Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

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.

British Airways Book With Confidence

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 from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (May 2025)

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

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express Credit Card

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card

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

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

The American Express Business Platinum Card

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

The American Express Business Gold Card

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year 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.

Comments (857)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • JOSEPH FRAMPTON says:

    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?

  • AJA says:

    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:

    Any idea how flights booked with Avios & Cash are affected?

    • TGLoyalty says:

      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:

    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:

      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:

      I think there was an earlier post saying that each person in the group got an individual voucher.

  • Matt says:

    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:

      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:

    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:

    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

  • Barbora says:

    Hi. Any idea how this work on pre-booked seats, will this be included in the voucher?

    • Matt says:

      The T&Cs state:
      Are seating and extra baggage purchases included in the value of the voucher?

      Charges such as excess baggage or seat selection will be transferred to the new booking.

      So presumably yes? Although not holding out much hope!

      • AJA says:

        Hawk777 on FlyerTalk who works in Customer Service at BA confirmed seat fees will be included in the voucher in addition to the fare.

    • Lady London says:

      If not then when things are quieter for BA you can follow up. If there’s a space on the form add a polite request. The important thing is you submit the voucher in time to lodge your claim. Take a screenshot with date and time showing on your screen just in case.

      For now, let’s let BA spend their staff time helping those who really do need to travel.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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