dougzz

Surely the purpose of the button removal was to create the backlog and hold onto the cash. Human intervention on more complex ones I understand. But staff would be more likely available for those if the straight forward ones were automated. I can't think anyone outside of BA management thought the automated refund removal for cancelled flights was a good idea.

bhbloke

I received one of the frequent surveys this morning, one of the things I raised was their poor handling of BA and the bad perception of the brand by the travelling public.

Will be interesting how many people raise the same issue, so they can see just how damaging this is to their brand.

Raffles

A layperson could be forgiven for questioning why this functionality used to be there but now mysteriously is not now fit for purpose .....

ba.com has always been able to grey out cancellation options for flights which had 'issues'.

BA is a pillar of virtue compared to easyJet, Ryanair and Virgin ('you'll get your money in 100 days') though so let's not give them a hard time. BA Refund Helper on here has also done an outstanding job.

bhbloke

You can't blame the frontline staff for this rather unhelpful change to the website.

It's been put in pace by management to preserve cashflow as much as possible.

Both people I spoke to on the Gold Exec number were super helpful, and sorted out both cash and Avios flight refunds for me with no issues. They also gave me a good indication of how long the refund would take to hit my bank account.

tigertanaka

Just because BA might be the best of a bad lot (in what is an unprecedented situation), I don't think this is any reason not to give the company (not the staff) a hard time. They appear to have deliberately made it more difficult for customers to get the refunds they are legally entitled to in order to maintain their own cash situation (which may be understandable from BA's perspective, I would argue that I am not BA's bank).

If I pay Amazon for a product and they subsequently find out that they can't fulfil my order, I get a refund to my credit card without any messing about. I realise that not all refunds for cancellations are simple but the vast majority of direct bookings will be.

plunet

You might hope so, but even Amazon can screw up big time, especially when they entrust high value goods to 3rd party logistics outfits like Yodel.

I agree that BA have been unnecessarily obstructive to make their refund process simpler. When you get through to someone it's very easy to get the refund sorted.

Confus

As one of the call centre guys on here has said, it wasn’t only done to make life difficult for customers. There are a lot of customers who would press the button without reading that they’re not getting a full cancellation (if their flight isn’t actually cancelled), which creates more calls later when they complain. At least the way it’s done today agents can warn them first and offer a voucher as an alternative where it’s actually the most appropriate offer.

As much as I love to bash BA, I do have some sympathy with this view - particularly now call wait times have decreased massively from the peak.

Confus

Don’t all MPs automatically get sent a free Silver card by BA on taking office? They always used to anyway.

Dave Noble

Air New Zealand is one

Keystone

BA Holidays are another

Sailbot3310

For non-cancelled flights, sure. I can see that argument. For cancelled flights? You have 3 options:

• Rebook (sometimes available online; I've had one when it wasn't)
• Voucher (Worth full amount in £ - available online through form)
• Refund (Worth full amount in £ - must phone)

If you want the third option, you have to phone up and block the phone lines at not only an inconvenience to yourself, but more importantly an inconvenience to those with urgent issues trying to get through.

I have full sympathy for the call centre staff, apart from one who said that rebooking isn't an option until things are more settled (which was resolved when I phoned back to cancel the refund). They do a tremendous job, and they are mostly professional throughout. Whilst I have probably spent close to 5 hours on the phone to BA over the past months (and numerous more trying) is a minor inconvenience, I hate to think that I'm in the queue ahead of someone who is more in need. Could I wait? Probably. But when do you stop waiting?

I'm not looking to just bash BA, they're my preferred airline. I just can't get my head around them purposefully making you phone for a cancelled flight when previously this was available online. That conscious decision made by someone and in all my years of flying BA, probably the thing that has left me most disgusted... I've had my fair share of issues with BA.

Jagboi

I got a refund from AA. Filled out an online request with my ticket number and the refund was on my credit card.

13901

Can't quote Air NZ, but I'm confident that both BA Holidays and AA have an approval mechanism. Even in normal times, when MMB's cancellation function was in place, payment had to be triggered by a human pressing "OK".

This doesn't mean that BA was right in removing the button, let me be clear. Personally, I like Ryanair's approach more: done 100% online but clearly saying that the refunds, if one wants them in cash, will be processed in 100 days or so. Not what one wants to hear, but at least it's clear and didn't require me to call 35 times for a voucher (and still I can't access the rebooked flights...).

PUCCI GALORE

I watched the interview, and it felt like one of the Prime Minister's press conferences. One almost learnt more from what wasn't mentioned to that which was and frankly I'm not sure what the Select Committee set out to achieve but it had all the tensions of a load of wet hens holding court with a fox.

Jagboi

That may be the case, but for me with AA it appeared seamless and automatic. I didn't have to call AA, I submitted the online form and a refund appeared on my credit card statement about a week later.