wdcosta117

Hello first time posting and need some help please.

Booked a 241 to Male this month T-355 days out and has been cancelled today. I’m a little confused on my options and more so the best to take.

If I opt for a voucher can I book Male anytime of the year OR does there need to be redemption availability like I did before to secure club world seats. If so that could work allot better than a refund as right now there don’t seem many like many seats in club to male this year for 2 people for a week.

Again if I take the voucher can we change destination and also book anytime without redemption availability?

Can the voucher be claimed online via the portal or is this something I need to call BA for?

Sorry if these questions have been answered previously - I have found similar topics though still doesn’t make sense to me. Just thought I’d reach out to you first before changing or doing anything.

Thank you.

A13

If they've cancelled the flight, you can rebook to any other date in the ticket validity period (up to a year after original booking date) without the requirement for reward seat availability.
If you booked last January (355 days out), they you're out of luck to move to another date really.

If you take the voucher, it wraps up the voucher avios and taxes to use on another booking, but will require reward seat availability.

Depending on the expiry date of your voucher, i'd suggest just requesting a refund of the avios, voucher and taxes and then rebook as per normal..

corporate-wage-slave

Definitely the right thing to do there!

Welcome to Flyertalk and welcome to the BA forum WarrenDC. Have a look at the main thread for this, and the wiki in particular:
BA Covid-19 Flight cancellations, rebooking, and refunds | Help and advice thread

A lot depends on what you want to do. But if it is to travel to Malé then you best ask for a straight rebook on days you consider viable. You won't need to pay anything more, but you do have to fly out within 1 year of the time you originally made the booking. If you want to travel at close to the original dates then you need to check whether BAEC can find space on Qatar codeshares via Doha, we hear mixed stories about the success or otherwsise of this. FTVs don't guarantee space so you would need to find availability and also ring up to use the FTV. But the FTV does allow you to change destination.

bluemoon68

Could you look to go a day or two earlier? There still seems to be many flights to Male, so you were really unlucky that your flight was cancelled. Hotels in the Maldives aren't full at the moment, so it should be easy to change your stay,

mikeyfly

If you’re UK based you’ll have to take the cancellation refund or a future travel voucher, I am sure you know that holidays aren’t allowed right now. BA cancelling is handy for a no questions asked refund.

1Aturnleft

Keep in mind also that MLE is a seasonal service (25OCT-25MAR or there abouts). If you were looking to rebook to alternative dates within your ticket validity this service revelation may significantly reduce your rebooking window.

wdcosta117

Thank you everyone for the replies and great advice. Its cleared it up slightly for me so went ahead with the Voucher - as pretty much want the same trip different time of the year (probably November\December) but also having us the time to think of another destination if needed.
BA have already sent me what i believe is 2 FTV's - and mentioned to call them when ready to book .

So and excuse me again for the dumbness -

Do i look for 2 seats with club world seats availability to Male (between the dates they fly) using there website redemption availability calendar then call and ask them to book? and same goes for a different location. Do these FTV's have my 241 voucher somehow included in it as per A13's reply.
Shame we have to look for redemption seats thought you maybe able to book any seats providing its the same cabin as booked.

Or is the FTV just my taxes so around £1000 and ive lost the 241?

Thank you all and for your help - the advice so far had been a great help and eased a little nerves.

bluemoon68

The FTV contains the avios, the taxes and the 2-4-1. All valid to April 2022.

wdcosta117

Thanks BlueMoon - as i received 2 just thought it was strange.
Checked reward finder availability and seems pretty scarce for CW seats to Male. May have to do the T-355 days routine or choose another location which has availability.

mikeyfly

Yes, and using the Future Travel Voucher means you will have to call at midnight on the 355 release to secure, you won't be able to book online

firstlight

I'm sorry to disappoint you but reward seats in Business to Male (especially london to MLE as it's overnight) are a highly sought after prize and are difficult to come by, let alone using a companion voucher which forces you to use BA metal rather than go via Doha as we plan to do. Reward seats do sometimes come available but BA can normally sell out business with paid-for fares on this route so it's unusual.

babyg_wc

I agree, in this instance cash is king...MLE is so tricky to book, couple that with you having to use an FTV (e.g. i dont know how this affects you booking just the outbound and then adding the inbound) this could be a tricky FTV to actually use, the final fly in in the ointment is the BWC dates etc, currently the FTV is good till 30 april 2022.

Brighterside

Bear in mind that from Monday 18th Jan at 4am the "Travel Corridor" system is being suspended.

Thepi

My Maldives flights were cancelled, I requested to be rebooked on Qatar which they did.

wdcosta117

Thanks again for your advice - agree was hard to book the first time round and called 12 midnight T-355 days out. Will try again for next year as is possible though as you mentioned sort after.
@Thepi - not sure this is possible for us as used a 241 voucher, however calling BA at present to see if we can. Again not sure either as i opted for the FTV.

Worth a try i guess. Aware the air corridor between countries is now removed. I know its against government rules and insurance is invalid however we would still like to go.