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

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Old Mar 14, 2020, 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.
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Covid-19 BA Rebooking/Cancellation/Refund HELP & ADVICE *No Speculation etc*

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Old Apr 8, 2020, 3:51 am
  #1426  
Ambassador: World of Hyatt
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: UK - the nearest airport is named after a motorway !
Posts: 4,235
Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
If it is the first leg on your PNR, you have 6 years to claim it. It is best to do it in the first 6 months or so however, since it gets more difficult to find the information as time moves on. But if you kept your email e-ticket then there isn't a rush on.
it's the last leg on the ticket - does that make a difference?
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 3:52 am
  #1427  
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
Originally Posted by CeeGee
If I do nothing,will I eventually get an automatic cash refund or do I actively have to do something to get the cash(ie phone up)
You won't get a refund unless you do something about it. The exception are travel agency bookings since for the better run companies they will do a daily scan of cancelled flights and arrange refunds. But for direct bookings you best call up when things get quiet again.
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 3:54 am
  #1428  
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Posts: 63,821
Originally Posted by Stewie Mac
it's the last leg on the ticket - does that make a difference?
Yes it potentially does make a difference, depends on what you have flown so far, and what you have remaining, notably after the flight that is about to depart. There are multiple scenarios depending on markets and fare basis.
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 3:57 am
  #1429  
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
Originally Posted by just_starting
I guess if I call they'll be able to put me into a different class too?
If you move the flight to within 3 days before or 14 days after, any availability in the cabin will do. If it is after 14 days then you need the same fare bucket. You can go up a fare bucket but that will require additional payment. It may be the IT is still set to voluntary cancellation (whereas you are now involuntary). It may work better in a few days, but otherwise you would have to call.
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 4:00 am
  #1430  
 
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 211
Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
You won't get a refund unless you do something about it. The exception are travel agency bookings since for the better run companies they will do a daily scan of cancelled flights and arrange refunds. But for direct bookings you best call up when things get quiet again.
Thank you very much for the swift and informative (as usual CWS)reply
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 4:20 am
  #1431  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Wolverhampton
Programs: BA Silver, Hilton Diamond, Marriot Gold, Radisson Gold, Amex Platinum
Posts: 1,608
So the summary, at the moment, for people who have a cancelled flight within 72 hours (I waited on the advice of the FAQ here), and if you want a refund, and are not status (just dropped from Silver), that you need to work out what time of day you'll get through the standard BA line (0800), press 2 2 2, and actually get into the queue.

After 7am? Lunchtime? Early afternoon before US lines open (East coast, 7am is noon UK)? My flight was Friday evening.

I'd like to get his off my chest before tackling the Qatar flight (if they can rebook it sometime nice like over Christmas and drop me back at BHX, I'll rebook).
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 4:50 am
  #1432  
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Programs: BA Silver VA Red SAS Gold
Posts: 109
I hope anyone will be able to help me with this question, while I wait for BA to answer my tweet:
Due to the FCO advise and travel restrictions I had to cancel my flight LHR-BGK and return SIN-LHR both legs in the month of May 20. BA sent me already the email with the code for the voucher advising that the voucher value will be for the price I paid for the flight. However, I upgraded one leg of the journey to CW using 45000 Avios and £50 fee. Will BA reimburse me the 45000 Avios ? It is impossible at the moment to even enter the telephone line queue system (at least I have not been able the number of times I tired to call) and sent a tweet to BA and waiting for a reply. I don't even know if they still have members of staff working on their social media replies.

Many thanks for any advice
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 4:55 am
  #1433  
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 447
Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
If you move the flight to within 3 days before or 14 days after, any availability in the cabin will do. If it is after 14 days then you need the same fare bucket. You can go up a fare bucket but that will require additional payment. It may be the IT is still set to voluntary cancellation (whereas you are now involuntary). It may work better in a few days, but otherwise you would have to call.
Great, thanks very much, I'll try calling in a few weeks!

I did move some of my April cancellations to December and definitely moved to a higher fare bucket though - wonder if that was just some kind of bug then, wouldn't surprise me...

Last edited by just_starting; Apr 8, 2020 at 5:13 am
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 6:48 am
  #1434  
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Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 629
Originally Posted by just_starting
Just had some May flights to Dubrovnik cancelled. Tried to move them to September online, but no matter which dates I pick I just get "There is no availability for selected date. Please change your date."

Have BA now restricted online rebooking to the same fare class only? I was able to move all my April flights this way without any issues and don't think they all re-booked into the same classes.

I guess if I call they'll be able to put me into a different class too?
if you are moving date by over 14 days of travel same fare class does have to be used as per conditions of carriage. It's only if moving 3 days before or 14 days after any fare class can be used
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 6:51 am
  #1435  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Wolverhampton
Programs: BA Silver, Hilton Diamond, Marriot Gold, Radisson Gold, Amex Platinum
Posts: 1,608
Has anyone managed to use the javascript thing to get a refund from the website recently? My four calls to the BA Helpline are showing that as absolute dead end.
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 7:51 am
  #1436  
Ambassador: World of Hyatt
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: UK - the nearest airport is named after a motorway !
Posts: 4,235
Originally Posted by Smid
Has anyone managed to use the javascript thing to get a refund from the website recently? My four calls to the BA Helpline are showing that as absolute dead end.
No to the first, keep trying to the second - after posting this morning, and having tried 6 times, I got through on the seventh (to the 0800 number).
alpenlupe likes this.
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 8:14 am
  #1437  
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Milton Keynes, UK
Programs: BA Gold (OW Emerald), TK Elite (*A Gold)
Posts: 576
Data point; at 14:50 Wednesday 8th April I called 020 3250 0145 and successfully got into the queue through option 2-2-2. Wait time 16 mins with a lovely agent who had no qualms sorting a refund for a cash + Avios part pay booking. She advised refund to credit card would take 10-14 working days. Total call time 24-minutes and Avios are already back in my account!
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 9:02 am
  #1438  
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 327
I received this email today regarding a booking for a flight in March, which I'd applied for a voucher for before missing the flight:


"Thank you for contacting British Airways. Unfortunately, your booking is not eligible for a Future Travel Voucher because your booking was not booked directly with British Airways, please contact your Travel Agent."

However, it was in fact booked directly with BA. I used an e-voucher (from the BA price match promise) as part-payment for the booking. It's a simple return flight-only booking, nothing unusual and no changes were made.

Perhaps it's been confused by the fact I used an e-voucher as part-payment?

Anyone had any similar problems?

Last edited by musehead; Apr 8, 2020 at 9:08 am
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 9:42 am
  #1439  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Wolverhampton
Programs: BA Silver, Hilton Diamond, Marriot Gold, Radisson Gold, Amex Platinum
Posts: 1,608
Originally Posted by stevebintley
Data point; at 14:50 Wednesday 8th April I called 020 3250 0145 and successfully got into the queue through option 2-2-2. Wait time 16 mins with a lovely agent who had no qualms sorting a refund for a cash + Avios part pay booking. She advised refund to credit card would take 10-14 working days. Total call time 24-minutes and Avios are already back in my account!
0800 was on 13th attempt today, and now trying 0203 number. Making it the 14th attempt today.
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 12:18 pm
  #1440  
 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Posts: 3
Possible flight cancellation 18th may 2020

We were due to fly 18th may 2020 using avios, flight will probably be cancelled.

1. Do you know when it is likely the flight will be cancelled?

2. If it is cancelled, will BA book us on a non avios flight as no avios flights are available for the same destination within the next 6 months?

Thank you
jcoulso17 is offline  


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