Two readers get upset because BA Holidays is too quick to pay refunds

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• Navid says:

  20 Aug20 August 08:12

  Your buddy can still fly to SFO from CDG for approx. € 1,200: https://youhavebeenupgraded.boardingarea.com/2020/08/yes-oneworld-business-paris-san-francisco-return-1200-euro-2020-2021/

• lynn orford says:

  20 Aug20 August 08:13

  My holiday was cancelled as the Friday flights were removed , however we could have just been asked could we fly on Saturday instead then we wouldn’t have lost the hotel booking. When I costed it to re book it was £3000 more!

• Alan T says:

  20 Aug20 August 08:15

  My guess is BA would say, they are simply applying Regulation 13 of the PTR 2018 and within their rights as the organiser, cancelling and refunding holidays as a result of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, although there appears an apparent clash with the passenger rights under EU 261?

• Lottie says:

  20 Aug20 August 08:15

  I had exactly the same thing happen to me, I rang straight up when I received the email and asked what part of the holiday was cancelled so I could rebook alternative arrangements and they didn’t know! As far as they could see the flights were still running. I made them confirm that they holiday wasn’t in fact cancelled, flights and car were still going ahead And that I was still booked. Just came back last week, all went ahead as planned. The flights cost was 3 times what I paid so I can only assume they were dumping people who booked at a low cost to sell the seats at a much higher price.

  • Jessie says:

    20 Aug20 August 12:48

    It makes no sense what you have said. You are saying they are cancelling you off a flight, and then selling that seat for a higher price? Surely a little difficult to do since the flight that you are referring to is, er, cancelled.

• Frances Morris says:

  20 Aug20 August 08:22

  so the company can’t win. they follow the law and give a refund, and that’s not what the customer wants. I think we all need to accept these unprecedent times and stop expecting to be able to travel at the costs you have enjoyed previously. ANYTHING booked for the next year will be subject to change!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    20 Aug20 August 08:52

    Why should anyone just accept that?

    At the end of the day the consumer has a choice a refund isn’t their only one.

• Andrew says:

  20 Aug20 August 08:25

  Worth remembering Rob’s article about You First if you have a booking with a flight in First which you need to speak to them about. Whilst You First team can’t help you, they will put your through to the Holidays team, without a queue and with a full introduction so no need to start your story again with the new agent.

• Journeying John says:

  20 Aug20 August 08:29

  “British Airways has, to its credit, been one of the better airlines when it comes to paying out cash refunds during coronavirus.”
  – How is duping tens of thousands of customers into ungenerous and restrictive travel vouchers better?
  BA despite being financially stronger than most of their UK competitors AND seeking and accepting public funds while campaigning against others receiving anything are still taking months to pay out and have done all they can to minimise refunds and maximise profiteering.
  #BelowAverage

  • Rhys says:

    20 Aug20 August 08:32

    Better than Virgin, Lufthansa, KLM, Air France, Ryanair….

  • Doug M says:

    20 Aug20 August 08:45

    You understand ‘better than’ is a comparative? BA have been undoubtedly ‘better than’ many other airlines in this area. There’s no suggestion they’re perfect. BAs financial strength or otherwise is not a relevant consideration in them following the law in regard to refund options.
    Your posts read as if you’ve had some personal issue with BA, and seek to discredit them in areas where they’ve done OK.

  • Doug M says:

    20 Aug20 August 08:48

    You understand ‘better than’ is a comparative? BA have been undoubtedly ‘better than’ many other airlines in this area. There’s no suggestion they’re perfect. BAs financial strength or otherwise is not a relevant consideration in them following the law in regard to refund options.
    Your posts read as if you’ve had some personal issue with BA, and seek to discredit them in areas where they’ve done OK.

    • Arnie Lord says:

      21 Aug21 August 05:01

      I have no wish to attempt to defend Joirneying Johns comments nor disparage the comment that BA have been better than most. But I think you will find that every single person commenting on this issue is effectively commenting because they have been affected and have a personal issue. My own experience with BA over a series of flights has been appalling, no answer on their call centre, hours trying to get through and then phone cut off, etc etc and had it not been for Rob advising me about the First Class phone line I would never have gotten through to BA Holidays. So whilst they may have handled some peoples refunds in and ok manner they certainly have not covered themselves in glory and my own personal experience of an AF refund has been ok and Virgin have at least communicated regularly if delayed but now paid.

  • Lady London says:

    20 Aug20 August 13:48

    +1
    When you consider how many flights and passengers BA has, the number of people BA deliberately sought to deny their right to a full refund in cash, by deliberate provable action *not once but at least two times* by deliberately removing the previously existing perfectly working Choose Refund functionality from their website, is more people than almost any other airline in the world.

    They did this not advising passengers of their rights as required by law, deliberately forcing the few more knowledgeable and persistent passengers onto phone lines BA had already admitted were (and are still) unable to accept demand by passengers needing to contact BA by phone. This was a cynical action by BA and the CAA was sleeping on the job.

    The fact that some European governments may have supported their national airlines, trying to bend EU rules for them, is totally irrelevant and especially given the much larger number of passengers BA has, does *not* excuse BA’s behaviour.

• Passy says:

  20 Aug20 August 08:29

  I had a trip to LAX in October cancelled by BA Holidays even though only one of the sectors was ‘cancelled’ due to being a 747, event though there were other suitable rotations on the same day of departure.
  My deposit was refunded in a few days, but due to the current situation, I have no desire to travel anywhere this year- particularly to the US, so I wasn’t too fussed about the trip being cancelled.

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