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

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• Ra says:

  14 Mar14 March 08:26

  I agree with the comments above from Nigel. Sometimes it is not commendable to be “chasing every last dollar.”

• Don says:

  14 Mar14 March 08:34

  Apologies if the answer to this is obvious. Have a BA holidays flight booked for next Saturday to Nice/Monaco for 4 days (the one with the helicopter transfer). If the UK or French government decides to ban travel will BA refund me the cash even if they haven’t cancelled the flight? Or would it have to be picked up by my travel insurance? Thanks in advance

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    14 Mar14 March 09:25

    If BA cancel the flight, then you’ll get the cash back – so don’t go cancelling yourself until the last minute (it could even be that the aircraft is delayed or goes tech, so you’d get you money back that way)

    If BA don’t cancel, it would be insurance – but that depends on your policy and what it covers. Most won’t cover “disinclination to travel”.

    I was like this for a trade show in Germany, but BA then cancelled a flight so I have got the cash back.

  • Jill (Kinkell) says:

    14 Mar14 March 09:43

    Hi Don, we are on the same trip. I’m deciding on Wednesday . BA cancel = cash, I cancel = voucher.. either way , I’m happy enough. Shame to lose out on the heli transfers! But c’est la vie!!

    • Don says:

      14 Mar14 March 11:53

      Thanks both

• Anna says:

  14 Mar14 March 08:37

  For anyone who needs to stay at LHR over Easter weekend, Sofitel now selling rooms for £103 pn!

  • Lady London says:

    14 Mar14 March 12:48

    France has just closed all schools, creches and universities ongoing and forbidden any gathering of more than 100. Most things are closing led by the Louvre. Sports events cancelled. Anyone aged over 70 has been told to stay at home. People are organising themselves to look after kids of working parents, teachers are organising tele-learning and neighbours are doing Elsey people’s shopping and leaving it outside their doors.

    Italy has done similar. All shops are closed in Italy except food shops and pharmacies . People are told to stay 1 metre apart from each other in shops. This by order of the governments.

    I am stuck travelling away, just ended 1 two week period of self quarantine and entering another one after restocking yesterday.

    • Shoestring says:

      14 Mar14 March 12:51

      you can’t be too careful! 🙂

      so are you going to self-quarantine for 2 weeks every time you go out shopping?

      • Lady London says:

        14 Mar14 March 14:05

        Yes. I have bookings to come back next week and backup bookings for every week after that in place. 2 snotty kids in supermarket yesterday so straight back into self quarantine.

        Not just for myself, but for who i might infect if I become a symptomless carrier if infected. Since this is about slowing the rate of infection and as I can stay somewhere albeit not in luxury I probably won’t take those flights.

        As you have said, somewhere between 70% and 90% of us likely to be infected in this round before it blows out. This is about phasing so as to flatten the curve trying to reduce numbers infected needing serious help in excess of hospital capacity.

        Stay safe everyone because anyone that has any other illness or has an accident is going to be competing for the same medical resources.

      • Lady London says:

        14 Mar14 March 14:09

        That looks like Tesco’s Ealing.
        Without wishing to start a run on flour, flour has more sense than pasta because there is some else you can do with it than pasta. Or have people forgotten how to cook pastry, pizza bread, cake, biscuits, pancakes, thicken sauces and soups and make other food feed more and give much, much further?

• Mark says:

  14 Mar14 March 08:38

  What about flights booked using the Amex 2 for 1 voucher? I have a booking which was made last year for my wife and I to travel to the USA. The trip is not for a several months yet but if we cancel will American Express and/or BA allow an extension on the current end date of that voucher?

  • Toto says:

    14 Mar14 March 08:50

    They allow extension up to a year according to the rep lady I was eventually transferred to in accounts – (she was fantastic btw)

    My voucher was due to expire in May but i was allowed to rebook up to 1 year without any change fees.

• Toto says:

  14 Mar14 March 08:46

  I took the voucher and would encourage everyone to do the same…it may sound naive but BA has not done anything wrong in this situation and we are all in this together.
  If everyone decides to wait and take the cash it would just further exacerbate their current cashflow stresses.

  IF this pushes BA under the water…then its game over for all of us with ‘000 ( even millions for Rob) in avios balance.

  The same way banks dont automatically call in a loan as soon as a convenant is breached….sometimes giving your debtor some breathing space actually protect your losses.

• Harry T says:

  14 Mar14 March 08:52

  OT:
  Anyone got any creative ideas for contacting a human at Qantas? They don’t have a ticket office near me and I’ve spent hours on hold to their customer service – the waiting times are now even worse, with predictions of over 3-4 hours. I’ve also emailed them, messaged them in the app (this functionality now removed), facebooked them, private messaged them on twitter etc. I just want to make sure that I get the extra legroom economy seats that I paid for, and not get the middle seats I’ve been randomly allocated post plane change (can’t edit seats online or in the app at all, as IT seems to have glitches).

  • Anna says:

    14 Mar14 March 08:59

    Hi Harry, sorry to hear you haven’t been able to sort this yet. I think the only option is to enjoy the last few days of your trip and see what you can do at OLCI and/or get to the airport really early. With the way things are going at the moment your priority is being able to get home at all! Have you checked if you’re stopping en route back and what the transit rules are currently?

    • Harry T says:

      14 Mar14 March 09:04

      Thanks, Anna, for your kind words. The plan is to see if the seat map opens again at OLCI – currently can’t even try to select seats or see the seat map (previously could see seat map but couldn’t change seats). We will also get to the airport in good time and see if we can find a helpful human!

      Regarding transit, we should be going via Singapore. If they extend their 14 day policy to the UK, we won’t be able to transfer there because it will have been 13 days since we were last in London. Very unsure what happens then!

      • Lady London says:

        14 Mar14 March 12:56

        first world oroblem Harry T. People are dying and you are sweating over a slightly nicer seat (I’m sure some would comment so).

        Same advice as we all have before – turn up to airport as early as possible and sort it there. Plane very unlikely to be more than half full unless loads of other flights cancelled and their pax moved onto yours.

        I would also have I mind a backup plan just in case your flight isn’t going. QF is not under eu261 this leg and I suspect would give a nights accommodation anyway but I am not sure about more. That would actually be a productive use of your thoughts right now.

  • BJ says:

    14 Mar14 March 09:19

    I wouldn’t sweat it, plane is unlikely to be full and you might even end up with a flat bed in economy class. Regardless of what happens at OLCI, i suggest you go to the ticket desk on arrival at the airport, tell them you paid extra for upper deck (not extra legroom) on the a380 and ask them if there is anything they can do for you. If this does not shake out the offer of a comp upgrade to PE or an acceptable paid upgrade to PE or J, then you can fall back on a request for them to give you the better seat you paid for on the lower deck. Do this at the ticket desk, not the gate or check in counter.

    • Harry T says:

      14 Mar14 March 09:36

      @BJ thanks, will give that a go, and try to relax in the meantime. I’ve never actually tried to find a ticket desk in an airport, so should be an adventure.

      • BJ says:

        14 Mar14 March 09:46

        Yes, just relax and enjoy the rest of your holidays, that’s what your there for. Airport ticket desks range from tiny to huge, from deserted to overcrowded, and from being right where you hope to find them next to checkin to being stuck in a corner on a different level. Good luck!

        • Harry T says:

          14 Mar14 March 11:31

          After realising that Aussies call them ticket counters, I’ve managed to find the location of the ticket offices at Tullamarine and Sydney – will try my luck at both. Thanks both of you.

      • Anna says:

        14 Mar14 March 10:31

        Re-ticketing can be done at check in desks (well BA can anyway), as we found out last summer when our flight was cancelled 3 hours before departure!

  • Lady London says:

    14 Mar14 March 19:39

    They may also be changing the aircraft on your flight Harry T.

• Matthew says:

  14 Mar14 March 08:52

  All flights cancellations due to the coronavirus will be treated as extraordinary circumstances beyond Arline’s control under EC261 (and rightfully so) and as such noone will be entitled to additional compensation anyway.

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    14 Mar14 March 09:02

    Trump hinted he may ban flights from the UK last night.

• AJA says:

  14 Mar14 March 09:03

  I would have thought EU261 compensation would be denied under The term “extraordinary circumstances”. Let’s face facts here BA is being generous giving an e-voucher which is very easy to use on a future booking. Admittedly it’s only valid for 12 months from date of original departure but BA could just say no refunds as you didn’t originally pay the extra for a flexible fare which is refundable. You made the choice to pay less in exchange for inflexibility. Same thing with hotels.

  BA and all the airline and hotel / tourist industry is going to have an extremely tough time through the next few months. We may see some radical changes which result in much higher fares for all of us along with Avios / FF scheme devaluation. Not to mention hardship for those who lose their jobs.

  And we are holding out for EU261 compensation????

  • Shoestring says:

    14 Mar14 March 09:05

    not me, I’m holding out for cancellation to get a full refund rather than a voucher

    • BJ says:

      14 Mar14 March 09:34

      And I just want to travel, don’t fly until early June but I’ll be changing nothing in the hope that I can. After all this is over those wanting to curb flying for climate change reasons are going to have a huge amount of evidence to support their cause. Third runway at Heathrow is now definitely dead and buried.

    • AJA says:

      14 Mar14 March 09:43

      I can understand that approach and think that’s a good idea given you can still request a voucher until very close to departure. My point was about holding out for EU261 compensation in addition. Just remember that the voucher refund is for EITHER a booking made at any time for travel between today and 31 May OR a booking made since 3 March for travel anytime until 31 Dec. If you have a booking made prior to 3 Mar for travel after 31 May OR a booking for Jan 2021 or later you’re currently not covered.

    • jack bloggo says:

      14 Mar14 March 10:11

      whose afraid of the wee pussycats now

  • Anna says:

    14 Mar14 March 09:05

    It works both ways though, they’re not going to retain much customer goodwill if they are overly draconian about refunds. Like it or not, quite a lot of people are now going to have a few £1000s in the bank from cancelled Easter holidays and some measure of choice about who to re-book with when the situation improves.

    • Jcp says:

      14 Mar14 March 09:24

      What difference is customer goodwill going to make when a sizeable chunk of the competition could be wiped out?

    • BJ says:

      14 Mar14 March 09:37

      Their dominance at Heathrow means they are not reliant on goodwill.

      • Anna says:

        14 Mar14 March 10:33

        Not everyone flies from Heathrow!

    • AJA says:

      14 Mar14 March 09:54

      I agree goodwill works both ways but what good is that if there’s no airline industry left? BA has had Cruz saying redundancies are very likely, KLM has laid off 2000 staff and grounded 6 747s, Lufthansa is in talks with the German government for support as is Delta in talks with the US government. There’s speculation American Airlines could go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection despite the CEO making a statement in the last year that his airline “would never lose money again.”

      • Roger says:

        14 Mar14 March 14:05

        Would Al-Bakr not acquire AA before it goes down?

        • Lady London says:

          14 Mar14 March 14:58

          Probably foreign purchase levels would be restricted by govt

      • Lady London says:

        14 Mar14 March 14:23

        Heard on the radio yesterday that BA has fired some employees. Presumably at foreign locations as not reported in the UK?

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