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*
#1336
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
I have a ticket starting travel 30 May 2020 and returning home 18 June 2020. I have postponed trip to same dates in 2021, but have't applied for the voucher yet (waiting to see if it will be cancelled. (Houston-London-Nairobi-London-Phoenix). And waiting to call BA closed to the travel dates.
Are you saying my voucher won't be any good for the ENTIRE 2021 dates?? Where did you get your information? If so, I am devastated.
Are you saying my voucher won't be any good for the ENTIRE 2021 dates?? Where did you get your information? If so, I am devastated.
#1337
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: SAN, MIA, GOT
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 349
What are the rules if my Avios ticket gets cancelled. Can i request to be rerouted with other OW airlines and does award space have to be available?
#1338
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Berkshire
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 380
Interesting. I was thinking about just delaying my planned San Diego trip for May 2020 until May 2021 using a voucher but this response appears to make that option impossible. Seems a bit short-sighted by BA so I guess it means I'll just have to wait for the flight to be cancelled and let them hand back a few £thousand which I can spend anywhere instead.
#1339
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: 63,821
Depends on the specifics, and I assume we mean here that BA have cancelled the flight, but if the cancellation is given with plenty of notice, then the usual remedy is to move to 3 days before or 14 days after, and if necessary they will create Avios space. This has to be on BA metal, but joint ventures may be OK, and there me a Guidance out on the route in question. If it is very short notice BA may look to other options. If the rebooking is for a longer period than 2 weeks then you would also need Avios availability, so it may be easier just to take the retund of Avios and cash.
#1340
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: 63,821
Interesting. I was thinking about just delaying my planned San Diego trip for May 2020 until May 2021 using a voucher but this response appears to make that option impossible. Seems a bit short-sighted by BA so I guess it means I'll just have to wait for the flight to be cancelled and let them hand back a few £thousand which I can spend anywhere instead.
#1341
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Shoreham By Sea
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 1,333
Was booked on one of those great Paris fares to USA. Have now received a voucher with a Euro value. Should I easily be able to use this on a UK booking in sterling?
#1342
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Edinburgh
Programs: BA Gold, FB Gold
Posts: 83
Anyone know which numbers are actually answered if you phone in - I get given the 0800 727 800 number but just tried this and you can't get through to anyone at all. Maybe a Sunday morning is especially busy? I was expected the demand to have died down a bit now.
#1343
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: 63,821
Yes, I can't see a problem there, the exchange rate would be based on IATA's exchange rates, but you can use it as if it was sterling.
#1344
Join Date: Jan 2018
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 439
I have a return booked to the US in April that's been cancelled. I'm thinking of switching it to mid July but may postpone it further depending on the circumstances. I have full intentions of flying this booking and not asking for a refund. Have 2 questions.
1) The outbound is booked for April 17th. Do I need to tell BA before April 17th what I intend to do to rearrange? I.e.- is there are a hard deadline of this date, and what happens if I miss it.
2) If I choose to switch it to mid July, like I currently intend but then the event I'm flying over for gets moved again, say to September- is the booking a one time change, or can I move it again?
Thanks for your help
1) The outbound is booked for April 17th. Do I need to tell BA before April 17th what I intend to do to rearrange? I.e.- is there are a hard deadline of this date, and what happens if I miss it.
2) If I choose to switch it to mid July, like I currently intend but then the event I'm flying over for gets moved again, say to September- is the booking a one time change, or can I move it again?
Thanks for your help
#1345
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: BER
Programs: BA GGL, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,843
problem 1: i was booked on txl lhr jfk lax (ba983 ba115 aa300) for 05/29. aa 300 got cancelled. i got reeboked on aa302 departing 6 pm (ba115 arrives 05:30 pm).
this is obviously not doable. will the system kick in an correct this? should i call the hotline and ask for another rebooking? should I cancel anyway cause TXL-LAX-TXL wouldnt be possible at all end of may? so many questions, where are the guys with the crystal ball?
problem 2: in a booking for october there was the AA service MAN-PHL, which is cancelled for the rest of the year. if i click on mmb i get the new layout (is it allowed to be called layout at all?) and the text similar to "we're sorry that your flight to PHL is cancelled". no rebooking at all, just the cancel booking button at the end which leads to the travel voucher form we all know very well. has anyone encountered this? i never wanted to see the new layout at all, i always clicked on go back to old layout etc.
this is obviously not doable. will the system kick in an correct this? should i call the hotline and ask for another rebooking? should I cancel anyway cause TXL-LAX-TXL wouldnt be possible at all end of may? so many questions, where are the guys with the crystal ball?
problem 2: in a booking for october there was the AA service MAN-PHL, which is cancelled for the rest of the year. if i click on mmb i get the new layout (is it allowed to be called layout at all?) and the text similar to "we're sorry that your flight to PHL is cancelled". no rebooking at all, just the cancel booking button at the end which leads to the travel voucher form we all know very well. has anyone encountered this? i never wanted to see the new layout at all, i always clicked on go back to old layout etc.
Last edited by Nephoi; Apr 5, 2020 at 6:27 am Reason: added problem 2
#1346
Join Date: Jul 2010
Programs: BAEC Gold Guest List
Posts: 193
I have just cancelled an Avios booking that had used two Companion Vouchers. The Avios were refunded immediately but not the Companion Vouchers. Will I need to call BA to facilitate this or will the system eventually catch up and the vouchers be returned automatically?
#1347
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,968
I have just cancelled an Avios booking that had used two Companion Vouchers. The Avios were refunded immediately but not the Companion Vouchers. Will I need to call BA to facilitate this or will the system eventually catch up and the vouchers be returned automatically?
#1348
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: 63,821
1) The outbound is booked for April 17th. Do I need to tell BA before April 17th what I intend to do to rearrange? I.e.- is there are a hard deadline of this date, and what happens if I miss it.
2) If I choose to switch it to mid July, like I currently intend but then the event I'm flying over for gets moved again, say to September- is the booking a one time change, or can I move it again?
2) If I choose to switch it to mid July, like I currently intend but then the event I'm flying over for gets moved again, say to September- is the booking a one time change, or can I move it again?
#1349
Join Date: Aug 2019
Programs: BAEC Gold (1w Emerald), United Platinum (*G), Marriott Plat Elite
Posts: 359
I have just received a travel voucher from BA but it mentions you need to call BA over phone, which incurs 10 pounds fee - should not this be waived in lieu of the circumstances?
#1350
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: 63,821
problem 1: i was booked on txl lhr jfk lax (ba983 ba115 aa300) for 05/29. aa 300 got cancelled. i got reeboked on aa302 departing 6 pm (ba115 arrives 05:30 pm).
this is obviously not doable. will the system kick in an correct this? should i call the hotline and ask for another rebooking? should I cancel anyway cause TXL-LAX-TXL wouldnt be possible at all end of may? so many questions, where are the guys with the crystal ball?
problem 2: in a booking for october there was the AA service MAN-PHL, which is cancelled for the rest of the year. if i click on mmb i get the new layout (is it allowed to be called layout at all?) and the text similar to "we're sorry that your flight to PHL is cancelled". no rebooking at all, just the cancel booking button at the end which leads to the travel voucher form we all know very well. has anyone encountered this? i never wanted to see the new layout at all, i always clicked on go back to old layout etc.
this is obviously not doable. will the system kick in an correct this? should i call the hotline and ask for another rebooking? should I cancel anyway cause TXL-LAX-TXL wouldnt be possible at all end of may? so many questions, where are the guys with the crystal ball?
problem 2: in a booking for october there was the AA service MAN-PHL, which is cancelled for the rest of the year. if i click on mmb i get the new layout (is it allowed to be called layout at all?) and the text similar to "we're sorry that your flight to PHL is cancelled". no rebooking at all, just the cancel booking button at the end which leads to the travel voucher form we all know very well. has anyone encountered this? i never wanted to see the new layout at all, i always clicked on go back to old layout etc.
2) Reaccom tends to fail totally if there is no simple route replacement, when a human would more obviously suggest MAN-LHR-PHL. So you can ring up in say September and either get a re-route or a full refund, assuming this was booked on BA.com or via BA's contact centres.