redrose59

Mods...if there is a thread where this would be best put then please move. Thanks.

We are due to fly ABZ- LHR-JNB on May 10th. We used a 2-4-1 companion voucher, booked in July 2019 . We paid for seats on the LHR-JNB leg in the UD, 747. As yet the flight has not been cancelled. However, we have just had an email stating that our seats have changed and that we could view them in MMB. I see that the aircraft is now a 777, however we can't see our "new seats" . We specifically paid for seats on the UD, I very much doubt that we would have paid for seats on a 777. We would have taken our chances and selected at 7 days out.
As things stand we wouldn't be able to fly due to FCO advice and restrictions in RSA. We would prefer a refund of the taxes and our seat selections. Where does this leave us and what is our best strategy for getting a refund? Do we sit tight and wait for BA to cancel or is there some other action we can take?
We also have a flight from JNB to WDH on 11th May booked with cash, this is on a seperate ticket. We are hoping this will be cancelled too.

Many thanks for any help.

mikeyfly

Sit tight for now

JohnnyCarmello

I have LHR-JNB flights a month later than you, and I'm expecting them to be cancelled. I can't imagine SA will want UK visitors in the country even in 2 months.
They have cancelled the LHR-JNB flights for the rest of April, I would expect yours to follow suit shortly. If i was yours, I'd sit tight until the end of the month.

flygod

You might as well sit tight: you'll get no more refund if you cancel now than if you cancel the day before the flight.

So be patient and wait for BA to fold. The first sign will be them emailing you with an offer to get s voucher. The cancellation follows a couple of days later.

ISTFlyer

BA 57 LHR-JNB and BA 54 JNB-LHR operates throughout May. If you were booked on another LHR-JNB or JNB-LHR flight other than BA57 and BA54, your flight would be canceled and you would be able to get a full refund.

If you're booked on BA 57 and BA 54 both ways, it's a super-low possibility for your flight to be canceled.

However, you would get your money back for the seats as all JNB flights that would be operated in May would be operated with Boeing 777 aircraft rather than Boeing 747.
Also for the JNB-WDH flight, good luck

Soupdragon62

I know things are bad, but that's a little pessimistic I think.... :-)

Confus

Patience is a virtue. Seating fees are always refundable - even after the flight - if you don’t get what you paid for, so don’t worry about those. Cancelling 30 hours before the flight would get you exactly the same as cancelling now, with the added bonus of the chance of a no-quibble full refund if (when) BA pulls the plug. Absolutely sit tight and wait - diarise to check a couple days before and you’ll be fine.

redrose59

Those are the flights we are booked on, BA57 and BA54. As you think that there is a "super-low possibility" that they will be cancelled where does that leave us in regards to a refund? We wouldn't be allowed to enter RSA as things stand and our FCO advice is not to travel, are we caught between a rock and a hard place here?
Is there more of a chance of our flight from ABZ to LHR BA1307 on Sunday 10th May being cancelled and therefore would allow us a refund?

Thanks everyone for all the replies. We are trying to work how best to proceed with our trip which is spread over 3 countries, numerous lodges, accommodations and car hire booked and paid for. So much depends on what happens with our flights. Now where's my crystal ball?

Hawk777

if the flights aren't cancelled it basically leaves you with voucher or refund minus usual cancellation fees or rebook under book with confidence policy

there is a good chance the domestic leg will be cancelled the long haul not sure yrt

LondonElite

I thought that SA closed its airspace. Maybe I'm wrong, but an acquaintance I spoke to yesterday (who is riding this out along the coast) said three more weeks before he sees airports being opened. I would accordingly suspect no flights to SA in early May.

redrose59

Thanks Hawk for the reply and all the help and advice you give on here. Much appreciated.
If it was just the £35 x 2 then we would have most likely cancelled, but we paid for seat selection so will wait a wee while longer to see what happens.

redrose59

Rather than start another thread I thought I'd post a further "issue" we now have involving our trip.

On contacting our insurance company to clarify a few points they said that we would be covered for our trip if we rescheduled our flights and accommodation. We think the accommodation shouldn't be too problematic. We would want to reschedule for May/June 2021 ( we are due to go on 10th May 2020, return June 9th ). But they said that if we accepted a "voucher" or the flights are cancelled, and then rebooked, we wouldn't be covered next year as it would be classed as a new booking. But if we could reschedule the flights we would be covered.

We would wish to reschedule for departure around May 1st and return approx 5 weeks later. Do we have to have completed a rescheduled trip by May 10th ( 12 months from our original date of departure)?
Is it possible to rebook for eg. November 2020 where there is reward seat availability to JNB and then once seats for May 2021 open up reschedule once again?
Our 2-4-1 companion voucher will expire in July 2021 so we want to make use of it. If we cannot work around the flights issues we stand to lose money on forex fees for monies paid for accommodation as we would have to cancel the whole trip. We are really keen to reschedule everything for a years time but just when we think we have a plan there seems to be another twist.
We did try to contact BA after speaking to our insurance company but haven't been able to get through. We had tried to change dates in MMB but it said we would have to call the contact centre.....I'm sure you can see our dilema, we would be ever so grateful if anyone can help us once again.

corporate-wage-slave

The problem is that as things stand the voucher must be used up, inlcuding the return leg, within 12 months, so 10 May. The idea of rebooking first to November then rebooking to past 10 May 2021 won't work since that move will need to refer back to the original e-ticket, which would have the 10 May 2021 expiry. In any case you don't need to do anything once you have the eVoucher, just use it when you know you're going to be travelling. Bear in mind you can use it on (for example) a BA Holidays trip to somewhere else. I accept this means buying a new flight to South Africa in order to recycle the accommodation costs, but in terms of value for money it may work out best.

There is no harm starting a new thread, a Mod will move it if necessary. But having a good title really helps, since others can search more productively if they are in a similar scenario.

LondonElite

I'm not sure I follow. Why would your insurance not cover you (incidentally, for what?) on a new booking rather than an existing deferred booking. Wouldn't you have insurance in either case?

redrose59

Thanks CWS,
That's made things a wee bit clearer for us now. Much appreciated.