This is the only way left to get an online refund for a British Airways Avios flight

Are you trying to get a refund on a British Airways Avios flight ticket?  There is still one way – and only one way – to get a refund online.

This only applies to tickets where your Avios flight has not been cancelled yet.  If it has been cancelled, you need to join the queue for the British Airways call centre to request a cash and Avios refund if you don’t want a voucher.

EDIT:  This route no longer works.  Not surprisingly, BA closed it within 48 hours of this article being published.

I strongly recommend NOT taking a voucher on an Avios ticket.  Your Avios and, if applicable, your British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher are NOT returned separately if you take the voucher.  You get a voucher which contains Avios and the 2-4-1 and the cash element.  The voucher will expire after 12 months from your original flight date – and you must return by that date, not fly out – so you are at real risk of losing your Avios permanently.  Take the cash.

How can I claim an online refund for an Avios flight?

British Airways has deliberately hijacked its own website to stop the online cancellation form appearing.

On 19th March we published an article explaining how to get around this and get an online British Airways flight refund by amending the javascript settings in your internet browser.  It took them some time, but British Airways has now managed to block this workaround for desktop computers.

They forget to block the workaround for iPhones, however.  It does NOT work on iPads.

If you have an iPhone, you can still cancel an Avios redemption flight online, as long as the flight is still operating. 

There’s one thing to note.  When you cancel online, your refund is queued for manual cancellation.  It could take a couple of weeks to get the Avios back in your account, with the money taking even longer.  If you call BA, the Avios are returned immediately, although you must still wait for the cash.  If you want to rebook immediately, you need to call instead.

As your flight has not yet been cancelled by BA, cancellation fees will still be due.  The only way to avoid paying the cancellation fee (£35 per person on long haul flights, £1 or £35 on short haul flights depending on when you booked) is to wait and hope that British Airways cancels your flight which allows you to have a fee-free refund.

This is how to cancel your British Airways flight online

This is what you need to do on your iphone.

Step 1

In the Safari browser, go to ba.com and log in to your account (do not use the British Airways app).

The person who originally booked must log in.  You CANNOT cancel if you are a passenger but were not the original booker.

Step 2

At ba.com, go into ‘Manage My Booking’ for the flight you want to cancel.  If you are asked if you want to use the new or current version of ‘Manage My Booking’, select ‘current’ if you want to follow the pictures below.

Step 3

Scroll to the bottom where you will see a link for ‘Cancellation options for this booking’ – DO NOT CLICK IT

Step 4

Go into ‘Settings’ on your iPhone and scroll down to ‘Safari’.  In the ‘Safari’ section, scroll to the bottom where you see ‘Advanced’ (see below) and click it.

Step 5

Under the ‘Advanced’ menu, disable JavaScript (turn the green button shown below to grey)

Step 6

Return to ba.com and click ‘Cancellation options for this booking’

Step 7

You will be on the ‘Consent’ page.  Tick the box to say that you have the consent of all passengers to cancel, and click ‘Continue’

Step 8

And voila!  You are on the ‘Calculate refund’ page – DO NOT CLICK CONFIRM YET

Step 9

Return to the ‘Settings’ section of your iPhone settings.  Click ‘Safari’, scroll down to ‘Advanced’, click for the ‘Advanced’ menu and turn JavaScript back on (turn it from the grey below to green):

Step 10

Go back to the ‘Calculate refund’ page on ba.com, scroll down to ‘Confirm cancellation’ and click it.  You’re done.

Thank you to our readers who help finesse this process yesterday.  Good luck.

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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:

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.