Bought a BA Holiday package? You are losing your right to a cash refund

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• nkh says:

  23 Mar23 March 14:01

  Has anyone got any clarity on the terms of the voucher being offered by BA as part of the Confidence scheme at the moment? Our cancellation terms mean we’re getting very little in return if we straight up cancel. Despite the outbound (FCO) and inbound (Canadian gov) restrictions and the fact my wife is pregnant, they’re still only offering a voucher.

  We’re wondering whether the voucher is transferable which may make it easier to accept!

  Has anyone seen the terms?

  • Rob says:

    23 Mar23 March 14:56

    Some terms were in the small print on the refund website. What basically happens is that your flight is frozen and when you want to travel they change the destination, date and ticket class inside the existing flight. This implies that you can’t transfer the voucher.

    • nkh says:

      23 Mar23 March 16:26

      I thought that may be the case. Thanks for the info.

• Charlieface says:

  23 Mar23 March 14:11

  They’re not in a worse position re the flight, only the rest of the package surely? As EC261 would still apply.

• Ann says:

  23 Mar23 March 14:16

  The problem is that airlines are refusing full refunds.

  Emirates have cancelled my flight for 29th March. When I say cancelled, I mean that they are no longer selling seats on the flight but they can’t be bothered to tell me it’s cancelled.

  Even when on the phone, they don’t tell me it’s cancelled when asking for a refund (when I stated Singapore will refuse entry).

  Only travel voucher or £300 per ticket cancellation. Have spoken to 4 people:

  First person – £300 cancellation but if your government advises against travel you’ll get a refund

  Second person – Previous person wouldn’t have told you that. You need to be forbidden from leaving or denied entry to get a refund.

  Third person – we never do full refunds. Only travel vouchers or you pay a cancellation fee.

  Fourth person (manager after escalation) – I listened to the calls and we didn’t say you’d get a refund (believe me, they did!!)

  I’m seriously pissed off with them. It’s not even the money, it’s the principle of the whole thing and being in a situation where the call centre staff just aren’t following the rules. It’s impossible!

  • John says:

    23 Mar23 March 14:37

    In your case it’s no longer about Singapore not allowing transit, but all Emirates flights are cancelled by the UAE government.

    This is different from other cases where the flight still operates but the passenger won’t be allowed to enter the destination.

    Thus if they refuse to refund then the card company should refund.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    23 Mar23 March 14:43

    if it’s after the 25th then looks like all flights are cancelled so forget their offer of a voucher and instruct your card company to do a chargeback since they can’t deliver what was promised.

    • Lady London says:

      23 Mar23 March 15:18

      And ask your cardco to pay for any other flight you can find as s75 covers replacing your ticket for same or similar enough ticket – just get what you can on any airline ideally same airline as whichever one you departed on from Europe then next best choice any other European airline then any other airline

  • Lee says:

    23 Mar23 March 15:17

    EC261 says they MUST give a refund! That is the law!!

• Joy Newman says:

  23 Mar23 March 14:38

  I have booked a holiday to Antigua departing 30th April. It is against Foreign Office advice to travel but BA haven’t cancelled the flight. They are asking for the balance of my payment. Should I pay and wait and see?

• TeessideTraveller says:

  23 Mar23 March 14:42

  I have a £5,500 balance payment due in May for a BA Holiday to Barbados. I’m not optimistic that it will go ahead.

  So the options are either lose my £650 deposit or pay the remaining £5,500 effectively to get a £6,150 BA Holidays voucher that also could be redeemable for cash in 2 years time?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    23 Mar23 March 14:44

    Won’t they give you a £650 voucher towards your next holiday?

    I wouldn’t gamble £5,500 to win £650 tbh no idea when you need the cash in the upcoming months vs a holiday.

    • TeessideTraveller says:

      23 Mar23 March 14:53

      I guess that could be an option but it’s pretty much guaranteed that July flights will still be scheduled by early May so BA could well say that the holiday is still going ahead.

      I would take the £650 voucher right now if it were offered.

      • WaynedP says:

        24 Mar24 March 18:25

        It is on offer now.
        My reading of the T&Cs and the FAQs on BA website is that you are eligible to receive a voucher for the full amount of the deposit paid, even if you choose to cancel now, if your flight departs on or before 31 May 2020. The voucher is valid for 12 months from the date of your original departure.

    • Anna says:

      23 Mar23 March 15:34

      I wouldn’t be so sure of that. If you cancel a future holiday booking now, you’ll be bound by the original Ts & Cs, which is that you lose the deposit.

• PaulW says:

  23 Mar23 March 14:52

  Thanks for the heads up – my Helskini weekend next month (flight & hotel) that had most of its flights cancelled fully refunded after a call to ba holidays, maybe just in time!

• Nate1309 says:

  23 Mar23 March 15:05

  I have a Flight&Car booking for October. Luckily only paid £600/£2000 so far. Just going to leave as is and not pay any more off for the foreseeable future. October a long way off but still very much unlikely to be travelling freely imo.

• Jill (Kinkell) says:

  23 Mar23 March 15:06

  Likewise a BAholiday booked for mid June. Only a fraction left to pay. Pay up then cancel? Leave it and see what happens? It’s a few months away and who knows what’s in store. If it’s a voucher for full amount that can be traded on a like for like basis, then not so bad. Not terribly keen on paying lots more for the same!
  I did get a full refund for our non helicopter Monaco trip instead of voucher.

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