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 13, 2021, 4:39 am
#226
Join Date: Nov 2005
Programs: BA Exec
Posts: 647
You don't need to rush. The longer you leave it the more difficult it could be for the agent to find the booking, but that's about the only downside. You can leave it 6 years if a refund is one of the remedies for you. More datapoints upthread and in last year's thread.
Jan 13, 2021, 5:33 am
#227
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 28
Thanks Karfa - could you please provide a link to post 27 under the involuntary cancellations thread a I can’t seem to locate it.
When I spoke with BA about this - they said that:
If only one flight in a multi-sector redemption itinerary is cancelled, they can rebook you, on that cancelled sector alone, on any date, regardless of avios availability.
However, there needs to be avios availability on the other sectors in your itinerary that are NOT cancelled for the new dates....
Did the agent give me incorrect information?
Jan 13, 2021, 5:35 am
#228
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,982
Thanks Karfa - could you please provide a link to post 27 under the involuntary cancellations thread a I can’t seem to locate it.
When I spoke with BA about this - they said that:
If only one flight in a multi-sector redemption itinerary is cancelled, they can rebook you, on that cancelled sector alone, on any date, regardless of avios availability.
However, there needs to be avios availability on the other sectors in your itinerary that are NOT cancelled for the new dates....
Did the agent give me incorrect information?
When I spoke with BA about this - they said that:
If only one flight in a multi-sector redemption itinerary is cancelled, they can rebook you, on that cancelled sector alone, on any date, regardless of avios availability.
However, there needs to be avios availability on the other sectors in your itinerary that are NOT cancelled for the new dates....
Did the agent give me incorrect information?
that would be a bizarre reading of the policy if different rebooking criteria applied to different ba flights in the same booking! I think time to HUACA
Jan 13, 2021, 5:42 am
#229
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Italy
Programs: Accor Gold, Marriott Titanium, IHG Diamond , Amex Platinum
Posts: 1,484
Hi Dav77
Yes unfortunately you haven't been able to do voluntary cancellations since March last year, you can only do it by calling. When you click on cancellation options on MMB you are directed to the page for applying for a future travel voucher here https://www.britishairways.com/trave...1&wfpId=covidn I think BA's attitude has been that it is clear you are applying for a voucher rather than a refund, and there are very few examples where people have got the FTV reversed and a full refund issued.
This page does say at the top that the form is to apply for a voucher equal to the value of your booking, so it isn't a refund. So all the avios and cash (taxes/fees/charges) you originally paid are held on the vouchers, and I assume the booking was for two people as you got two vouchers. You can use these towards new bookings anytime up to April 2022.
Yes unfortunately you haven't been able to do voluntary cancellations since March last year, you can only do it by calling. When you click on cancellation options on MMB you are directed to the page for applying for a future travel voucher here https://www.britishairways.com/trave...1&wfpId=covidn I think BA's attitude has been that it is clear you are applying for a voucher rather than a refund, and there are very few examples where people have got the FTV reversed and a full refund issued.
This page does say at the top that the form is to apply for a voucher equal to the value of your booking, so it isn't a refund. So all the avios and cash (taxes/fees/charges) you originally paid are held on the vouchers, and I assume the booking was for two people as you got two vouchers. You can use these towards new bookings anytime up to April 2022.
I understand that, but I think this is against the t&c of my ticket
yes, the booking was for 2 people
do you think is there anything I can do to reverse the FTV to a full refund ?
basically, the voucher itself is not a big issue ...but the problem is that I can use it only to fly until April 2022 (and not next summer, for example) and I think I read also that I can use the voucher only for BA flights (and not Qatar air) or am I wrong ?
many thanks again
Jan 13, 2021, 7:45 am
#230
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: OW
Posts: 226
Apols, if initial Q not clear - can you stack multiple Avios FTVs into a single new Avios booking? Not looking to combine FTVs (Avios and Cash)?
Jan 13, 2021, 7:59 am
#231
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: London
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold(twice), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 679
Another detail - BA cancelled my off-peak Avios +241. I foolishly made another booking for a Peak date with no availability but I didn't need availability as BA had cancelled. Now we cannot travel to BLR. If I now accept the FTV will it's value be for Peak Avios as that is the flight it is replacing, or be off-peak because that's what I paid for originally? (If the latter it might be better to take a refund if I am able, make a dummy full-flex cheap booking to preserve the 241, then cancel so that I can use the 241 to book long haul online rather than have to 'phone in to book using the FTV. Not an expert, am I understanding this right?).
Jan 13, 2021, 8:03 am
#232
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,982
hello and thanks for your feedback
I understand that, but I think this is against the t&c of my ticket
yes, the booking was for 2 people
do you think is there anything I can do to reverse the FTV to a full refund ?
basically, the voucher itself is not a big issue ...but the problem is that I can use it only to fly until April 2022 (and not next summer, for example) and I think I read also that I can use the voucher only for BA flights (and not Qatar air) or am I wrong ?
many thanks again
I understand that, but I think this is against the t&c of my ticket
yes, the booking was for 2 people
do you think is there anything I can do to reverse the FTV to a full refund ?
basically, the voucher itself is not a big issue ...but the problem is that I can use it only to fly until April 2022 (and not next summer, for example) and I think I read also that I can use the voucher only for BA flights (and not Qatar air) or am I wrong ?
many thanks again
You should be able to use the voucher towards any reward flight that would be bookable with avios on ba.com. You would have to call to make the booking once you have checked availability online.
Jan 13, 2021, 8:05 am
#233
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 804
Another detail - BA cancelled my off-peak Avios +241. I foolishly made another booking for a Peak date with no availability but I didn't need availability as BA had cancelled. Now we cannot travel to BLR. If I now accept the FTV will it's value be for Peak Avios as that is the flight it is replacing, or be off-peak because that's what I paid for originally? (If the latter it might be better to take a refund if I am able, make a dummy full-flex cheap booking to preserve the 241, then cancel so that I can use the 241 to book long haul online rather than have to 'phone in to book using the FTV. Not an expert, am I understanding this right?).
Jan 13, 2021, 10:08 am
#234
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: London
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold(twice), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 679
Jan 13, 2021, 10:16 am
#236
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 804
IT APPEARS WHAT BA TOLD ME WAS WRONG. SEE THREAD BELOW. FTV is free to take and voluntary cancellation for refund is £35 pp/
Last edited by Dselvan; Jan 13, 2021 at 10:50 am Reason: Wrong information, see thread below
Jan 13, 2021, 10:24 am
#237
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 740
I have a family trip booked to Turin next month through BA holidays (Flight + car). The ski company we're using is saying it's unlikely to happen and they will be in touch with people if there's any chance of anything later in the season (I doubt it).
I paid a deposit only and the rest is due at the end of the week. However, given that it's all so unlikely to happen I think the best.
What's the best option for me? Can I just get a full refund? I booked in June.
Thanks.
I paid a deposit only and the rest is due at the end of the week. However, given that it's all so unlikely to happen I think the best.
What's the best option for me? Can I just get a full refund? I booked in June.
Thanks.
Jan 13, 2021, 10:24 am
#238
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,982
Just to add, there are no fees payable or deducted going via the FTV route, so 100% of the avios, cash, and voucher you paid stays on the FTV available towards a new booking.
As noted, a voluntary cancellation you would incur a £35 per person cancellation fee, and this is deducted from the cash being refunded.
As noted, a voluntary cancellation you would incur a £35 per person cancellation fee, and this is deducted from the cash being refunded.
Jan 13, 2021, 10:32 am
#239
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 804
Just to add, there are no fees payable or deducted going via the FTV route, so 100% of the avios, cash, and voucher you paid stays on the FTV available towards a new booking.
As noted, a voluntary cancellation you would incur a £35 per person cancellation fee, and this is deducted from the cash being refunded.
As noted, a voluntary cancellation you would incur a £35 per person cancellation fee, and this is deducted from the cash being refunded.
I was told that if you take a FTV for a redemption booking voluntarily (for example, I do not want to travel on the day but BA are still flying) then the £35 pp cancellation charge still applies but the 241 and the taxes are all kept together in the FTV.
If it is involuntary, it doesn't matter since it is free for refund or FTV.
Is that not correct?
Jan 13, 2021, 10:38 am
#240
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,982
KARFA, I assume that was in relation to my reply.
I was told that if you take a FTV for a redemption booking voluntarily (for example, I do not want to travel on the day but BA are still flying) then the £35 pp cancellation charge still applies but the 241 and the taxes are all kept together in the FTV.
If it is involuntary, it doesn't matter since it is free for refund or FTV.
Is that not correct?
I was told that if you take a FTV for a redemption booking voluntarily (for example, I do not want to travel on the day but BA are still flying) then the £35 pp cancellation charge still applies but the 241 and the taxes are all kept together in the FTV.
If it is involuntary, it doesn't matter since it is free for refund or FTV.
Is that not correct?
can anyone else confirm either way?