PeaSouper

18 days since we initially applied for the e-voucher, 14 days since they told us we'd have it in 7 days. I'm not meant to call BA unless I'm flying in 72 hours, so I can't even ask them what the status is. I'm considering just kicking off an Amex chargeback.

zambandit

Thanks JAXBA - much appreciated Re the response.
I'll give them another 2 weeks and then ask if they paid through a clearing house....and see what response i get.
Regards

SirToby

Canceled an Avios booking via phone 19 days ago, also included a previous date change so "it needs to be handled manually".
Avios were refunded almost instantaneously but no email confirming the cancelation was sent out not to mention the pending money refund...

FlyerMU

As another data point. I made a revenue booking for flights to MSY for a business trip, circa £16,000 on my Amex on 28th February. Shortly afterwards, given the changing situation, the trip got cancelled by my customer. I played chicken with BA for a bit to see if they'd cancel and eventually on 24th March they cancelled the flight and offered an alternative time. I chose to take the refund at that point and used the Javascript trick to get a cash refund rather than a voucher. The refund hit my Amex on the 25th (i.e. 1 day later). The refund was for the total amount of the original booking. Fortuitously this was a few days before payment was due on the card, so none of the spend needed paying off.

AnaTravel

SirToby, I have had a similar experience. I called last week after patiently waiting almost three weeks for a cash refund. I was told that the centre in India (which handled refunds) had been closed due to Coronavirus. Manual refunds only for this type of booking. Avios were returned almost immediately, cash not. I was told to wait an additional two weeks.

A13

hmm might call then. I want my 241 and avios back asap to make another booking soon for 2021. Not fussed about how long the cash takes.
Did they sort out the Avios on the phone then?

oxtailsoup

Rang up GGL nearly three weeks ago to process a refund on a BA cancelled Avios booking for which the refunded taxes are about £2200. Heard absolutely nothing since, no sign of the money.

On the same call I cancelled two other cash bookings for which I was told I’d get a voucher for each. No vouchers received yet.

The lack of the vouchers is stopping me booking future travel because obviously I want to use them.

toadman

Seems like BA CSR teams are still swamped as ever. When do you reckon things will calm down? Another 2 weeks? A month?

AnaTravel

A13, the Avios points were credited after ending the phone call. Within a few hours. I have been waiting 21 days for the cash refund on one flight and 11 days on the other. My 2-4-1 voucher was returned within a day or so. Good luck.

Soupdragon62

Canceled a couple of reward flights on the Gold Line today, 3 minute wait for an agent, Avios were back in my account before the call ended and was told up to 5 weeks to get the cash back on the card.

JAXBA

A lot of BA's manual processing and calculating is done in India - where all the staff have been sent home. I don't believe they're able to work from home, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are large volumes of PNRs on various queues, with few if any staff available to process them.

We may be waiting a fair while yet. (I have a $3917.00 refund due myself.)

Hawk777

The India lockdown having a major impact on refunds especially manual ones the last two days have meant to be my days off but been sat in front of a computer all day processing some refunds and vouchers lets just say the current list was well over 6 figures and was higher at the end of the day than it was at the beginning

jday

Cancelled a 241 Avios booking using the JavaScript hack on Sunday night. Decided to take the £70 hit to be sure I got the refund and not a voucher. Money was refunded by Tuesday morning.

Iamnotlost

I am just wondering in what order these are processed, Hawk777? Assuming you are allowed to say. Is it the order the requests are received, flight date, luck of the draw......?

I have a couple "in the system" and am not fretting but some of the comments in this and other threads suggest some people are getting impatient and starting chargebacks etc. I wouldn't feel right about doing that in the current circumstances but my financial exposure is relatively limited so that might be a factor.

Soupdragon62

The person I spoke to said exactly this and as a side note also Sunday was his quietest day ever, so quiet he thought the network was down.

I know from my own role which includes resiliency planning that there are significant challenges to relocating call center staff in India to work from home, it's not simply grab your laptop, go home and log on, VOIP is illegal, there are tax implications if your call center is in a free trade zone and you want to take equipment outside of it, spotty to sometimes non existent broadband outside of a campus and so on.

We had to work really hard to get around those challenges and, as an IT company we were probably a little ahead of the curve on how to make it happen technology wise at least. So I'd guess BA are still in the middle of figuring all that out