Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

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

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

The Independent reports today that the Government is about to suspend the rules which guarantee you a swift refund when you cancel a package holiday.

The article is here.

One intriguing feature of my inbox in recent weeks has been the number of people complaining about British Airways making it very difficult to get a cash refund for a flight booking.

And yet, for every five complaints I got about flight refunds, I would get one praising British Airways and saying how wonderful they were for refunding a ‘flight and car’, ‘flight and hotel’ or BA Holidays package virtually instantaneously.

This was not an act of generosity, however.

Under the 2018 Package Travel Regulations, a holiday company is legally obliged to refund your holiday in full, in cash, within 14 days of it being cancelled.  There is no leeway.

On paper, there is also no leeway under EC261 about not refunding ‘flight only’ bookings either, but the penalties for flouting those rules are not as strict.

The European Commission ruled on Friday that this structure no longer made sense and was likely to drive every holiday company to the wall within weeks.

Under the proposed new rules, a holiday company can now provide a voucher or a credit note for a cancelled holiday.  There is one caveat though – there must be a legally binding guarantee in place that protects the voucher if the holiday company which issued it goes bust.

According to The Independent today, the UK Government is about to announce that it will underwrite ATOL to act as ‘funder of last resort’ to credit notes issued by holiday companies.

It will agree to backstop the value of credit notes for a period of two years.  If the holiday company goes into receivership during that time, ATOL will provide a cash refund for the credit note.

The article also implies that there will be a mechanism to cash out the voucher regardless of whether the tour operator has gone bust, but this is not clearly explained. 

Obviously you can’t be allowed to refund your voucher for cash immediately or there would be no benefit in putting the ruling in place.  It also makes little sense for ATOL to pay out a cash refund if the tour operator is still trading and could pay you directly.  It may be that the ‘take the cash’ option is only valid after the two years is up.  Hopefully the official announcement will provide some clarity here.

For most Head for Points readers, the effect of this will be to put ‘flight and hotel’, ‘flight and car’ or BA Holidays ticket holders into a WORSE position than people who simply have a flight booking.

Anyone with a flight only booking will remain legally entitled to a full cash refund once their flight is cancelled.

This is a reverse of the current position, where purchasers of packages were guaranteed a refund within 14 days whilst ‘flight only’ passengers have had to fight British Airways for the cash refund they are due with the website and emails actively encouraging people to accept a voucher.

You can find out more on The Independent website here.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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

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

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

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

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (78)

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? EARN POINTS WORTH 10,500 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!