Jan 1, 2021, 8:29 am
Last edit by: corporate-wage-slave
01 - 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 2023 (now extended from April 2022 including existing FTVs), 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. If you us,ed an FTV to pay for this now cancelled service then you can have a refund back to the FTV's original booking.
Online forms: manual process which may take many weeks
link to webform to claim a refund (UK) or link to webform to claim a refund (US)
Paid Seating Refund:
link to webform to claim a refund (UK)
02 - If your flight is not cancelled but you no longer wish to travel
Commercial booking: If you are eligible for Buy with Confidence, you can have an FTV valid until 31 August 2022 (this has been extended several times). Rebooking may lead to a fare recalculation but no change fee. Travel must be fully completed by this date.
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 30 April 2022, 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: https://ba.com/confidence
Bookings made using Lloyds Upgrade Voucher
You should expect to receive:
A full refund of Avios and money paid plus 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
03 - How to find out the status of your voucher and the amount it contains
Use the Qantas website and look back to your original PNR. Step by step guide by corporate-wage-slave
04 - Future Travel Vouchers versus eVouchers
FTVs cannot be used online (and are not really vouchers), whereas eVouchers, issued for simple bookings, can be used online.
BA are now issuing eVouchers directly in simple cases, and also proactively replacing existing FTVs with new eVouchers. These are usable online. Complex cases still get FTVs, which require a phone call to book. In both cases, you need to apply online through the Cancellation Options in MMB, and both will generate an email typically within a few minutes. This is how to tell the difference
1) eVouchers will get an email entitled "Your British Airways eVoucher"
This will then have a line like this and the online ability is mentioned in the email text:
Your eVoucher details
125-1234567890 / GBP48.87 / WAGE-SLAVE /
2) FTVs will get an email entitled "Your British Airways Future Travel Voucher"
The relevant line then shows:
Voucher code(s)
125-1234567890
It doesn't take much, by FT standards, to turn a booking too complicated for the automated eVoucher. POUGs, flight changes, TCP, seat payment, pay payment with Avios, UuA. 48 and 72 hour Hold bookings all stop it. But if you made a simple single or return booking, point to point, on BA.com and didn't change it, then you should get an eVoucher.
If you obtain an FTV, deploy it on a new booking which BA then cancels, then you can get a refund of the cash from the first booking that led to the FTV. Or an Avios refund without redeposit fees if it was a redemption.
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 2023 (now extended from April 2022 including existing FTVs), 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. If you us,ed an FTV to pay for this now cancelled service then you can have a refund back to the FTV's original booking.
Online forms: manual process which may take many weeks
link to webform to claim a refund (UK) or link to webform to claim a refund (US)
Paid Seating Refund:
link to webform to claim a refund (UK)
02 - If your flight is not cancelled but you no longer wish to travel
Commercial booking: If you are eligible for Buy with Confidence, you can have an FTV valid until 31 August 2022 (this has been extended several times). Rebooking may lead to a fare recalculation but no change fee. Travel must be fully completed by this date.
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 30 April 2022, 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: https://ba.com/confidence
Bookings made using Lloyds Upgrade Voucher
You should expect to receive:
A full refund of Avios and money paid plus 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.
03 - How to find out the status of your voucher and the amount it contains
Use the Qantas website and look back to your original PNR. Step by step guide by corporate-wage-slave
04 - Future Travel Vouchers versus eVouchers
FTVs cannot be used online (and are not really vouchers), whereas eVouchers, issued for simple bookings, can be used online.
BA are now issuing eVouchers directly in simple cases, and also proactively replacing existing FTVs with new eVouchers. These are usable online. Complex cases still get FTVs, which require a phone call to book. In both cases, you need to apply online through the Cancellation Options in MMB, and both will generate an email typically within a few minutes. This is how to tell the difference
1) eVouchers will get an email entitled "Your British Airways eVoucher"
This will then have a line like this and the online ability is mentioned in the email text:
Your eVoucher details
125-1234567890 / GBP48.87 / WAGE-SLAVE /
2) FTVs will get an email entitled "Your British Airways Future Travel Voucher"
The relevant line then shows:
Voucher code(s)
125-1234567890
It doesn't take much, by FT standards, to turn a booking too complicated for the automated eVoucher. POUGs, flight changes, TCP, seat payment, pay payment with Avios, UuA. 48 and 72 hour Hold bookings all stop it. But if you made a simple single or return booking, point to point, on BA.com and didn't change it, then you should get an eVoucher.
If you obtain an FTV, deploy it on a new booking which BA then cancels, then you can get a refund of the cash from the first booking that led to the FTV. Or an Avios refund without redeposit fees if it was a redemption.
BA Covid-19 Flight cancellations, rebooking, and refunds | Help and advice thread
Jan 8, 2021, 5:27 pm
#151
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 447
Ok, so you want two bookings to run consecutively. You pay the deposit on the Caribbean trip, final payment won't be until 3 weeks before travel, and if you select a hotel with good cancellation policies, then the worst case outcome is a FTV for that deposit, and you go to Brazil instead. If you have what appears to be more than a simple LHR-GRU then the worst case scenario is an FTV for LHR-GRU but in reality you appear to want to go to Brazil / South America if possible, so it's a cancellation which will stop you and at that point you get a cash refund anyway, plus if it is actually more complex than LHR-GRU then there is a high risk of at least one sector being cancelled.
None of the above seems sensible to me, since these areas are not actively rolling oiut vaccines, making April a somewhat unlikely travel prospect to my mind. A better idea is to wait and see, I think it is implausble that flights in April will be full /expensive, but some flights are at risk of being zero'd out due to the current ban on leisure travel. This ban extends to end March at the moment.
None of the above seems sensible to me, since these areas are not actively rolling oiut vaccines, making April a somewhat unlikely travel prospect to my mind. A better idea is to wait and see, I think it is implausble that flights in April will be full /expensive, but some flights are at risk of being zero'd out due to the current ban on leisure travel. This ban extends to end March at the moment.
Saint Lucia announced they will never ban UK arrivals (I know Brazil did the same initially, but they still haven't acted so who knows...), so that's also fairly promising for a trip in May. The only thing that would stop us there would be a complete ban on leisure flights, which I just can't imagine to still be around in May.
In summary, I see this as coming down to our choice of whether we're happy to go to Brazil in the circumstances.
As for April/May flights being full - have a look at UVF, there are quite a few Saturdays with no Business availability at all, and others at extortionate prices. I think they've seen a lot of premium bookings for that route, potentially because of the assumed highest certainty out of the Caribbean islands?
I just don't feel comfortable counting on the fact that I can get cheap flights to the Caribbean 1-2 weeks before...
Last edited by just_starting; Jan 8, 2021 at 5:36 pm
Jan 9, 2021, 1:52 am
#152
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: 63,791
As for April/May flights being full - have a look at UVF, there are quite a few Saturdays with no Business availability at all, and others at extortionate prices. I think they've seen a lot of premium bookings for that route, potentially because of the assumed highest certainty out of the Caribbean islands?
I just don't feel comfortable counting on the fact that I can get cheap flights to the Caribbean 1-2 weeks before...
I just don't feel comfortable counting on the fact that I can get cheap flights to the Caribbean 1-2 weeks before...
Jan 9, 2021, 5:23 am
#153
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 142
Sorry if this has already been answered...
Will a FTV work when booking flights on BA.com where all sectors are codeshares on QR?
It appears you can enter a FTV number at payment stage but just want to double check before I cancel original booking to get the FTV...
Will a FTV work when booking flights on BA.com where all sectors are codeshares on QR?
It appears you can enter a FTV number at payment stage but just want to double check before I cancel original booking to get the FTV...
Jan 9, 2021, 10:03 am
#154
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 1,167
FTV for proactively self cancelling in or outbound?
Hi there have a few questions on how to extend a trip on a ticket that i purchased cheaply ( I purchased 3 tickets in club when the £999 747 tickets went on sale)
I currently have a LHR-MLE ticket where i would like to extend the journey by changing either the inbound or outbound date.
Attempting to change the ticket via MMB or phone results in a fare increase of between £10,000-15,000+ which obviously isn't fiscally attractive. I am therefore looking at replacing one of the legs with reward flights.
Can i cancel either the inbound or outbound legs independently and get an FTV, or can i only do this with the inbound leg, as cancelling the outbound always results in the cancellation of the entire ticket?
Can the call centre tell me how much refund i would receive in an FTV if i did cancel one of the legs - before i cancelled the leg?
If i cancel the inbound leg and replace this with an avios inbound leg, can i have the Avios and original cash booking on the same ticket as i understand i have more protection on a "return" ticket vs 2 x 1way tickets.
Thought id ask the questions here rather than waste in call centre time initially. Many thanks for any help.
I currently have a LHR-MLE ticket where i would like to extend the journey by changing either the inbound or outbound date.
Attempting to change the ticket via MMB or phone results in a fare increase of between £10,000-15,000+ which obviously isn't fiscally attractive. I am therefore looking at replacing one of the legs with reward flights.
Can i cancel either the inbound or outbound legs independently and get an FTV, or can i only do this with the inbound leg, as cancelling the outbound always results in the cancellation of the entire ticket?
Can the call centre tell me how much refund i would receive in an FTV if i did cancel one of the legs - before i cancelled the leg?
If i cancel the inbound leg and replace this with an avios inbound leg, can i have the Avios and original cash booking on the same ticket as i understand i have more protection on a "return" ticket vs 2 x 1way tickets.
Thought id ask the questions here rather than waste in call centre time initially. Many thanks for any help.
Jan 9, 2021, 10:32 am
#155
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 85
Rebooking IB prime flights (BA issued) after a cancellation
Hello FT!
I booked an itinerary containing IB prime flights only last year on 6 Mar 2020 (booked on ba.com, BA ticket issued). One of the flights was cancelled and I was automatically rebooked on another one. I have a few questions about this, hopefully someone will be able to help:
- I understand that I can rebook the itinerary, with the condition that the outbound takes place within a year of ticket issuing, and the inbound at the latest one year after the outbound takes place: is this correct?
- when we say one year: does this mean my outbound needs to take place on the 5th March 2021 latest, or on the 6th March 2021?
- I am assuming the arrival time of the outbound trip is irrelevant as far as the rebooking is concerned, but I may be wrong? (i.e. if my outbound needs to take place on 5th March 2021 latest, it doesnt matter if my arrival time is actually 2am the next day?)
- If on the day I would like to be rebooked to, there is no routing available on IB only, but there is a OW alternative with a mix of BA and AA flights: would BA allow me to select BA and AA as alternative carriers and the routing as well as the date?
Thanks all, hope you're keeping well in these strange times
I booked an itinerary containing IB prime flights only last year on 6 Mar 2020 (booked on ba.com, BA ticket issued). One of the flights was cancelled and I was automatically rebooked on another one. I have a few questions about this, hopefully someone will be able to help:
- I understand that I can rebook the itinerary, with the condition that the outbound takes place within a year of ticket issuing, and the inbound at the latest one year after the outbound takes place: is this correct?
- when we say one year: does this mean my outbound needs to take place on the 5th March 2021 latest, or on the 6th March 2021?
- I am assuming the arrival time of the outbound trip is irrelevant as far as the rebooking is concerned, but I may be wrong? (i.e. if my outbound needs to take place on 5th March 2021 latest, it doesnt matter if my arrival time is actually 2am the next day?)
- If on the day I would like to be rebooked to, there is no routing available on IB only, but there is a OW alternative with a mix of BA and AA flights: would BA allow me to select BA and AA as alternative carriers and the routing as well as the date?
Thanks all, hope you're keeping well in these strange times
Jan 9, 2021, 10:42 am
#156
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: 63,791
If you change a leg before departure you have to pay a fare difference (if any) on current fares, but currently there are no change fees. If you do so after departure, typically you could change the return on historical fares, which can be a lot cheaper, but as ever the specific facts and dates will matter. This then carries over to FTV. If you are not flying at all, then all you can do is FTV the whole trip, you can't pick and choose. Well, theoretically can go through the first part of this paragraph, in other words pay fare differences, then FTV. If on the other hand you fly one sector, you can FTV the rest on an involuntary refund basis, which an agent can calculate if it's a simply fare. If it's LHR-MLE-LHR and none of the usual oddities loved by FTers, and you bought at the lowest fare of that offer, then typically you would get back about 40% of the fare given that APD is front loaded and payable.
You can't mix Avios and commercial tickets, they are structured differently due to payment and coupon layouts, so it just apples and pears from a ticketing point of view. Protection isn't hugely important in the current climate so long as you have at least a few days in the destination.
Jan 9, 2021, 10:48 am
#157
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: 63,791
- I understand that I can rebook the itinerary, with the condition that the outbound takes place within a year of ticket issuing, and the inbound at the latest one year after the outbound takes place: is this correct?
- when we say one year: does this mean my outbound needs to take place on the 5th March 2021 latest, or on the 6th March 2021?
- when we say one year: does this mean my outbound needs to take place on the 5th March 2021 latest, or on the 6th March 2021?
- I am assuming the arrival time of the outbound trip is irrelevant as far as the rebooking is concerned, but I may be wrong? (i.e. if my outbound needs to take place on 5th March 2021 latest, it doesnt matter if my arrival time is actually 2am the next day?)
- If on the day I would like to be rebooked to, there is no routing available on IB only, but there is a OW alternative with a mix of BA and AA flights: would BA allow me to select BA and AA as alternative carriers and the routing as well as the date?
If you are right at the edge of dates, it may be easier and cheaper to go FTV. Beware of "maybe" bookings.
Jan 9, 2021, 11:29 am
#158
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 1,167
. If you do so after departure, typically you could change the return on historical fares, which can be a lot cheaper, but as ever the specific facts and dates will matter. This then carries over to FTV. If you are not flying at all, then all you can do is FTV the whole trip, you can't pick and choose. Well, theoretically can go through the first part of this paragraph, in other words pay fare differences, then FTV. If on the other hand you fly one sector, you can FTV the rest on an involuntary refund basis, which an agent can calculate if it's a simply fare. If it's LHR-MLE-LHR and none of the usual oddities loved by FTers, and you bought at the lowest fare of that offer, then typically you would get back about 40% of the fare given that APD is front loaded and payable..
You can't mix Avios and commercial tickets, they are structured differently due to payment and coupon layouts, so it just apples and pears from a ticketing point of view. Protection isn't hugely important in the current climate so long as you have at least a few days in the destination.
Jan 9, 2021, 11:44 am
#159
Join Date: Jan 2021
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 3
Hi - for routes that BA has suspended indefinitely, what obligation does BA have to rebook passengers onto alternative airlines? And does this obligation apply for redemption bookings? And for 2-4-1 redemptions? In my case, I had a 2-4-1 avios booking to Muscat in December, which was cancelled. I’m still keen to go to Muscat in the coming months, once things open up. So I’d welcome any advice on what options I am likely to have for using the ticket (assuming BA don’t restart the route). I haven’t yet done anything to rebook, and have not requested any voucher. FWIW I note that BA appears to sell some flights to Muscat as codeshares on Qatar metal. Thanks in advance: I’ve read through the thread/wiki but am still not entirely clear what options are open to me in this particular scenario.
Jan 9, 2021, 11:45 am
#160
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: 63,791
That is a reference to Right to Care in EC261. There is nothing in the Regulation that requires you to have a return ticket to get Right to Care, it's obviously an easier argument if you have a return ticket on one PNR. But if BA cancels a flight on 2 PNRs they still have to provide Right to Care.
Jan 9, 2021, 11:50 am
#161
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: 63,791
Welcome to Flyertalk and the BA forum Braunston.
Jan 9, 2021, 12:10 pm
#162
Join Date: Jan 2021
Posts: 2
If I booked an Avios redemption as soon as the seats were released, meaning the tickets were issued almost a year prior to travel, and BA cancel the flights does that mean I can’t realistically move the booking to another date as I can’t keep it within 12 months of ticketing.
Jan 9, 2021, 12:15 pm
#163
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: 63,791
Welcome to Flyertalk Rydal. Yes, that particular aspect of rebooking won't do much for you, though there is still a separate -3 day to +14 day guideline, and if BA have done a longer term cancellation then EC261 still requires BA to rebook you. However on redemptions you also can get a refund fairly easily, and FTV too if there was a companion voucher involved. But at the moment, "maybe" bookings comes with a lot of risks so people need to be aware of this.
Jan 9, 2021, 12:24 pm
#164
Join Date: Jan 2021
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 3
Muscat is indeed a codeshare route with Qatar. If BA cancelled your flight then you should be able to rebook within 1 year of buying the ticket on to a BA codeshared flight with QR. Some people have found it difficult to arrange, generally the agent thinks it has to be in redemption buckets when the Principal Guidelines say otherwise, and depending on the contact centre agent, so you may need to make several calls.
Welcome to Flyertalk and the BA forum Braunston.
Welcome to Flyertalk and the BA forum Braunston.