hotels and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Palo Alto, California,USA
Posts: 17,856
I’m not entirely sure, but iirc from Hawk777’s previous posts the avios are only converted to a dollar value when one has used avios to reduce the cash cost of a cash ticket or part pay. For a straight avios booking, the cash and avios are retained on the voucher and avios availability is required when rebooking with the voucher.
Mar 27, 2020, 2:06 am
#1105
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: UK/Australia
Programs: BAEC Silver, UA2MM, QF Platinum, VA Platinum., Volare Executive Club
Posts: 2,512
Surely BA won't put an arbitrary expiry date on avios, that didn't previously have one.
Just thinking about that is one of the reasons I have cancelled all of my avios bookings using the (still working) JavaScript method.
Just thinking about that is one of the reasons I have cancelled all of my avios bookings using the (still working) JavaScript method.
Mar 27, 2020, 2:11 am
#1106
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 1,159
Surprised to find no mention of the following here: What happens if the voucher is for a paid booking that was made with a discount code such as CHASEBA10? When I rebook, will I be able to reapply the code? Does it matter whether the new booking is paid entirely from the voucher, or has a fare difference to be paid with a card? And in the latter case, will the discount apply to the entire new ticket price, or just the difference charged to the card?
I hope there is known precedent from people who have received vouchers in other scenarios and have used them to pay for flights where they would normally enter a discount code.
Only now is it clear to me that the COVID-19 voucher can only be used by calling in, not for an online booking. (BA.com accepts vouchers beginning "125-82" but mine begins "125-87".) Will the phone agent be able to see that my original booking used CHASEBA10 and automatically allow me to use that discount on the new booking? (And for that matter: Is it okay now to call even though it's not about travel within 72 hours? Are the BA phone reservation fees being waived for using these COVID-19 vouchers?)
Worst case, I am afraid that the 10% discount is baked into the value of the voucher (since it's based on my actual payment) but might not be possible to replicate when I use the voucher.
Obviously would not have this problem if I got a cash refund; alas, I seem to have messed that up badly. Upon deciding not to take my original trip, I promptly requested the voucher (based on the idea of having the value available to rebook ASAP so I could pounce on any deals before they disappear). The next day BA cancelled my flights (if only I had waited a bit longer!). I gritted my teeth but assumed there was nothing I could do since the voucher was already in processing. Now to find out that perhaps I could have called in and still got the refund for the cancelled flights per post 1001. But it seems it's definitely too late now because my voucher code has been issued.
I hope there is known precedent from people who have received vouchers in other scenarios and have used them to pay for flights where they would normally enter a discount code.
Only now is it clear to me that the COVID-19 voucher can only be used by calling in, not for an online booking. (BA.com accepts vouchers beginning "125-82" but mine begins "125-87".) Will the phone agent be able to see that my original booking used CHASEBA10 and automatically allow me to use that discount on the new booking? (And for that matter: Is it okay now to call even though it's not about travel within 72 hours? Are the BA phone reservation fees being waived for using these COVID-19 vouchers?)
Worst case, I am afraid that the 10% discount is baked into the value of the voucher (since it's based on my actual payment) but might not be possible to replicate when I use the voucher.
Obviously would not have this problem if I got a cash refund; alas, I seem to have messed that up badly. Upon deciding not to take my original trip, I promptly requested the voucher (based on the idea of having the value available to rebook ASAP so I could pounce on any deals before they disappear). The next day BA cancelled my flights (if only I had waited a bit longer!). I gritted my teeth but assumed there was nothing I could do since the voucher was already in processing. Now to find out that perhaps I could have called in and still got the refund for the cancelled flights per post 1001. But it seems it's definitely too late now because my voucher code has been issued.
Mar 27, 2020, 2:27 am
#1107
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: LHR
Programs: Ex-NWA Plat
Posts: 1,480
I have a BA ticket bought online directly on BA.com with a Chase BA visa card.
I anticipate BA shortly cancelling my flight - after which I will not have the opportunity to reschedule this special trip across the pond.
And therefore would like a refund - much against BA's wishes and current policy of wanting to issue vouchers only.
Question: what could I do to initiate a chargeback request against the credit card company?
(Is there a statute of limitations?)
What are my other options to secure a full refund?
I anticipate BA shortly cancelling my flight - after which I will not have the opportunity to reschedule this special trip across the pond.
And therefore would like a refund - much against BA's wishes and current policy of wanting to issue vouchers only.
Question: what could I do to initiate a chargeback request against the credit card company?
(Is there a statute of limitations?)
What are my other options to secure a full refund?
Mar 27, 2020, 2:34 am
#1108
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
I have a BA ticket bought online directly on BA.com with a Chase BA visa card.
I anticipate BA shortly cancelling my flight - after which I will not have the opportunity to reschedule this special trip across the pond.
And therefore would like a refund - much against BA's wishes and current policy of wanting to issue vouchers only.
Question: what could I do to initiate a chargeback request against the credit card company?
(Is there a statute of limitations?)
What are my other options to secure a full refund?
I anticipate BA shortly cancelling my flight - after which I will not have the opportunity to reschedule this special trip across the pond.
And therefore would like a refund - much against BA's wishes and current policy of wanting to issue vouchers only.
Question: what could I do to initiate a chargeback request against the credit card company?
(Is there a statute of limitations?)
What are my other options to secure a full refund?
Mar 27, 2020, 2:41 am
#1109
Join Date: Aug 2016
Programs: Flying Blue, SPG, Marriott Rewards, Delta SkyMiles
Posts: 107
I’m trying to call BA at the 0800 number and after selecting the option that I want a refund, the IVR just mentions that during the current circumstances the refunds will be processes in up to 14 days and the call cuts off. Am I missing something?
Mar 27, 2020, 2:44 am
#1110
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
refunds are taking longer than normal at moment due to the volume of them if you are travelling within 72 hours call again and get your refund if not wait