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
#361
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: LON
Programs: Mucci, BAEC, Eurostar
Posts: 3,293
I've only done one via that form, but the money was back under 5 days. Simple out and back point to point booking.
#362
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: 63,838
Apologies if already covered, but could not see an explicit answer to this. If my flight booked with Avios is cancelled by BA, am I ok to use the web refund form for a refund of Avios, or do I need to call up? Wasn’t sure whether the form was just for cash bookings. Many thanks in advance.
The one thing you must not do is apply for a Future Travel Voucher, unless you prefer that outcome. The FTV form is clearly identified as such, though a number of people have used it in error.
#363
Join Date: May 2018
Programs: BAEC, Asiamiles, Miles&More
Posts: 20
My BA28 flight on 13th Jan only got reschedule early by 7.5 hours (from 23.45 HKT to 16.25 HKT) on 6th Jan, which is only 7-day notice.
The flights between 3rd Jan and 12th Jan were rescheduled to the afternoon on 31st Dec (14 days before 13th Jan), while the flights after 12th Jan were only rescheduled on 6th Jan.
BA Customer Service said, EC261 only applies on delay and cancellations, are they correct?
The flights between 3rd Jan and 12th Jan were rescheduled to the afternoon on 31st Dec (14 days before 13th Jan), while the flights after 12th Jan were only rescheduled on 6th Jan.
BA Customer Service said, EC261 only applies on delay and cancellations, are they correct?
#364
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,984
My BA28 flight on 13th Jan only got reschedule early by 7.5 hours (from 23.45 HKT to 16.25 HKT) on 6th Jan, which is only 7-day notice.
The flights between 3rd Jan and 12th Jan were rescheduled to the afternoon on 31st Dec (14 days before 13th Jan), while the flights after 12th Jan were only rescheduled on 6th Jan.
BA Customer Service said, EC261 only applies on delay and cancellations, are they correct?
The flights between 3rd Jan and 12th Jan were rescheduled to the afternoon on 31st Dec (14 days before 13th Jan), while the flights after 12th Jan were only rescheduled on 6th Jan.
BA Customer Service said, EC261 only applies on delay and cancellations, are they correct?
#365
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: 63,838
My BA28 flight on 13th Jan only got reschedule early by 7.5 hours (from 23.45 HKT to 16.25 HKT) on 6th Jan, which is only 7-day notice.
The flights between 3rd Jan and 12th Jan were rescheduled to the afternoon on 31st Dec (14 days before 13th Jan), while the flights after 12th Jan were only rescheduled on 6th Jan.
BA Customer Service said, EC261 only applies on delay and cancellations, are they correct?
The flights between 3rd Jan and 12th Jan were rescheduled to the afternoon on 31st Dec (14 days before 13th Jan), while the flights after 12th Jan were only rescheduled on 6th Jan.
BA Customer Service said, EC261 only applies on delay and cancellations, are they correct?
#366
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, VS Gold
Posts: 398
If BA have cancelled a cash booking of mine one of my options I believe is to take Avios instead of a cash refund with a bonus of 100% over what I would get if I purchased avios direct from BA - is that correct?
So if so how many avios would I receive for a cancelled cash booking of £1,186?
So if so how many avios would I receive for a cancelled cash booking of £1,186?
#367
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: 63,838
If BA have cancelled a cash booking of mine one of my options I believe is to take Avios instead of a cash refund with a bonus of 100% over what I would get if I purchased avios direct from BA - is that correct?
So if so how many avios would I receive for a cancelled cash booking of £1,186?
So if so how many avios would I receive for a cancelled cash booking of £1,186?
British Airways offering Avios as a refund option ?
#368
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, VS Gold
Posts: 398
More details here (see my post 6) but I would estimate around 148,000 Avios.
British Airways offering Avios as a refund option ?
British Airways offering Avios as a refund option ?
#369
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 142
I had a BA holidays booking coming up, last week we decided to move out a few months, same destination etc. The agent said that the easiest thing was to cancel the original booking, get an FTV and apply it to a new booking. This was all done in one phone call, with e-mails about the FTV and new booking confirmation within an hour. When I look at the new booking in MMB it says £0 deposit paid but the outstanding balance has been reduced by the amount of the FTV which is what I was expecting. But when I click on view/email e-ticket receipt it says :
Please use 'Print/View itinerary' to print details of your journey.
The Itinerary looks fine but how can I check the e-tickets have been issued?
Thanks.
Error
Sorry, an e-ticket receipt is not available for the method of payment used for this booking.Please use 'Print/View itinerary' to print details of your journey.
The Itinerary looks fine but how can I check the e-tickets have been issued?
Thanks.
I have the same, must be the way they apply a voucher to a BAH booking...
You can tell the tickets have been issued if you see a ticket number for the flights on the BA app
Last edited by sjoh1271; Jan 18, 2021 at 12:36 pm Reason: Added quote
#370
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, VS Gold
Posts: 398
So I called BA to do this and after a long wait where the agent had to check with another department they came back with an overall figure of 135,500 which I thought was a bit low (although still 0.875p per avios).
When I asked how that was calculated they seem to have taken each person's booking value (there are 5 of us on the booking) and converted into avios and then added them up rather than taking the total (£1,185.96) and converting that. That might have meant that with each person's ticket costing circa £200 - £250 they convert at a slightly lower rate than a £1k+ ticket value.
CWS - is that the right way for them to do it (per person) or should I try again? if so do the avios go back into each person's account or my account as the person who paid for the booking?
When I asked how that was calculated they seem to have taken each person's booking value (there are 5 of us on the booking) and converted into avios and then added them up rather than taking the total (£1,185.96) and converting that. That might have meant that with each person's ticket costing circa £200 - £250 they convert at a slightly lower rate than a £1k+ ticket value.
CWS - is that the right way for them to do it (per person) or should I try again? if so do the avios go back into each person's account or my account as the person who paid for the booking?
#371
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: 63,838
Yes, that is the correct way to calculate it, I wasn't aware that this was a multiple person booking, otherwise I would have added the necessary rider. I believe the Avios go to the person who paid for the booking and no-one else.
#373
Join Date: Jan 2021
Posts: 3
Black friday 20% discount nightmare, i had to cancel a booking with BA due to the recent lockdown. There wonderful website stated that i would get a voucher to the full value of my booking, when i paid online the total cost was £887 but i was charged £709 due to the 20% discount code however the full total at checkout was £887 and i thought i would get a voucher for this amount!
In the end had to request a voucher however the value is £709 and doesnt include the money taken off because of the discount code.
i have contacted customer relations and they are saying that i am only entitled to £709 as that is the total paid, i asked for a refund as there website didnt make it clear that they will only provide a partial value voucher instead of the advertised ‘full value voucher’ however they are refusing to refund and also refusing to give me a voucher for the full value - £887
Unluckily for me my son who was just under 2 is travelling and will be turning 2 so i have to book him his own seat and now a new tickets for all of us is costing close to £1100 however BA have no sympathy and seems the 20% promotion on Black Friday was pretty much a technical daylight scam
do you guys think i should continue to fight my corner with them as i think its completely unfair and should i contact my bank to try and get my money due to BA changing their goal posts to suit themselves when it comes to their ‘voucher for the full value of the ticket’ promise
many thanks in advance
In the end had to request a voucher however the value is £709 and doesnt include the money taken off because of the discount code.
i have contacted customer relations and they are saying that i am only entitled to £709 as that is the total paid, i asked for a refund as there website didnt make it clear that they will only provide a partial value voucher instead of the advertised ‘full value voucher’ however they are refusing to refund and also refusing to give me a voucher for the full value - £887
Unluckily for me my son who was just under 2 is travelling and will be turning 2 so i have to book him his own seat and now a new tickets for all of us is costing close to £1100 however BA have no sympathy and seems the 20% promotion on Black Friday was pretty much a technical daylight scam
do you guys think i should continue to fight my corner with them as i think its completely unfair and should i contact my bank to try and get my money due to BA changing their goal posts to suit themselves when it comes to their ‘voucher for the full value of the ticket’ promise
many thanks in advance
#374
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,061
Black friday 20% discount nightmare, i had to cancel a booking with BA due to the recent lockdown. There wonderful website stated that i would get a voucher to the full value of my booking, when i paid online the total cost was £887 but i was charged £709 due to the 20% discount code however the full total at checkout was £887 and i thought i would get a voucher for this amount!
In the end had to request a voucher however the value is £709 and doesnt include the money taken off because of the discount code.
i have contacted customer relations and they are saying that i am only entitled to £709 as that is the total paid, i asked for a refund as there website didnt make it clear that they will only provide a partial value voucher instead of the advertised ‘full value voucher’ however they are refusing to refund and also refusing to give me a voucher for the full value - £887
In the end had to request a voucher however the value is £709 and doesnt include the money taken off because of the discount code.
i have contacted customer relations and they are saying that i am only entitled to £709 as that is the total paid, i asked for a refund as there website didnt make it clear that they will only provide a partial value voucher instead of the advertised ‘full value voucher’ however they are refusing to refund and also refusing to give me a voucher for the full value - £887
If any of your flights is cancelled (or is cancelled later at any point before departure), you would have been able to rebook into the future with no additional fare to pay... this would possibly have been a better option than cancelling.
#375
Join Date: Jan 2021
Posts: 3
Just to be completely clear, what did you pay on your credit card, £709 or £887? You will only ever get back what you actually paid... they’re not going to give you more than that!! No company does that, if you buy at a discount you’ll get the discounted price refunded, makes no difference whether it’s a flight or a pair of slippers. Not to mention that there are rules against refunding more than paid in a transaction, which counts in some jurisdictions as money laundering).
If any of your flights is cancelled (or is cancelled later at any point before departure), you would have been able to rebook into the future with no additional fare to pay... this would possibly have been a better option than cancelling.
If any of your flights is cancelled (or is cancelled later at any point before departure), you would have been able to rebook into the future with no additional fare to pay... this would possibly have been a better option than cancelling.
The refund i asked was for £709 and not £887 lol but they are saying as the flight wasnt cancelled they cannot offer a refund