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
Jul 10, 2022, 3:11 pm
#3826
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold; FB Silver; SPG; IHG Gold
Posts: 2,985
I had a cancelled LCY-AMS-LGW rotation which caused me some grief to get resolved.
First the early LCY flight (07:15) was cancelled and I was moved to the 08:40. Not great, but not the end of the world. I accepted it. Then a few days ago the LGW flight was cancelled as well. Now the really annoying bit. There were no rebooking options for the return sector, and the only option that was easily available on MMB/BA.com was to cancel and get a refund- moreover full cancellation now seemed to be the default position, as both originally booked sectors were now canceled. Given that I am pretty fed up with both BA and Schiphol, I would not have hesitated to cancel but for the fact that this is a must go trip, so I had no option but to call BA and hold for ages.
When I got though to the agent he was very helpful and was able to find plenty of alternative flights back (to LHR primarily). What I don't understand is why that functionality was not available on BA.com. I would have happily rebooked myself on one of those alternative services if I had ben able to, but I kept getting directed to call up Customer Services, which inevitably wastes at least an hour. Given that there seemed (judging by what the agent said) to be availability across a number of services, I don't understand why it had to be such a palaver. Surely BA would be doing themselves a favour if they made rebooking online easier by unburdening call centre staff? And throughout the age long hold I kept getting a recorded message telling me how I was able to rebook on BA.com.....
First the early LCY flight (07:15) was cancelled and I was moved to the 08:40. Not great, but not the end of the world. I accepted it. Then a few days ago the LGW flight was cancelled as well. Now the really annoying bit. There were no rebooking options for the return sector, and the only option that was easily available on MMB/BA.com was to cancel and get a refund- moreover full cancellation now seemed to be the default position, as both originally booked sectors were now canceled. Given that I am pretty fed up with both BA and Schiphol, I would not have hesitated to cancel but for the fact that this is a must go trip, so I had no option but to call BA and hold for ages.
When I got though to the agent he was very helpful and was able to find plenty of alternative flights back (to LHR primarily). What I don't understand is why that functionality was not available on BA.com. I would have happily rebooked myself on one of those alternative services if I had ben able to, but I kept getting directed to call up Customer Services, which inevitably wastes at least an hour. Given that there seemed (judging by what the agent said) to be availability across a number of services, I don't understand why it had to be such a palaver. Surely BA would be doing themselves a favour if they made rebooking online easier by unburdening call centre staff? And throughout the age long hold I kept getting a recorded message telling me how I was able to rebook on BA.com.....
Jul 10, 2022, 3:23 pm
#3827
Join Date: Oct 2018
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hilton Diamond, Avis PC
Posts: 261
Appreciate the explanation but frankly it’s not good enough. We, as customers, should not have our pants pulled down because agents don’t know their jobs. I also asked you directly for an explanation to a similar but linked query above, which you’ve roundly ignored
Jul 10, 2022, 3:53 pm
#3828
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,660
Sorry I don’t know what question you’re referring to, I haven’t seen a question that you asked me directly.
Jul 10, 2022, 3:56 pm
#3829
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,968
However, can I politely suggest you don’t take it out on Anonba who has done nothing but be extremely helpful on this forum.
Last edited by KARFA; Jul 10, 2022 at 4:01 pm
Jul 10, 2022, 4:02 pm
#3830
Join Date: Oct 2018
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hilton Diamond, Avis PC
Posts: 261
Unfortunately for you the 3 people you spoke to are correct the Principle Covid 19 guidelines (that allowed booking outside of -3/+14 any class same cabin) were revoked as of 8th june along with book with confidence.
And technically yes what you were showing the agent is from the trade support site for Travel agents and will look different to what we see internally for policies. It just happens that one is publically viewable. I dont know why its still shown there either.
And technically yes what you were showing the agent is from the trade support site for Travel agents and will look different to what we see internally for policies. It just happens that one is publically viewable. I dont know why its still shown there either.
I don’t follow how this can be true, whilst it’s on the Trade Support site, it’s labelled ‘Standard Customer Guidelines’ and has a clear option of booking outside of 3/14 days within ticket validity. I don’t see how these are just for ‘trade’ bookings either, as it wouldn’t make sense for BA to offer more flexibility to people that book indirectly.
AnonBA, can you explain why travel agency bookings would get more flexibility when BA is trying to move all bookings to BA.com, and has been attempting this for a long long time?
AnonBA, can you explain why travel agency bookings would get more flexibility when BA is trying to move all bookings to BA.com, and has been attempting this for a long long time?
Jul 10, 2022, 4:02 pm
#3831
Join Date: Oct 2018
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hilton Diamond, Avis PC
Posts: 261
Fair point, and noted re. future tone.. it is very infuriating how BA can be so inconsistent. If I had a magic wand and I could use it to sort out one thing and one thing only there, it would be their policies for booking, disruption and rebooking, but nobody at BA seems to be taking ownership of it.
Last edited by thomasd21; Jul 10, 2022 at 4:13 pm
Jul 10, 2022, 4:27 pm
#3832
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 54
Hi there,
I've just had very late notification that my BA2777 from JER to LHR has been cancelled for tomorrow! Could someone be so kind to see if they could give me the reason from Expertflyer? I just need to see what my next steps are with regards to EU261. Thanks
I've just had very late notification that my BA2777 from JER to LHR has been cancelled for tomorrow! Could someone be so kind to see if they could give me the reason from Expertflyer? I just need to see what my next steps are with regards to EU261. Thanks
Jul 10, 2022, 4:37 pm
#3833
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,660
Ok so Trade bookings dont get more flexibility, unfortunately you had misinterpreted the policy you read.
I appreciate thats because you are unfamiliar with BA policies. The trade policies arent meant for public consumption they are for Travel agents,
it just happens that they can be viewed online.
The part that allows booking more than 14 days underneath also says book same booking class. So if the same availability that your flight was booked as originally is there on another date (and within ticket validity) you can be rebooked without cost. Otherwise if the same booking class isnt available you pay any difference in price.
Karfa and others had discussed this specific detail at the time.
Jul 10, 2022, 5:07 pm
#3834
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: 63,821
ARPN - Airport related and no to EC261. There's bound to be more to this one, but BA will not willingly allow you EC261 compensation.
Jul 10, 2022, 10:53 pm
#3835
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Berkeley, CA USA
Programs: Piggly Wiggly "Shop the Pig!" Preferred Shopper
Posts: 57,078
Greetings, folks. I noticed that today the earlier (16:35) of the two SFO-LHR flights was cancelled. I would think that there wasn't much room available on the later (19:25) BA flight. I'm curious to know what rebooking options BA usually offers in this situation for those who want to get to their destination ASAP. I'll be on this route Thursday in business.
Would the lounge agent be able to put me on the later Virgin Atlantic or United flights to LHR, if space were available? Or would any non-BA flights have to be with a Oneworld partner (Alaska or American)? Or would they say sorry, your only options are BA the next day or a refund? Thanks.
Would the lounge agent be able to put me on the later Virgin Atlantic or United flights to LHR, if space were available? Or would any non-BA flights have to be with a Oneworld partner (Alaska or American)? Or would they say sorry, your only options are BA the next day or a refund? Thanks.
Jul 11, 2022, 1:52 am
#3836
Join Date: Oct 2018
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hilton Diamond, Avis PC
Posts: 261
Ok so Trade bookings dont get more flexibility, unfortunately you had misinterpreted the policy you read.
I appreciate thats because you are unfamiliar with BA policies. The trade policies arent meant for public consumption they are for Travel agents,
it just happens that they can be viewed online.
The part that allows booking more than 14 days underneath also says book same booking class. So if the same availability that your flight was booked as originally is there on another date (and within ticket validity) you can be rebooked without cost. Otherwise if the same booking class isnt available you pay any difference in price.
Karfa and others had discussed this specific detail at the time.
I appreciate thats because you are unfamiliar with BA policies. The trade policies arent meant for public consumption they are for Travel agents,
it just happens that they can be viewed online.
The part that allows booking more than 14 days underneath also says book same booking class. So if the same availability that your flight was booked as originally is there on another date (and within ticket validity) you can be rebooked without cost. Otherwise if the same booking class isnt available you pay any difference in price.
Karfa and others had discussed this specific detail at the time.
Jul 11, 2022, 1:56 am
#3837
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,968
Thank you for the reply and explanation. Just one follow up: you mention that the trade support guidelines are not meant for general pax consumption, but: surely they’re the exact same guidelines (the standard customer guidelines) as those used for general pax, save all the gumph about IATA codes etc.? The word standard suggests that to be the case?
Jul 11, 2022, 1:59 am
#3838
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 54
Jul 11, 2022, 2:00 am
#3839
Join Date: Oct 2018
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hilton Diamond, Avis PC
Posts: 261
I think we are going around in circles now. TA's do not have more flexibility when it comes to cancellation and rebooking atm. Yes those policies are generally the same as those available to BA agents when dealing directly with passengers, but not always (although I can't immediately think of an example of said divergance).
Jul 11, 2022, 2:02 am
#3840
Join Date: Oct 2018
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hilton Diamond, Avis PC
Posts: 261
I just called and the agent initially stated that rebooking onto LH was only possible within 24 hours of departure. I then asked about a different BA option involving an overnight at LHR with a hotel at the airline's expense, and he again stated that the hotel booking would only be possible within 24 hours. I asked to speak to a manager and the agent said he would check but that I shouldn't be upset if the manager gave the same answer. After placing me on hold and checking with a manager, the agent then stated he was mistaken and that rebooking on LH is in fact possible, which we agreed to. So it may be that you have to turn into a bit of a Karen on the phone and ask to speak to the manager to get the result you want. Bear in mind that I have no status and this was on the normal public customer service line.
