The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 22nd December

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JLNF says:

22 Dec22 December 21:15

A data point which may be of interest: I had LHR to ZRH booked on Swiss to fly last Friday and had bought their cheapest cash fare, which said I could have one free change of date . We decided at the last minute not to go, called Swiss, through in about 30 seconds to someone who said I could have a refund (without me asking) and the £ was back in my account two working days later.

Compare this with BA – the reason I booked Swiss outbound was due to BA cancelling the outbound leg of the return trip. Cancellation in September so I said please refund outbound only and keep inbound. Which makes calculating the refund very complicated apparently and I still have not received a refund (despite me calling periodically). Now of course the inbound is cancelled and in due course I will call to get that refunded.

I know others have had a much better experience of BA, but it took them more than six months to refund the taxes/fees of an Avios booking (probably due to the original flight being 26 March and therefore height of refund chaos). Anyway. I can’t face calling them at the moment!
- Andrew says:
  
  22 Dec22 December 21:59
  
  I had 4 refunds from BA over the course of the last 9 months, all processed within days back to my card and instantly got through to the call centre each time when I was requesting the refund. Think you must have just got unlucky.
- Harry T says:
  
  22 Dec22 December 22:01
  
  BA refunds either go swiftly and smoothly or horrendously; I’ve experienced both this year. Swiss were decent for refunds.
  - Craig says:
    
    22 Dec22 December 22:15
    
    Two separate bookings for a Bangkok trip. One refunded in two days, having to wait up to 21 days for the other to be manually processed!
    - JLNF says:
      
      22 Dec22 December 22:37
      
      Thanks – agreed that I got unlucky, twice. Relatively small amounts. Interesting that Swiss proactively offered me a refund. Virgin refund also processed quickly (within a couple of weeks) recently.
      - Nick says:
        
        22 Dec22 December 23:49
        
        In fairness you deliberately turned your booking into a complex fare recalculation.
- Aston100 says:
  
  22 Dec22 December 22:53
  
  Can concur my refund experience with Swiss back in September was very good.
  No excuses on the phone, and money back on my card within 3 or 4 days.
Baji Nahid says:

22 Dec22 December 23:54

Seen in the inventory that BA have canned LGW-JFK and LHR-PIT/CHS (Pittsburgh and Charleston)