Voucher Or Request Refund
 

Reservations to fly EWR-LHR-TLV on July 1 which I will be cancelling, but waiting until the last minute.

But today received email from BA offering voucher good through 30 April 2022

Debating whether it is worth taking the voucher now or holding out. At the moment, non-Israeli citizens are not permitted to enter so wondering whether that would be enough to trigger a refund from BA OR a refund via travel insurance (which I don't count on these days).

Any guidance?

Thanks...

There is no downside in waiting. That would be my advice.

Agree. The fact that they have sent you an email changes nothing. Wait until the last minute - if they cancel any of the flights on the booking you can get a full refund.

There is no scenario in which a credit or voucher for the face value of a ticket is a good deal for the passenger. None.

Wait until the day of the flight. If it is still operating, take the credit. You are no worse off for having waited. If it is cancelled or the schedule substantially changed, take the refund. Remember that there are more reasons for cancellations and delays than Covid-19.

Well even I with my own anti voucher agenda wouldn't quite agree with that :)

Once aspect where an FTV could be better is for bookings involving a 241 and/or GUF. The FTV does seem to keep them alive for the term of the voucher (now up to April 2022), whereas cancel & refund may mean the 241 and GUF expires a lot sooner. But yes I would generally agree that refunds are better typically.

True. But, that involves some other incentive to take the voucher. I suppose that "face value of a ticket" could be expanded to "other incentive which creates value."

My wife and daughter have BA reservations that just had a flight canceled. We received the email offering vouchers valid through April 30, 2022. We want the refund. How do we do that? The last time I tried to call BA, I couldn't get through. Do I keep trying until I get through?

yup, keep trying. BA has chosen not to make this easy, unlike some other airlines which allow you to submit refund requests online (SK, SQ come to mind).

yes, just call. Wait times are down a lot from the peaks a few weeks ago.

7:30 am or 9:30 pm seem to be the quietest times.

Just decided to take voucher now. My July program in Israel is cancelled and I fly BA several times a year anyway. Due to the complexity of my scheduled August Africa trip, I very well may need to divide this into two or three separate flights to Africa. So will at least have the voucher to offset all or part of the extra trips. Plus LHR and at least one TLV trip a year. Actually, quite good of BA to offer the voucher proactively.

Wouldn't it have been better to have the cash to offset all or part of the trips rather than a voucher? There are some vouchers that make sense to me. For example Hilton offered me a two night stay anywhere in return for not taking a refund for a pre-paid two night stay. Given that the pre-paid amount was very low the voucher offer makes financial sense. I don't really understand your logic but then again, you don't need to explain yourself to me :)

As KARFA. states is certainly worth remembering this for AVIOS bookings with GUFs attached to them.

I now have a amex 241 and guf1x2 effectively extended for two years beyond their original expiry. Plus the avios protection from devaluation for lhr lax return. Only downside taxes may change.

LH group offers vouchers too plus if you take this option, through in another EUR50 in addition to the original ticket value. Wish BA would do that too...

Is this because they are refusing to refund for cancelled flights and ignoring Art 8 EC261?