British Airways will refund ALL flights to 31st May for a voucher – but should you say no?

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Finally ….. British Airways has seen the light and is now allowing you to cancel ALL flights up to 31st May, in return for a travel voucher.

However …. I am not convinced you should accept.

Let me explain.

Here is the British Airways ‘Book With Confidence’ website.

British Airways BA 777X 777 9X

These are the new rules:

If you are travelling between 14th March and 31st May, you can refund your flight for a British Airways e-voucher irrespective of when you booked. No refunds are on offer for flights beyond 31st May.

If you are travelling between 1st June and 31st December 2020, you can refund your flight for a British Airways e-voucher if you booked between 3rd March and 31st May

The voucher is valid for 12 months from the date of your original flight

The voucher can be used on any route, not necessarily the one you originally booked

This applies to both British Airways marketed flights and BA Holidays bookings, although Comair and SUN-AIR are exempt

You cannot claim if you have already started your journey

Flight cancellations can be made until the close of check-in, whilst BA Holidays bookings must be cancelled within 48 hours of departure

Anyone who has already cancelled their booking and lost money cannot retrospectively request a voucher

You can also change your flight dates without any change fees, although you have to pay the fare difference.

The small print on how the voucher works is on the ‘Book With Confidence’ website.

But … but … but … perhaps you should wait?

I know this sounds contrarian. Many of you have been on tenterhooks waiting for a decision like this to allow you to cancel your trip.

And yet ….

The EU has agreed the terms of a deal to allow airlines to cancel flights without losing their slots.

Next week, British Airways is likely cut anything from 25% to 100% of its scheduled flights – probably around 50% given what Lufthansa is doing. If your flight is cancelled, you are entitled to a full refund IN CASH. No messing around with e-vouchers.

By taking the refund now, you are also giving up your right to potential EC261 compensation if you were due to travel within 14 days of the cancellation being made.

Unless you are travelling in the next 4-5 days, you might want to think about waiting in case you end up missing out on a full cash refund.

Of course, there is also a risk that British Airways withdraws this offer and you can no longer refund your ticket at all.

It’s up to you.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

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

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

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

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

British Airways and Avios

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

Ruth4325 says:

15 Mar15 March 11:42

How long is it taking BA to refund just now? My April flight was cancelled on Tuesday CDG-LHR-EDI, an avios redemption. I’ve not had any taxes or avios back yet.
- AJA says:
  
  15 Mar15 March 12:03
  
  Give BA a chance. You will get it back eventually. Their call centres are inundated, a BA employee posted a message on FlyerTalk yesterday pleading for people only to call if they are travelling in the next week. Everyone else should just hold off. He and many colleagues was called back in to work on his weekend off to assist.
  
  I think we should be grateful for anything they’re doing. Especially as there will be many whose jobs are at risk.
  
  I am sure that is the same at all the airlines and hotels. Tough times ahead.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    15 Mar15 March 12:13
    
    Reduced down to 72hrs.
    
    Any questions about extending 2-4-1 vouchers if the expire soon can be emailed in via the website with a general enquiry.
  - Ruth4325 says:
    
    15 Mar15 March 12:24
    
    Actually I haven’t phoned the contact centre as I know they are busy. I’m not an imbecile. I simply asked if anyone knows how long refunds are taking at the moment.
    - Annabel says:
      
      15 Mar15 March 15:47
      
      Hi Ruth. I cancelled an open jaw companion ticket booking on Monday and have had no Avios / refund or companion voucher back. I queried it with ‘you first’ and they said it will be another 3-5 working days. So I think it’s around 2 weeks from point of cancellation.
      - JAD says:
        
        15 Mar15 March 19:57
        
        Hi, re refunds query – quick data point on my recent experience. BA cancelled a LHR – ARN flight on Weds last week for travel this weekend. I rang on Thurs last week to ask for a refund. It was a cash booking and I also used Avios to reduce the cash price Avios were refunded in c. 2 days and I had the cash refunded to my cc today – so c. 4 days. HTH.
JOSEPH FRAMPTON says:

15 Mar15 March 12:20

I have a trip to Indonesia for the end of May, booking is through BA but flown by QR via DOH (BA code shares).
If there are travel restrictions by then, is BA my point of contact for changes or direct to QR?
- Clive says:
  
  15 Mar15 March 12:59
  
  BA will be your point of contact
AJA says:

15 Mar15 March 13:18

I’ve just seen this posting on FlyerTalk about seat fees paid being refunded as part of the voucher instead of cancelling your tickets.

“Hawk777 , Today 12:16 pm

Quote:
Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
Dunno. Paging @Hawk777

“as far as I am aware yes seat fees are included in the voucher”

Hawk777 works in Customer Service at BA.
Ben says:

15 Mar15 March 13:22

Any idea how flights booked with Avios & Cash are affected?
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  15 Mar15 March 13:32
  
  If this is an Avios flight and then you used cash to save Avios it like any other Avios redemption – how I define Avios + cash.
  
  You can cancel for a £35 cancellation fee everything else is returned.
Vit says:

15 Mar15 March 13:48

Rob et al, just wondering how the voucher(s) will be issued for a single booking with multiple pax. Will the total amount be issued as a single voucher or separately to each individual pax in the booking? which also means it cannot be used for someone else in the next 12 months but only those original pax… hope the question makes sense.

Cheers,
Vit
- Andy says:
  
  15 Mar15 March 13:53
  
  I think they are transferable if the voucher has the same terms as the price guarantee ones? Although I’ve read they will be issued to each individual traveller. Could ask later if they could provide a single voucher for total amount instead?
- Anna says:
  
  15 Mar15 March 14:07
  
  I think there was an earlier post saying that each person in the group got an individual voucher.
Matt says:

15 Mar15 March 15:53

Has anybody had their voucher yet? Been nearly 48 hours and no sign of any comms, booking still showing as live on BA, please advise, due to travel within the next few days!!
- AJA says:
  
  15 Mar15 March 17:50
  
  Matt, FlyerTalk is reporting that the guidelines now state 5 days for the voucher and even that is optimistic given it’s a manual process behind the scenes. I hope you took screenshots before and after applying.
Claire says:

15 Mar15 March 16:09

So just spent 20 mins on hold to the Gold Exec club line to change an Avios booking for 20 March. They are changing Avios bookings free of charge, flying up until 1st August if you call them – they haven’t updated BA.com yet, so if you try on line you are asked to pay the 35 quid change fee
Thomas says:

15 Mar15 March 16:14

Hi everyone, For those who have flights that are not canceled or for tickets that do not qualify for a refund. The phones are overrun at BA so here is the URL to apply for your travel voucher to cancel online. We received this info from the UK customer contact phone number.
BA.com/confidence