flyingmonkie

Hi all,

Booked on LHR-LCA early on Monday. My friend who's travelling with me is having some issues with the NHS Website / App in that it's now not giving him his vaccine certificate (it did a while ago). This will cause us problems so we may need to cancel. The question is how late can we make the call to do so? Should I avoid checking in? Do we need to cancel more than 24 hours in advance etc.

Thanks!

The _Banking_Scot

hi

for a bwc voucher you can cancel up to the time check in closes iirc but probably would not leave it that late.
2 to 3 hours should be plenty
You can cancel online for the voucher

Regards

Tbs

crazyarmadillo

I think it's up until check in closes for a FTV, of that applies in this case.

tor

Out of interest, does anyone know if it is possible to cancel for an FTV or an evoucher if you have already travelled outbound? i.e. just cancel return

corporate-wage-slave

Yes, but that will always be an FTV.

jplondon

Is this the same for a BA Holiday booking? Can one also cancel/get voucher with this short notice of a few hours? Thanks!

elephantflyer

Perhaps off topic, why is it not giving him his certificate? Did he test positive?

Bullswood

Following on from the "How late to cancel return sector under Book With Confidence" question and CWS's answer above, I'd welcome some related advice:

I recently purchased an extremely attractive (c.GBP2200) return fare in F(A) for LAX/LHR/LAX for July 2022, spending a week in the UK. It now looks as though we'll have to continue eastbound to HKG, and as the original ticket's validity is only 6 months, there's virtually no chance we will use the return at a later date. As the fare is usually non-refundable, I phoned up our local call centre with the idea of arranging a cancel-for-FTV now on the round trip and then immediately buying a similarly priced J(I) one way LAX/LHR instead. The downgrade to a CW being because the one-way F fares are (and were at time of booking) far more expensive than the round-trip which I originally purchased.

I was then somewhat surprised that the BA call centre insisted that the best approach was to do nothing now, but call them later next year on arrival in UK (i.e. just a few days before the return flight) and just cancel the return under Book With Confidence, as I'd then get an FTV for return sector. I found the mention of any return sector FTV unexpected, given the higher one way F fare (unless I suppose the return fare component could somehow be repriced mid-trip into a mixed-class with LHR/LAX using the lowest economy fare).

I understand the "normal times" advice re delaying the timing of changes, so that repricing would be based on historic fares under the fare rules, but the logic thereafter and mention of an FTV loses me. I have a nagging concern that I'd get a demand for a post-flight supplement to the one-way fare in my well-intentioned endeavours not to leave BA in the lurch for a high revenue seat (in fact, we are 2) by simply no-showing. I did query the advice with the very helpful call centre chap (he had the booking ref & fare details), but he was adamant that leaving everything until after the first leg would definitely be the best way to proceed under the current BWC rules applying to any travel due to be completed before the end of July 22.

On the face of it good news, but any thoughts on the advice given?

Tobias-UK

BAH bookings have a 3 week requirement under the BWC policy.

:D!

Why is the original ticket's validity 6 months?

Sorry but I don't understand your logic in buying a one-way J ticket.

You currently have an F ticket that cost you £2200. Internally there would be around £1000 allocated to LAX-LHR and £1200 allocated to LHR-LAX (I assume each leg is normally roughly equal, but UK APD makes it asymmetrical). If you fly LAX-LHR then request an FTV, the voucher will just be a credit note for £1200 or whatever. You don't have to spend it on a one-way F LHR-LAX flight.

So if you keep the existing ticket, you will have an LAX-LHR flight in F plus £1200-ish to spend with BA, as long as you fly by Sep 2023.

If you FTV the £2200 and use it to book a new ticket which you say is roughly £2200, you will only have an LAX-LHR flight in J. Surely it's better to fly in F even if you let the £1200 FTV expire unused ? (And if I'm wrong about it being £1200 and it's only £500 - that's still something.)

Bullswood

Thanks for the reply D.

You're pretty much correct on the fare construction - I think from a quick back-check of Expertflyer it was around $900 base fare each way plus fees & taxes.

What you say does indeed correspond with BA's advice. What I can't quite get my head around (on the basis of "if it seems to be good to be true, it probably isn't"!) is that by converting the return portion of the fare into an FTV, I thereby (unintentionally in my case) end up with a very cheap one-way. Is this bit of serendipity because the non-refundability & change penalties of the normal Ts & Cs, which wouldn't otherwise allow this, are temporarily trumped by BWC till end July 22?

I appreciate the option which always exists to simply no-show but I guess I would rather BA under current circumstances had the opportunity to re-sell at full F to some Hollywood mogul!

p.s. The 6 month limit for return date was a fare condition for this offer which, before anyone asks, has long since ended.

cosmo74

Your friend can phone up and ask for a letter which confirms their vaccination status (the number is somewhere in the app), although that may or may not arrive in time. If they recently tested positive then the vaccine certificate will return to the app once their period of isolation has ended.