mitchmagi

Hi all

My initial Avios flight was cancelled by BA in Dec 2021 ... I called last week looking to rebook for alternate dates. The agent unilaterally converted the booking to an FTV without asking. And only then advised of the limitations of rebooking choices in terms of the ticket expiry date etc. I left it for a week to check on my date options and subsequently called back to cancel the booking entirely and have the Avios / taxes refunded.

The agent told me an FTV cannot be refunded.

Is this correct - or is the agent misinformed ( putting aside I never consented nor was I asked if i wanted an FTV ? ) I can't understand why it should not be possible to simply cancel the FTV ( which holds Avios & taxes ) and refund back to the account.

Out of interest - if one were to make a new Avios booking using the FTV - and subsequently cancelled that - do they refund back to an FTV yet again ?

Many thanks

vintagepilot

Reward FTVs are cancellable - just like the underlying ticket conditions - but you would pay the £35pp fee at that stage.

The FTV process has just been changed - there are no more reward flight FTVs - they just get refunded.

corporate-wage-slave

If this was a pure BA redemption, no other airlines, then BA should have offered a rebooking, due to the cancelled flights. There are two sets of rules in this area, and one set of rules could have reduced the rebooking window to 14 days. There again there may have been no flights in this period and / or flight restrictions. So there is a heap of specifics involved with that. Next up, an FTV was and is a legitimate remedy to the situation, however with a cancellation it only makes sense if there were companion vouchers involved. The other remedies are refund and rebooking, and under EC261, if that applies, you should have been offered a straight rebooking option.

What it like is that the agent sent the booking off for FTV either by mistake or because the OP didn't know the implications, wasn't properly explained etc. Having done that the FTV cannot be reversed. So whatever happens the OP will have to accept that aspect but then get a rebooking via a new booking. If the OP loses out because of this, again depending on the specifics, they may or may not be entitled to recover that loss. If there is no availability on the new service then it may be legitimate to rebook with cash and then claim a refund, but this is uncertain territory, particularly without knowing more details, and of course isn't guaranteed to be successful.

mitchmagi

Thanks for the feedback. At this stage I'm happy just to get my Avios & taxes refunded. No point in having them sit in an FTV which has an expiry date.

mitchmagi

Quick update - actually got through to a different agent - and no problem in getting Avios FTV cancelled & refunded.

Bluebeanflyer

In the same boat. Did you call the regular reservations number or the BA Executive number? Stuck on an hour long wait on both, but would rather pick the one that is likely to get me success the first time.