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 31, 2020, 9:56 am
#1231
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Cambridgeshire
Programs: Varies
Posts: 1,298
I just used the java workaround in Chrome to cancel a 241 booking in May where the flight hasn't been cancelled yet.
I was able to get the cancellation screen which showed all the correct information. I submitted it and got a screen that said "We are refunding your ticket(s) which may take up to 2 minutes. Please wait for confirmation that your booking has been cancelled".
That was 25 minutes ago. Nothing happened after that. The screen didn't change, I've had no confirmation of the refund, and the booking is still showing in the app despite uninstalling and reinstalling.
It's not a big deal, hopefully. I have a screenshot of that message but unfortunately I didn't take one of the cancellation form before I submitted it.
I appreciate things are sluggish at the moment but it would be helpful if they didn't say it would take up to two minutes if it's taking longer at the moment.
I was able to get the cancellation screen which showed all the correct information. I submitted it and got a screen that said "We are refunding your ticket(s) which may take up to 2 minutes. Please wait for confirmation that your booking has been cancelled".
That was 25 minutes ago. Nothing happened after that. The screen didn't change, I've had no confirmation of the refund, and the booking is still showing in the app despite uninstalling and reinstalling.
It's not a big deal, hopefully. I have a screenshot of that message but unfortunately I didn't take one of the cancellation form before I submitted it.
I appreciate things are sluggish at the moment but it would be helpful if they didn't say it would take up to two minutes if it's taking longer at the moment.
Mar 31, 2020, 10:01 am
#1232
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Angus Scotland
Programs: BAEC Bronze, LH M&M
Posts: 177
I have a bit of a "Chicken and egg" issue here and would really appreciate some advice.
We have a trip booked for May 10th, ABZ -LHR- JNB using a 2-4-1 avios companion voucher. We have paid for seat selection on the LHR-JNB in J for both legs. We then have a flight from JNB to WDH on Comair on 11th May. We booked these flights in July 2019.
We have all kinds of accomodation booked, it is not a package type of holiday. We are now being informed by some of the accommodation that they are closed when we are due to be there. We are being asked if we would like to rebook for a later date. After speaking with our travel insurance company we are minded to do this as we do travel to Southern Africa on a regular basis and would be covered insurance wise.
However, we cannot rearrange our accommodation etc until we know what reward seats/flights we can get. If we cancelled our flights we would lose quite a bit of money due to the seat fees plus the £35x2 . Neither would we want to make a new booking and then have 2 lots of money and avios tied up with BA. At the moment, which is the quickest, wait for BA to cancel and request a refund of the avios, taxes and seat fees which are in the region of £1700 in total ( but am I correct in thinking that I can only request a refund 72 hours before departure date?) or apply for a voucher (does the voucher include the fees we paid for the seats?) which would allow me to rebook available reward seats to suit? Under the present circumstances we do understand that BA are under considerable pressure, we're just trying to work our way through this the best way we can and to give answers to the people we have bookings with over in Africa.
Many thanks for any help and advice. Keep well everyone.
We have a trip booked for May 10th, ABZ -LHR- JNB using a 2-4-1 avios companion voucher. We have paid for seat selection on the LHR-JNB in J for both legs. We then have a flight from JNB to WDH on Comair on 11th May. We booked these flights in July 2019.
We have all kinds of accomodation booked, it is not a package type of holiday. We are now being informed by some of the accommodation that they are closed when we are due to be there. We are being asked if we would like to rebook for a later date. After speaking with our travel insurance company we are minded to do this as we do travel to Southern Africa on a regular basis and would be covered insurance wise.
However, we cannot rearrange our accommodation etc until we know what reward seats/flights we can get. If we cancelled our flights we would lose quite a bit of money due to the seat fees plus the £35x2 . Neither would we want to make a new booking and then have 2 lots of money and avios tied up with BA. At the moment, which is the quickest, wait for BA to cancel and request a refund of the avios, taxes and seat fees which are in the region of £1700 in total ( but am I correct in thinking that I can only request a refund 72 hours before departure date?) or apply for a voucher (does the voucher include the fees we paid for the seats?) which would allow me to rebook available reward seats to suit? Under the present circumstances we do understand that BA are under considerable pressure, we're just trying to work our way through this the best way we can and to give answers to the people we have bookings with over in Africa.
Many thanks for any help and advice. Keep well everyone.
Mar 31, 2020, 10:01 am
#1233
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Cambridgeshire
Programs: Varies
Posts: 1,298
I just used the java workaround in Chrome to cancel a 241 booking in May where the flight hasn't been cancelled yet.
I was able to get the cancellation screen which showed all the correct information. I submitted it and got a screen that said "We are refunding your ticket(s) which may take up to 2 minutes. Please wait for confirmation that your booking has been cancelled".
That was 25 minutes ago. Nothing happened after that. The screen didn't change, I've had no confirmation of the refund, and the booking is still showing in the app despite uninstalling and reinstalling.
It's not a big deal, hopefully. I have a screenshot of that message but unfortunately I didn't take one of the cancellation form before I submitted it.
I appreciate things are sluggish at the moment but it would be helpful if they didn't say it would take up to two minutes if it's taking longer at the moment.
I was able to get the cancellation screen which showed all the correct information. I submitted it and got a screen that said "We are refunding your ticket(s) which may take up to 2 minutes. Please wait for confirmation that your booking has been cancelled".
That was 25 minutes ago. Nothing happened after that. The screen didn't change, I've had no confirmation of the refund, and the booking is still showing in the app despite uninstalling and reinstalling.
It's not a big deal, hopefully. I have a screenshot of that message but unfortunately I didn't take one of the cancellation form before I submitted it.
I appreciate things are sluggish at the moment but it would be helpful if they didn't say it would take up to two minutes if it's taking longer at the moment.
Update: I did it again and it worked immediately. Perhaps I didn't turn javascript back on at the righ time on the first attempt
Mar 31, 2020, 10:02 am
#1234
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 447
I just used the java workaround in Chrome to cancel a 241 booking in May where the flight hasn't been cancelled yet.
I was able to get the cancellation screen which showed all the correct information. I submitted it and got a screen that said "We are refunding your ticket(s) which may take up to 2 minutes. Please wait for confirmation that your booking has been cancelled".
That was 25 minutes ago. Nothing happened after that. The screen didn't change, I've had no confirmation of the refund, and the booking is still showing in the app despite uninstalling and reinstalling.
It's not a big deal, hopefully. I have a screenshot of that message but unfortunately I didn't take one of the cancellation form before I submitted it.
I appreciate things are sluggish at the moment but it would be helpful if they didn't say it would take up to two minutes if it's taking longer at the moment.
I was able to get the cancellation screen which showed all the correct information. I submitted it and got a screen that said "We are refunding your ticket(s) which may take up to 2 minutes. Please wait for confirmation that your booking has been cancelled".
That was 25 minutes ago. Nothing happened after that. The screen didn't change, I've had no confirmation of the refund, and the booking is still showing in the app despite uninstalling and reinstalling.
It's not a big deal, hopefully. I have a screenshot of that message but unfortunately I didn't take one of the cancellation form before I submitted it.
I appreciate things are sluggish at the moment but it would be helpful if they didn't say it would take up to two minutes if it's taking longer at the moment.
Mar 31, 2020, 10:03 am
#1235
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Cambridgeshire
Programs: Varies
Posts: 1,298
Nope. It worked when I tried it the second time. Thanks for your help
I also got email confirmation within a few minutes.
Avios and companion voucher are back in my account now too.
Last edited by ttama; Mar 31, 2020 at 11:17 am
Mar 31, 2020, 10:11 am
#1236
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 1,281
I have a bit of a "Chicken and egg" issue here and would really appreciate some advice.
We have a trip booked for May 10th, ABZ -LHR- JNB using a 2-4-1 avios companion voucher. We have paid for seat selection on the LHR-JNB in J for both legs. We then have a flight from JNB to WDH on Comair on 11th May. We booked these flights in July 2019.
We have all kinds of accomodation booked, it is not a package type of holiday. We are now being informed by some of the accommodation that they are closed when we are due to be there. We are being asked if we would like to rebook for a later date. After speaking with our travel insurance company we are minded to do this as we do travel to Southern Africa on a regular basis and would be covered insurance wise.
However, we cannot rearrange our accommodation etc until we know what reward seats/flights we can get. If we cancelled our flights we would lose quite a bit of money due to the seat fees plus the £35x2 . Neither would we want to make a new booking and then have 2 lots of money and avios tied up with BA. At the moment, which is the quickest, wait for BA to cancel and request a refund of the avios, taxes and seat fees which are in the region of £1700 in total ( but am I correct in thinking that I can only request a refund 72 hours before departure date?) or apply for a voucher (does the voucher include the fees we paid for the seats?) which would allow me to rebook available reward seats to suit? Under the present circumstances we do understand that BA are under considerable pressure, we're just trying to work our way through this the best way we can and to give answers to the people we have bookings with over in Africa.
Many thanks for any help and advice. Keep well everyone.
We have a trip booked for May 10th, ABZ -LHR- JNB using a 2-4-1 avios companion voucher. We have paid for seat selection on the LHR-JNB in J for both legs. We then have a flight from JNB to WDH on Comair on 11th May. We booked these flights in July 2019.
We have all kinds of accomodation booked, it is not a package type of holiday. We are now being informed by some of the accommodation that they are closed when we are due to be there. We are being asked if we would like to rebook for a later date. After speaking with our travel insurance company we are minded to do this as we do travel to Southern Africa on a regular basis and would be covered insurance wise.
However, we cannot rearrange our accommodation etc until we know what reward seats/flights we can get. If we cancelled our flights we would lose quite a bit of money due to the seat fees plus the £35x2 . Neither would we want to make a new booking and then have 2 lots of money and avios tied up with BA. At the moment, which is the quickest, wait for BA to cancel and request a refund of the avios, taxes and seat fees which are in the region of £1700 in total ( but am I correct in thinking that I can only request a refund 72 hours before departure date?) or apply for a voucher (does the voucher include the fees we paid for the seats?) which would allow me to rebook available reward seats to suit? Under the present circumstances we do understand that BA are under considerable pressure, we're just trying to work our way through this the best way we can and to give answers to the people we have bookings with over in Africa.
Many thanks for any help and advice. Keep well everyone.
Also, are you sure your insurance will cover you for a rebooked holiday, given that FCO advice is against all but essential travel to this destination? I've got an upcoming trip to another destination, and my insurance says it'll pay out for if I cancel, but if I reschedule for another date, I'm on my own due to the FCO advice in place.
Mar 31, 2020, 10:23 am
#1237
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: 63,854
TravelUp are now working on email only (no 'phones) but did email me last night offering a cash refund (less some fee's which amount to ~£70/ticket) and saying that if I accepted this, a refund would be made in 6-8 weeks - does this timing sound about right?
Yesterday evening I accepted their offer to cancel and refund, this morning the flights have disappeared from 'My Flight Bookings' - is this a good sign?!
Yesterday evening I accepted their offer to cancel and refund, this morning the flights have disappeared from 'My Flight Bookings' - is this a good sign?!
Mar 31, 2020, 10:33 am
#1238
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 26
I can't comment on TravelUp specifically, but for TA bookings generally a 6 to 8 week refund is about right even for a professional high street operation. BA direct ticket refunds fall into two categories - self serve and manual. in normal times 4 to 6 weeks for manual refunds is fairly normal too. I would also take the MMB removal as a good sign.
Mar 31, 2020, 10:36 am
#1239
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: 63,854
For manual refunds yes, in normal times. At the moment it can only be longer given the workload (1 million passengers a week....). For Self Serve refunds then it's more or less immediate.
Mar 31, 2020, 10:46 am
#1240
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: Executive Club: Gold - Flying Blue: Gold
Posts: 1,382
My flight to Victoria Falls on May 29th is cancelled. It is part of a JNB-VFA/LVI-JNB. The return is not cancelled. Rebooking takes me to an error page. Although I think the whole trip to Namibia and Victoria Falls is going to be cancelled, nervertheless are there any rebooking options? May be on SA?
Mar 31, 2020, 10:52 am
#1241
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,146
Mar 31, 2020, 11:05 am
#1242
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 2,553
With 4 flights on the booking, that's 4 opportunities for BA to cancel a flight and be forced into giving you a refund! I'd be very, very, very surprised if JNB stays double day. So if you wanted a complete unwinding then it could be worth waiting.
Also, are you sure your insurance will cover you for a rebooked holiday, given that FCO advice is against all but essential travel to this destination? I've got an upcoming trip to another destination, and my insurance says it'll pay out for if I cancel, but if I reschedule for another date, I'm on my own due to the FCO advice in place.
Also, are you sure your insurance will cover you for a rebooked holiday, given that FCO advice is against all but essential travel to this destination? I've got an upcoming trip to another destination, and my insurance says it'll pay out for if I cancel, but if I reschedule for another date, I'm on my own due to the FCO advice in place.
Mar 31, 2020, 11:15 am
#1243
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Angus Scotland
Programs: BAEC Bronze, LH M&M
Posts: 177
With 4 flights on the booking, that's 4 opportunities for BA to cancel a flight and be forced into giving you a refund! I'd be very, very, very surprised if JNB stays double day. So if you wanted a complete unwinding then it could be worth waiting.
Also, are you sure your insurance will cover you for a rebooked holiday, given that FCO advice is against all but essential travel to this destination? I've got an upcoming trip to another destination, and my insurance says it'll pay out for if I cancel, but if I reschedule for another date, I'm on my own due to the FCO advice in place.
Also, are you sure your insurance will cover you for a rebooked holiday, given that FCO advice is against all but essential travel to this destination? I've got an upcoming trip to another destination, and my insurance says it'll pay out for if I cancel, but if I reschedule for another date, I'm on my own due to the FCO advice in place.
I phoned our travel insurance company after I got the email from the folk in Namibia asking about a reschedule to a later date. It's travel insurance that we get though our bank account and they said that we would be covered. But I will double check again before I rebook or cancel, we can't afford to risk losing a considerable amount of money.
Apr 1, 2020, 1:15 am
#1244
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 18
Booked EDI-LGW-ALG in Club Europe back in February for travel in May for £248 + 35,000 Avios. When I try the java workaround for a refund I’m offered just £68 with no mention of Avios. Presumably I’ll need to await BA formally cancelling the flights before the java workaround starts to offer me the full amount and Avios? Thanks in advance for any help!
Apr 1, 2020, 1:40 am
#1245
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: 63,854
Booked EDI-LGW-ALG in Club Europe back in February for travel in May for £248 + 35,000 Avios. When I try the java workaround for a refund I’m offered just £68 with no mention of Avios. Presumably I’ll need to await BA formally cancelling the flights before the java workaround starts to offer me the full amount and Avios? Thanks in advance for any help!
Anyone not sure should reach out in this thread,and giving the specifics of the booking (such as dates).