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British Airways changes its ‘Book with Confidence’ policy (again)

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British Airways has once again changed its ‘Book with Confidence’ policy. 

All deadline dates have now been removed.  It seems that BA has decided that the August 2021 deadline was putting people off from booking for later in the year or for Christmas.

Full details are on ba.com here.

EDIT: ‘Book With Confidence’ ended on 7th June 2022.  Bookings made after this date are not covered by the guarantee.  Bookings made up to 7th June, for travel by 30th September 2022, can still be cancelled or amended without charge.

British Airways Book with Confidence extended

What has changed if you booked before coronavirus?

If you booked before 3rd March 2020, you can request a Future Travel Voucher as long as your outbound flight is due to be taken by 28th February 2021.  You can also change the date of your trip, subject to the payment of any fare difference.

The previous deadline was January.  People who booked ski holidays for February half-term are now covered.

What is the position for all other travellers?

The current policy waives the change fee for new bookings made from 3rd March 2020 for travel at any date in the future.

You can change the date, the destination, or both.  You will have to pay any difference in fare, however.

Alternatively, you can exchange the value of your ticket for a Future Travel Voucher valid until 30th April 2022.  You can do this at any time and for any reason.

Remember that, for bookings made purely with cash and with no Avios element, these vouchers now come as an eVoucher and can be used online without having to call British Airways.

There was previously a ‘travel by’ deadline of 31st August 2021, beyond which BA was not willing to guarantee the ability to change your flights or take a voucher.

British Airways book with confidence extended

Remember that British Airways is legally required to offer a full cash refund if it cancels flights.  Before requesting a refund via a travel voucher, you may prefer to wait to see if your flight is cancelled, allowing you to ask for cash.

Will the Future Travel Voucher deadline be extended?

This is the next question that British Airways will need to grapple with.  When it started giving out vouchers, putting a ‘travel by’ deadline of 30th April 2022 seemed generous. 

Even if you believe that travel restrictions from the UK will be lifted in a few months, it is unlikely that many of BA’s top long-haul destinations will be welcoming tourists for some time to come.

Full details of the ‘Book with Confidence’ guarantee are on ba.com 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 (81)

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

  • pauldb says:
    26 Jan26 January 08:22

    I’m certainly optimistic about being able to travel again by April 2022, but this limitation for me is that I’ll soon have my February half term and Easter 2022 travel booked up with avios, hopefully.

    If I accept the risk of booking a summer trip or my October break is ruled out, there simply won’t be an opportunity for me to use an April22 FTV so it’s not a useful guarantee.

  • Graeme says:
    26 Jan26 January 08:31

    I’ve got a cash booking with 1 flight UuA on the return in Oct 2020, booked out with the BWC at the time. It’s now cheaper than what I paid for it. Am I right in saying I can cancel the flight, get a FTV then rebook the same flights and UuA again (still showing as available on same flight).
    What happens to the remaining amount on the FTV, use before Apr 2022? Are there any downsides to be aware of? Apart from having to be on the phone for a long time and weighing up if it’s worth the hassle. TIA

  • Nathan says:
    26 Jan26 January 08:44

    OK. So I may have missed something or am being dense but, what happens if, say, the fare difference works in one’s favour?

    I have Feb half-term skiing flights, paid cash, booked with BA last year (it was a punt that I was willing to take) that may not happen. If they do fly the route then we’re not going.

    I am considering re-booking to a September visit to family via Malaga. The new flights are currently cheaper than the usual patatas fritas and the fare difference is substantial in my favour as a result.

    • tony says:
      26 Jan26 January 09:21

      You get another voucher with the difference is my understanding. Presumably however that still needs to be used by April 2022.

  • Martin says:
    26 Jan26 January 09:41

    What chance further extensions on 241s? I am sat on one which was refunded due to a Chicago cancellation back in May 2021 – it has been extended to June this year but remains basically useless. I have another expiring June 2022, and have now stopped spending on my BA card (in favour of Marriott AMEX) as there seems little point in earning yet another

  • Stanley says:
    26 Jan26 January 11:27

    If I chose to cancel my BA holiday booking and presumably get a voucher back for the deposit amount…. can I use that against flight bookings in the future, or is it stuck as a BA Hols voucher??

  • Jennifer says:
    26 Jan26 January 12:10

    Alan (26th: 00.31) suggested it was possible to ‘extend’ an expiring 2-for-1 voucher by booking then cancelling and getting an FTV. Is this possible, Rob? Lots of us out there with this problem and that many of us use these vouchers to plan for a trip a year ahead, it seems that ‘loyalty’ customers are being treated less fairly than cash customers when it comes to extending booking windows?? The vouchers are held by BA, not Amex, after all.

    • Rob says:
      26 Jan26 January 12:27

      Works perfectly. You can’t change the 2nd passenger name though.

    • Stagger Lee says:
      26 Jan26 January 12:50

      I’ll be looking at doing just that although I will have to fork out extra when i rebook as I’ll have lost the half price avios sale price from last year.

  • Noggins says:
    26 Jan26 January 13:10

    Late in the day for a comment, I know but…
    I booked a CE return to Sofia (as flagged here a few months ago) and had a flight cancelled notification the other day. The odd thing was that the replacement flight offered was on exactly the same date with the same flight times and flight numbers. As it was a late March it is obviously not going to happen so I elected to cancel for a cash refund. I’m surprised there is not more being said about how much digging you still have to do to find the cash refund option. If you’re not an HfP anorak I don’t think you’d find it!

  • Jennifer says:
    26 Jan26 January 13:57

    Still on expiring 2-for-1 voucher topic (ours currently being used for a USA June 2021 booking which is unlikely to happen, and, like Stagger Lee, made with sale price avios)….

    Thanks for the reply, Rob – two quick further questions –
    – Would BA have to cancel the flight or can I cancel at any time from here on in in order to qualify for an FTV?
    – What would that consist of? Taxes and enough avios to cover two USA business tickets at the current rate (sad about losing the 50% avios sale reduction, but different matter if needed 3 times more avios on top of voucher to book equivalent in 2022).

    Apologies if this has been covered in earlier postings. Didn’t think 2-for-1 vouchers came under any FTV offer previously.

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