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
#1247
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Tyrone,EU
Programs: Avios Hunter
Posts: 2,811
Looking to cancel a reward booking as it is no longer suitable for me. I read back the last 5-6 pages and the wiki. The wiki says that reward bookings can optionally be cancelled, you get the avios back plus the taxes less £35. That's what i want to do. The wiki doesn't say how to go about it. If I select 'cancel' under manage by booking, I'm only offered a voucher/evoucher.
How do I do a full cancellation and get the avios + taxes back ?
cheers
How do I do a full cancellation and get the avios + taxes back ?
cheers
#1248
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,932
Looking to cancel a reward booking as it is no longer suitable for me. I read back the last 5-6 pages and the wiki. The wiki says that reward bookings can optionally be cancelled, you get the avios back plus the taxes less £35. That's what i want to do. The wiki doesn't say how to go about it. If I select 'cancel' under manage by booking, I'm only offered a voucher/evoucher.
How do I do a full cancellation and get the avios + taxes back ?
cheers
How do I do a full cancellation and get the avios + taxes back ?
cheers
#1249
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 804
Looking to cancel a reward booking as it is no longer suitable for me. I read back the last 5-6 pages and the wiki. The wiki says that reward bookings can optionally be cancelled, you get the avios back plus the taxes less £35. That's what i want to do. The wiki doesn't say how to go about it. If I select 'cancel' under manage by booking, I'm only offered a voucher/evoucher.
How do I do a full cancellation and get the avios + taxes back ?
cheers
How do I do a full cancellation and get the avios + taxes back ?
cheers
#1250
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2020
Posts: 963
What's BA's current willingness to book onto AA codeshares for cancelled flights (where they are still operating another flight that day but the AA flight is closer to the original time)? And does this policy change for cash vs. cash + upgrade vs. pure avios?
#1253
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: RSW & HDS (Naples, Florida & Hoedspruit, South Africa); frequently flying via JNB, EWR, IAD, ORD
Programs: UA Platinum, Star Alliance Gold, Hilton Silver, AA
Posts: 396
I had recently (in the past week or so) been looking at a BA flight from LHR-JNB on May 22, and now it seems to have disappeared. Have they discontinued/suspended this route?
#1254
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
So any appearance of JNB in availability displays or schedules over the next few months should be regarded as more hope than expectation.
#1255
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,059
Is it an AJB itinerary? If so, it’s the same as always... AA flights are treated equally to BA’s own.
#1256
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 109
Hello.
I'm after some advice. I booked a Avios+Cash ticket back last year and it got converted to a voucher when the flight was cancelled. They gave me a cash voucher price of £550. I booked another flight for June which has now been cancelled. I asked for a refund instead of another voucher but appear to have been refunded just £114. Should they have refunded the entire amount?
Tim
I'm after some advice. I booked a Avios+Cash ticket back last year and it got converted to a voucher when the flight was cancelled. They gave me a cash voucher price of £550. I booked another flight for June which has now been cancelled. I asked for a refund instead of another voucher but appear to have been refunded just £114. Should they have refunded the entire amount?
Tim
#1257
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 109
Hello.
I'm after some advice. I booked a Avios+Cash ticket back last year and it got converted to a voucher when the flight was cancelled. They gave me a cash voucher price of £550. I booked another flight for June which has now been cancelled. I asked for a refund instead of another voucher but appear to have been refunded just £114. Should they have refunded the entire amount?
Tim
I'm after some advice. I booked a Avios+Cash ticket back last year and it got converted to a voucher when the flight was cancelled. They gave me a cash voucher price of £550. I booked another flight for June which has now been cancelled. I asked for a refund instead of another voucher but appear to have been refunded just £114. Should they have refunded the entire amount?
Tim
#1258
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 59
How long does it take for the Avios to be refunded when a flight is cancelled? After phoning up a few weeks ago the taxes were returned straight away and so were the Avios for reserving seats. However we are still waiting for the Avios for the flight to be refunded and also the companion voucher although I assume that will be out of date.
#1259
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2020
Posts: 963
#1260
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Teaneck, NJ
Programs: AA L.T. Plat; UA Platinum
Posts: 328
I have a trip JFK-LHR-JNB and return LHR-JNB-EWR booked for end of August. Optimistic here. But if BA does not resume the flight, will they rebook on another airline that is flying the route? Took keep it in the OneWorld family, seems that QR has continued to fly JNB-DOH.