British Airways cancels ALL flights to Italy until 4th April

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British Airways announced this morning that ALL flights to Italy have been cancelled.

This will continue until at least 4th April, which is the length of the current country-wide quarantine period.

Weirdly, 90 minutes after making this annoucement, it was withdrawn and replaced with an announcement that ‘some flights are affected’. However, a quick look at – for example – flights to Rome for this Saturday shows:

You can see the current situation on the BA Travel Trade site here although at the time of writing (2.30pm Tuesday) it is still saying ‘some’ flights are affected.

Rebooking guidelines have yet to be updated. However, the existing British Airways policy only covered flights up to 4th April anyway. As your flight is cancelled you are entitled to a full refund. BA may remain willing to rebook you to Zurich or Geneva instead for no extra cost.

There is still no British Airways policy on awarding Avios or tier points for cancelled services, so you will not receive anything.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

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You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

nigel whitehouse says:

11 Mar11 March 04:27

any idea on this ? i booked and paid cash bus class return with BA from uk to melbourne AU. im in AU now due to fly bsck to UK via HK. return is end of April. flight MEL to HK is operated by Qantas, but this flight has been cancelled. No reply from BA re my request for alternative flight. where do i stand ? thanks
- Mark says:
  
  11 Mar11 March 15:51
  
  Keep pushing for a reroute. If you booked direct with BA, the number to call is +44 203 250 0145, otherwise contact your travel agent. Assuming you’re tied to flying via HK there should be plenty of options, including the flight via Perth if you don’t want to stop in Asia. If you do need to fly via HK I believe Qantas are still operating some flights (though not sure from Melbourne).
  - Mark says:
    
    11 Mar11 March 15:52
    
    Assuming you’re *not* tied to flying via HK….
Iain says:

11 Mar11 March 05:02

Slightly off topic , but if you have a BA redemption flight booked (July) and they suspend flights will you have the option of booking a flight in the future i.e 2/3 months later (and will redemption seats need to be available?) OR are your miles returned + taxes refunded?

To add to the this the flight I have was booked using a Lloyds Avios upgrade voucher.
Rav says:

11 Mar11 March 07:55

Got a holiday to Florence booked for May. Do you think they will cancel it? Or should i?
Nick says:

11 Mar11 March 11:30

My son is currently on a Ryanair flight from Rome to Stansted after BA cancelled his flight at zero notice. He booked on Alitalia who cancelled just hours after he booked. I have advised him to claim full refunds and the EU 261 compensation from both airlines. The fact that Ryanair is still flying is evidence that both airlines have chosen not to operate these flights rather than a genuine reason outside of their control such as weather. They have plenty of aircraft available and could easily operate the flights if they wished.

I expect they will attempt to claim some spurios reason that is outside their control but I have advised him to threaten court action if they push back. If everyone who has been abandoned by BA gets the full compensation plus expenses then it should teach them not to make such rash and foolish decisions without warning.
- memesweeper says:
  
  11 Mar11 March 12:19
  
  As well as potential compensation for passengers they have a duty of care to their staff. BA have called it differently to RyanAir, they may be wrong, but it’s a reasonable judgement call IMO.
  - Ricatti says:
    
    11 Mar11 March 15:42
    
    I don’t think BA can hide behind the duty of care to the staff.
    
    Staff can fly to and return on minimal turnaround time (Milan, Rome), and stay in some safe premises at the airport without contact to other people whatsoever.
    
    BA made a commercial decision here, because no passengers will be flying outbound. So that stuffed the inbound booked passengers. This is not good for a flag-bearing carrier, refusing to carry Brits home.