When should you accept a British Airways ‘Future Travel Voucher’ instead of a cash refund?

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

• Louise K says:

  7 Feb7 February 16:24

  We have a Man / LAX booking for April, booked with a 241 during the 50% off promo.

  Our flights were cancelled and they have moved us to another flight on our dates. I have not yet accepted these.

  Obv won’t be travelling in April , but if I accept these flights and they cancel them, what would my rebooking options be? Trying to push these to possibly next year.

  BA are currently operating a daily BA268/269 rotation and the new flights they have rebooked is an earlier rotation so likely to be cancelled.

  • kitten says:

    7 Feb7 February 20:08

    @Louise K LAX is a cargo route do I would not be as confident of cancellation of all flights on any day. Personally I’d reroute – but you could wait till much nearer time to decide that

• kitten says:

  7 Feb7 February 16:59

  you have the right to demand the original destination om another carrier (and in this case it’s likely JAL should be considered by them which is nice to fly). If they know you mean business they’d be silly not to let you choose another destination in same zone as it would cost them less than most other carriers. But this is BA we’re talking about.

  I’d MCOL or before that if paid by UK credit card, use Section 75 to get replacement ticket other carrier to same destination

  • kitten says:

    7 Feb7 February 17:05

    *wordpress mislocated above reply it’s for the Japan question earlier

• Rh says:

  7 Feb7 February 17:23

  Hi Rob, regarding this bit:
  ‘ The only catch is that the last date to travel is 365 days from the day you made the original booking. If you booked your flight a year in advance, you can’t take advantage of this.’

  I have commented before, but BA have let me move the booking forward a lot more than a year forward from the original booking date. I can send you screenshots direct if you are interested!

  • Rob says:

    7 Feb7 February 17:27

    Some agents will do it, but this is absolutely not policy and I can show you another 20 readers who couldn’t do it for every one that did.

    • Rh says:

      7 Feb7 February 18:12

      Hi Rob, I meant I have moved it forward twice online when BA have twice cancelled my booking. I haven’t had to speak to anyone. Have just looked in and clicked option to search for alternative dates on the same route.
      Either way, I’m happy to have been able to move!

      • Rh says:

        7 Feb7 February 18:13

        *logged

      • Louise K says:

        7 Feb7 February 18:17

        I think it helps when the booking is simple and straightforward- I have domestic connections on mine and can’t do anything other than call.

    • Charlieface says:

      7 Feb7 February 19:19

      It is IATA policy though. And obviously EC261 should force them also.

    • TJ says:

      7 Feb7 February 19:38

      In my experience, it does seem to the case that agents will flatly refuse to do this. However, I have managed to move flights online beyond the 365 threshold…the system just generates new ticket numbers. So whilst it may be BA’s policy, their IT system seems to have a different algorithm – “the computer says yes!!”.

• Nick says:

  7 Feb7 February 17:37

  I had a lloyds voucher flight booked for march which has just been cancelled, as it was an avios sale ticket from late last year can i rebook for sep in same class or do i need to take the refund and rebook at the revised avios fare? Also, does there need to be avios availability in chosen class ?

  • Nick says:

    7 Feb7 February 19:27

    just to add, do i call avios or BA to rebook ?

    • kitten says:

      7 Feb7 February 19:45

      rebook no more cost call whoever you booked with. nk more avios needed and you dont have to have an avios seat, any seat being sold in same cabin you have a right to

• Michael Chandler says:

  7 Feb7 February 21:02

  Our outbound and inbound flights to South Africa have been cancelled by BA. They were “purchased” with a 2-4-1 reward voucher. We have taken the FTV and have been told that we need to call BA in order to book another set of flights.

  The thing is that if we are restricted to available “Avios seats” these are limited in supply and as soon as they become available at midnight they are grabbed right away. So, by the time the BA booking phone line opens these “Avios seats” will have gone and we would be left empty handed.

  It is possible – based on past experience on how quickly Avios seats are snatched up at midnight – that we could go months on end without their being any “Avios seats” available when we call the call centre.

  Here’s my question: Are we restricted to using our FTV to just flights that have “Avios seats” available or can we use the FTV on any flight that has any seats (Avios or otherwise) available? Is there a specific BA policy on this? Or, are we going to have to play the game of calling the USA a few minutes before midnight UK time to grab “Avios seats”?

  • Rob says:

    7 Feb7 February 21:39

    Only Avios seats. I recommend you ring BA, pay the £35 per person to cancel your FTV and get the Avios, cash and voucher back (unless your 241 is about to expire). Remember that South Africa is virtually impossible on Avios in peak season in normal times.

    • Damien says:

      8 Feb8 February 08:33

      Hi Rob.

      So even if BA cancels your 2-4-1 flight, you’re still stuck trying to find avios availability for the rebooking? Is there no special case because they cancelled you?

      • Damien says:

        8 Feb8 February 08:53

        Sorry, spotted in the article that if they cancel and can be rescheduled….. but only within 365 days of booking. I booked my midlives flight way back in March 2020. Expect them to cancel it any day now…. doesn’t leave me many options.

      • Rob says:

        8 Feb8 February 09:41

        If BA cancels they will rebook you on any date, up to 365 days from the date you paid the taxes on the original booking. No Avios seats needed.

        • Damien says:

          8 Feb8 February 14:35

          unfortunately that was 28th March 2020

• Bing says:

  7 Feb7 February 21:13

  I have a BA canceled flight booked with Lloyds upgrade voucher, so as to prevent voucher expired, called avios.com to get a travel voucher but said they do not offer ”Travel Voucher” as British Airways.
  The options are either rebooked on the same route in a future date or ask for a refund and deposit the voucher back.
  The Osaka route has been suspended till the end of the year, does any one has any suggestions on how to obtain a Travel Voucher for booking made with Avios.com with Lloyds voucher?

• Callum says:

  7 Feb7 February 23:04

  Despite what it says in the article, I’m 99.9% certain that you cannot, nor have ever been able to, get a FTV from an Avios.com Lloyds voucher booking (or possibly any Avios.com booking).

  • Gary says:

    8 Feb8 February 08:06

    Agree. In scenario where BA cancelled the flight, Lloyds voucher booking with Avios team is (although it shouldn’t) significantly less protected compare to reward seat booking with Amex 2-4-1 voucher via BA in terms of options. Lloyds/Avios: no re-route for any date that’s at the passenger’s convenience as per EC261 (ie Lloyds/Avios maintained need to have reward seat availability on date the flight being changed to), no FTV, limited customer service opening hours to reserve reward seats when they appear.

• SuziQ says:

  8 Feb8 February 12:54

  Our conundrum…. Amex 2-4-1 voucher original expiry date May 2020. Booking for March 2020 cancelled. Rebooked March this year. BA have cancelled Antigua outbound flight and offered an alternative date which we don’t want. Having read various bits I cannot see that BA have yet announced a new expiry date for 2-4-1 vouchers? If we cancel will our 2-4-1 voucher be valid till April 2023 or only 2022?

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