Bluekjp

This has been a particular bane with ongoing Covid cancellations.
The BA conditions of carriage state that a ticket is valid for 1 year from date of ticket issue. That's clear. Fair enough perhaps. They do not state what the case is with involuntary changes. I read on various websites that this IATA stipulation doesn't apply in the case of involuntary changes.
BA.com agrees:
I bought two I Class returns from LHR to FNC on 30 SEP 20 for travel in March 21. These were subsequently cancelled. BA.com instantly allowed me to rebook for Feb 22 with no fare difference, although the fare was much higher, and the revised E-tickets arrived instantaneously. Therefore ticket validity is extended well past the 1 year limit of 30 SEP 21.
I actually wanted different dates in Feb 22 to those that I booked but I Class wasn't available. A simple phone call to the BA gold line to ask them to book me the seats in the lowest class available in the cabin (as it was an involuntary cancellation) resulted in me receiving the FO treatment because 'You cannot change this ticket to dates beyond 30 SEP 21 because of validity'. Aaargh! I was actually speaking with the GGL who should particularly have known the rules with involuntary cancellations.
Needless to say I booked my second choice of dates for Feb 22 where I Class was instantly available on BA.com
This is my third similar occurance with this problem and it drives me mad.
Do we know why most, but not all, BA agents continuously insist on the one year validity but BA.com seems to know the rules if you're booking class is available at least?

corporate-wage-slave

The policy remains one year from ticket issue for flight one, and we know it is policy since we regularly see reports from agents saying precisely that. Sometimes the IT allows more than a year but we all know about BA's IT limitations, sometimes they work in the customers' favour.. In some cases the longer extension is because the last leg can be up to one year from the first leg, so those who have travelled some of their sectors could end up with 2 years, nearly. Now it's true some IATA airlines go further, there is also, in some instances EC261 which could force bookings beyond a year. But in a sense BA has endeavoured to be consistent, and given the usual moans here about inconsistencies it doesn't really give you ground to complain, even if there are occassional bank errors in your favour. You may have seen the very occasional nudge from me warning about "maybe" bookings - at least you aren't the only one to be caught by this, and you won't be the last I fear. But if your flig, ht is cancelled, take the cash and wait for the inevitable sales.

VSLover

i have had variations on this question and my own history does not really make sense to me, but there are some differences and the three categories where im trying to understand when the 1yr rule applies for the following:

(1) a ticket for mar 2020, voluntarily moved to jun 2020 that was cancelled and re-booked for aug 2020 that i then voluntarily moved to sep 2021 (same arrival city but different departure cities)

(2) tickets i requested FTVs due to voluntary changes and have used for different future flights--i presume this is where im confused: does validity apply to the original underlying ticket issue date or does it keep moving for the new flight i use a FTV on?

(3) ticket for cancelled flight, purchased jan 2020 and voluntarily changed many times but then on last involuntary cancellation was re-booked for dec 2021.

Anonba

Ok so ticket validity works like this: Your outbound flight must be taken within 1 year of booking date and then your inbound flight within a year of the outbound. Voluntary or involuntary changes cant change the validity date of the outbound but obviously if you change outbound your validity for return would change.

There are errors on ba.com which means that it can incorrectly rebook outside ticket validity.

For your voluntary change in part 1 i would expect that actually it was done effectively under voucher terms and conditions to allow rebooking past normal ticket validity or someone made an error.

For part 2 my understanding is that for a rebooked vouchers the ticket validity would effectively start from reissue date of tickets to new itinerary.

I expect part 3 is s ba.com error.

VSLover

thank you! makes more sense, excepting that all of these changes were done via phone. and i guess the last question is a vast majority of my changes have resulted in brand new ticket numbers--is the new ticket number effectively a reset of the clock?

meaning the ticket validity would effectively start from reissue date of tickets to new itinerary? it wouldnt otherwise make sense that i've been re-booked on new flights/itins that are between 14mos past original ticket date to 22mos past original ticketing date at the latest extreme. i can understand errors may happen from time to time but surely not regularly as seems to be my case?

very useful information as i contemplate whether or not to go ahead with a few summer flights which will depend on how long those tix are valid for, so appreciate the information provided!

Anonba

Normally no reissues dont reset ticket validity.

So normally with a reissue your outbound flight still needs to be taken within year of purchasing the ticket. However as mentioned if the outbound is changed to later dates this extends when the date of inbound can be as it just needs to be within a year of the outbound flight.




Voucher policy however is different compared to normal policy.


A rebook in the same booking is now possible outside normal ticket validity because of voucher policy. All that happens is if you call and choose dates outside of normal ticket validity the person you speak to can use voucher policy to effectively voucher it and in the same booking immediately rebook.


If it is done this way under voucher policy, that is effectively considered a new ticket and then yes ticket validity starts again from the date of reissue.


So yes it is quite unusual because where it is applicable voucher policy allows you to rebook outside the normal scope of ticket validity.


This applies to voluntary changes with voucher policy applied.

Involuntary changes still occur under normal ticket validity rules as per first and second sentence.

CharlesTheTog

Here's a follow-up question regarding the validity of a ticket. Due to an involuntary change, I have a booking that is likely to result in an FTV. The routing was NCL-LHR-Long Haul, Long Haul-LHR-NCL

Could i fly the NCL-LHR route then which is still going ahead within the ticket validity then change the dates LHR-Long haul, Long Haul-LHR-NCL?

Anonba

You could fly it then voucher rest of flights in theory yes. Is it not easier to just ask for refund of other flights and only fly the NCL/LHR?

Abstract1

Hi all, I have had an avios cancellation and was hoping to take advantage of a free rebook to a date of my choice where no U availability exists. But the date I now want is 6 weeks after the ticket validity! Is there any way to get past this issue or does one have to just cancel and then book a new ticket where there is avios availability?

Nephoi

beg!

it worked once

Robert279

As we are now 12 months + into the pandemic, I suspect many (me included) will find themselves in the same situation. My FNC reward flights for April / May are no longer on sale and we await the cancellation email. We have a BAH booking for June (elsewhere), so August will be our next opportunity to get time away, right at the very end of our validity. BA might wish to think about more than an ad-hoc solution for its customers and build it into its systems - it might save a lot of calls to the contact centres.

andyedinburgh

Originally booked EDI-LHR-BKK for 4 in J in April 2020 for August 2020 (rather over optimistically, and then rescheduled to Christmas 2020 and then April 2021). All flights cancelled and Thailand doesn't allow in without quarantine. Phoned today and after a long wait on hold eventually talked to BA who said we couldn't reschedule beyond 1 year from the original booking date. Ideally we'd reschedule for Christmas 2021.

Any ideas for ways around this - perhaps there are none. I did suggest booking EDI-LHR for April 2021 and changing the other flights to Dec 2021 which would technically work apparently. However, you have to fly the first leg else the rest would be cancelled. And its illegal for 4 of us to fly to London in April...!

Do I just put this down to bad luck?

corporate-wage-slave

Just get a refund, you appear to have run out of options from what I can see.

BAeuro

Is there anyway to check your ticket validity online?

corporate-wage-slave

Yes, if you have the ticket number, 125 then the rest, the Saudia website gives the ticketing date very clearly at the top of the screen. You also get some indication as to the ticket's status, ideally you want "open to use" on unused coupons, for example. [Some people can't get Saudia to work for them, but the e-ticket number seems to work well for me].

You can also try Finnair / email e-ticket receipt using the PNR instead. You then get a email from Finnair with the date of issue buried towards the bottom.

This is the same information as BA's e-ticket email so I'm not sure it adds much. Either way, just add one year for the first sector, then one year from first flight to the last flight, for the two expiry dates.