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Hi,
Would be interested in your thoughts. As I doubt even BA know what they are going to do about this.
We booked flights to Cape Town for this December using our companion voucher back in January (rebooked after it being cancelled last year).
We had the flight on 27th December cancelled by BA once SA was put on the red list, however the flight back on 16th January is still showing as valid.
Will they reinstate our booking or will it be a bun fight to get rebooked?Cheers,
MarkEU261 gave you the right to any choice of rebooking “rerouting” dates for your whole booking as soon as any flight within your booking was cancelled.
I doubt BA will know yet when they will add more flights back to South Africa again. I’d be surprised if it would be so soon as to bring back your flight on 27th December that they cancelled.
Why don’t you think about what dates you’d like to rebook to, and call them? If you do still want to travel on 27th then EU261 says they have to book you on another airline if they’re not flying. But BA may well try not to do this (illegally). Which means you’d have to rebook yourself paying out then suing them online to reclaim – which you’d win and get the lowish costs paid back on, too.
If they can put you on a flight on a slightly later date then they’d owe you any extra hotel costs and meals this caused you during your wait.
You don’t have to resolve this by the date of your cancelled outgoing. But I’d advise you to call them soon and find out what they can offer.
A word of warning – do not accept any refund as then you completely lose your existing right to move your whole booking to whichever dates work for you at absolutely no cost to you.
Thats really helpful, thank you!
Got a flight a day earlier but via Jo’burg.
Just need to avoid catching this thing now…
Just need to avoid catching this thing now…
Ah. Can’t help you with that.
Hi Mark
No Avios availability currently showing for Joburg so presume they gave you seats anyway?
We are due to fly to CT on the 26th. Our flight wasn’t cancelled ( early flight) but it has been moved to 4pm and we were offered the opportunity to change flights then.
We are now on tenterhooks as close exposure to Covid at the weekend. If we can’t fly on the 26th at present we’ll have a problem as no Avios seats ( unsurprisingly) now showing at all to Joburg or Cape Town in January. I’m hoping after reading your post that if we are unable to travel we might be able to get seats later🤞I wondered that too.
BA actually cancelled our return flights for 16th January this afternoon, which wasn’t stressful in the slightest…
Called them and they booked us on the later flight that day, it did show that there were two club world seats but I didn’t have a chance to check the Avios availability for the flight as I was in a meeting, so you might be in luck.Make sure you wear your masks over the weekend!!
Indeed . All social events now on hold and looks like family Christmas cancelled anyway as grandson 2 now has COVID too.
I can tell you there were definitely no Avios flights available to or from Cape Town as I’ve been checking regularly even though I have Seat Spy alerts on. However just checked Joburg and have managed to get First out mid Jan as a fallback position. If you want me to alert you if I do have to cancel our CW booking to CPT on Boxing Day let me know. We should know by Monday if we’ve dodged this particular bullet!Thank you. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that!
Hope you all make it out and back OK. We’re off to JNB on Christmas Day (hopefully) and returning 16th. Got shifted forward 3 hours on departure but apart from that, no news…. Still trying to work out if PCR of LFT required outbound, need to book today really so will have to opt for PCR without further info…..
We booked PCR’s for Christmas Eve.
Family that were there in November (and ended up in quarantine hotels) said that it is worth printing multiple copies of the test results as SA immigration looked at them in great detail.Have spoken to friend in SA who informed us that everyone she had spoken to arriving recently had PCRs, and had certificates scrutinised in depth (whatever that means), though government websites still seem ‘imprecise’. We have booked PCRs for 23rd, extra £100 over LFTs but peace of mind feels worth it. The main thing to remember seems to be that even if you are right in your interpretation of rules, that doesn’t help if the person who is wrong is in charge of your being allowed to board a plane. Awkward times…
Exactly. I’ve booked PCRs for Christmas Eve too just hope their promise of working as usual on Christmas Day as normal is true. Just need to check out the immigration form that has just been mentioned to me. Apparently using the VERIFLY app is useful at Heathrow but I agree multiple paper copies of everything essential insurance for SA
🤞Day 8 so cautiously optimistic but now anxious about going anywhere!
I would be interested to read if anyone has managed to board their BA flights to SA basis a negative antigen (lateral flow) test rather than a PCR. We are flying there shortly and have both had COVID within the past month, meaning there is an uncomfortably high probability PCR will still show a positive result. Manage my booking on BA does NOT specify PCR as a requirement. From what I can see on the official SA advice, it also does NOT specify a PCR test, simply a negative COVID test certificate. However, the FCO travel advice DOES specify PCR. Most confusing! Would be very grateful for some real-world experience.
My daughter travelled to South Africa recently and we are due to go soon. She had to use the VeriFLY app which verified her certificate during the check-in process with BA. On the FAQ page of the SA Government’s advice on travel it states that it must be a PCR test (https://www.gov.za/covid-19/models/current-alert-provincemetro):
What are the requirements for the 72 hour PCR test for COVID-19?
Travellers intending to visit the country will be expected to produce a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test that is not older than 72 hours from the time of departure from the country of origin to South Africa; and be presented before travelling to South Africa. This test must be conducted by a certified medical practitioner and should have the name and signature of the practitioner who conducted such test.
It’s also worth noting that her first test result came back as inconclusive so she had to be re-tested the next day, so it’s wise to book this as early as you can to avoid last minute issues should you have to re-test. Hope your results are negative and that you manage to travel!
Well, we’ve managed to get to Johannesburg but missed our connecting flight. Due to leaving nearly two hours late and then having to collect our luggage and drop it back off.
BA have put us on a SAA flight five hours later.Still the lounge is empty, so that’s something.
Verifly made things much easier at Heathrow, the health questionnaire was taken very quickly inside the terminal and yes our fit to fly certificate was scrutinised very thoroughly.
Bring an umbrella, weather is a bit British at the moment, but better for this evening apparently…
Yes it was very wet and stormy when we flew to Cape Town.
Interestingly BA has credited both of our accounts with Avios and Tier points despite us using the companion voucher for the flight.
If we get it on the return I’ll be very close to triggering Silver.Ssshhhh!
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