GAME OVER: You can no longer extend 2-4-1 vouchers by claiming a Future Travel Voucher

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

• PGW says:

  2 Mar2 March 10:50

  “The key one is that you can no longer get a Future Travel Voucher on an Avios booking. Your booking will be automatically refunded instead”. That is confirmed within the application form and is clearly an accurate summary.

  Well, I’ve just been sent the standard FTV email for a May 2022 avios booking I cancelled this morning despite having ticked the box acknowledging that I am accepting an automatic refund!

  • Rob says:

    2 Mar2 March 11:23

    Odd. I’ve had a couple of readers send me the new email that BA is sending out, explaining that you’re getting everything back and no FTV.

    • PGW says:

      2 Mar2 March 12:18

      It is a bit odd and I’ve looked closely at the booking to see if there’s anything about it that might differentiate it but it’s about as standard as they come. I’m not going to waste more time calling and have enough avios left in my account to be able to make a new booking online and will brave the phone lines further down the line. It’s still annoying though.

  • Cosmo175 says:

    2 Mar2 March 15:04

    I just went in to cancel an Avios booking that I couldn’t yet be bothered to phone up to cancel – I just get the option to apply for a voucher, there is no option for a refund. In which case I will try and see if i can do anything with my 2-4-1 voucher that’s expiring in April – no doubt they’ll be on the ball with that one though.

    • Cosmo175 says:

      2 Mar2 March 15:14

      Just made a dummy booking to Manchester, immediately applied to cancel it and only got the option for a voucher. Fingers crossed that’s what I get.

      • Ed says:

        2 Mar2 March 16:20

        Did the same but didn’t get an email afterwards, let’s wait and see…

        • Ed says:

          2 Mar2 March 17:57

          Aaaand everything is being refunded; was worth a shot.

• Julie says:

  2 Mar2 March 10:56

  If I cancel a reward flight that I booked with the minimum avios and maximum cash option, is this still classed as a normal reward ticket and pay £35 for the cancellation?
  If so then I should also be able to cancel for a refund online?
  It made sense because of the ridiculously high cash prices at Easter.

  • Rob says:

    2 Mar2 March 11:22

    Depends if a) you booked a cash flight but reduced the cost with Avios – which is not a reward flight or b) you booked an Avios flight and maximised the cash bit – when it is a reward flight and its £35 to cancel.

    • Julie says:

      2 Mar2 March 11:40

      Thanks Rob. Yes it’s an avios flight maximising the cash bit. Good to get it confirmed since I’m considering changing plans.

• says:

  2 Mar2 March 10:58

  The immediate triggering of a 241 on reaching £10000 spend might be seen as a little self defeating for Amex. I’m holding off on the last £40 spend so that I can trigger later in the year. So they are missing out on spend I would have made after. Perhaps they should enable you to trigger any time up to the anniversary of your start date.

  • 2ilent8cho says:

    2 Mar2 March 11:04

    Yes and unlock and then claim would be better, with exp date being the claim date.

  • IanT says:

    2 Mar2 March 11:18

    I’ve done this for years with 241s….run up to about £9k and then swap cards and trigger the voucher to suit us, which is usually towards the end of the winter.
    Not quite so easy to do with the Virgin voucher but I still trigger it to suit us.

• chrishors says:

  2 Mar2 March 11:32

  The upside is the book with confidence extension.
  I have booked a cash ticket (using a previous cash voucher plus more cash) for my adult son to Miami in August. At the moment he will not be allowed to fly as he refuses to be vaccinated (I know, I have tried and tried to convince him). So I am trying to decide whether to cancel his ticket now, or wait.
  Can someone confirm that I can cancel his ticket anytime up to departure for a FTV?
  And if FTV, are they restricted to the individual, or if I could use it for a flight I am taking next year?
  Thanks.

  • tiriavpo says:

    2 Mar2 March 13:51

    If it is a simple cash booking, it should come back as an e-voucher (ie cash voucher as you previously used). So useable for anyone. And yes, at least at the moment, any time up until check in closes.

    • chrishors says:

      2 Mar2 March 13:58

      Thank you.

  • Lady London says:

    2 Mar2 March 15:26

    There is no point whatsoever taking an FTV so far as I can tell, particularly on a cash booking, unless it allows a 2-4-1 voucher to be extended.

    There is no more reason to let BA hang onto your cash (which is all an FTV does now).

    Even if I had to spend hours on the phone trying to get through to BA, I would only ever consider a cash refund now. Never an FTV. In the words of (I think) @Colin Mackinnon, an FTV only preserves what you paid not what you used it for. BA reserves the right to repricw what you did have and let go, at any time. And they control avios seat availability on BA flights completely.

    Take an FTV now and you may never be able to rebook what you had, in the future. And meanwhile, BA gets to hold on to your money.

    Did BA want to make sure no one could reach them by telephone to request their cash back, whilst at the same time they have *still* not flipped the switch to re-enable access to the refund request form online?

    • Lady London says:

      2 Mar2 March 15:29

      …and the same currently applies, for an e-voucher. If you’re no longer able to use the process to extend a 241 you’re not able to use before its current deadline then why take eitherban FTV or an (e-)voucher and let BA keep your money?

    • ACK says:

      2 Mar2 March 15:40

      “BA reserves the right to repricw what you did have and let go, at any time”

      and thank God for that! Had a CE flight booked for the family and we had to cancel for family matters. Got the FTV. A month after was looking for the same flight for a later date, which got repriced. Prices have gone down so well, I got a CE and a ET ticket for us, for the price of the original CE. So it works both ways.

• dpfs says:

  2 Mar2 March 11:33

  Oh dear. I’ve got a 241 expiring 21st Sep ’22 and really wanted to use it for an outbound 30th September

  Don’t suppose there’s any way around this? I cancelled a booking yesterday and they’ve just said the voucher will be refunded with its original expiry date.

  • Rob says:

    2 Mar2 March 11:40

    No

  • Grimz says:

    2 Mar2 March 15:53

    Why did you wait if that was your intentions? This was always going to happen sooner rather than later and I’m actually surprised it has taken this long………….

    • dpfs says:

      2 Mar2 March 16:08

      Because the wedding date was only provisional until this weekend when a different date was finalised. But thank you for your help, anyway…

• Matthew says:

  2 Mar2 March 11:58

  What I find frustrating is that BA have cancelled my flight twice when booked with companion voucher and still refuse to extend it despite twice trying to use it in good faith. So it will be going to waste as they won’t apply it to existing bookings either. Vote with my feet springs to mind…

  • SamG says:

    2 Mar2 March 12:18

    your UK / EU 261 rights would have been for those flights to be rebooked – either on those dates on another carrier or to a date “of your convenience” . Varying level of difficulty getting BA to co-operate depending on what you wanted to do . Unfortunately if you take a refund that is the end of the matter feel free to come ask in the forum for advice if it happens again !

• masaccio says:

  2 Mar2 March 12:49

  Email after cancelling today:

  “We’re sorry you couldn’t travel on your Reward Flight booking reference XXXXXX. To offer you maximum flexibility we’ll be cancelling your booking and refunding you in full.

  “You don’t need to do anything. We’ll automatically credit the Avios back to your account and refund the money to your original form of payment. We expect this to take approximately 4 weeks and it means you’ll be able to use your Avios as you wish, to book a new trip on ba.com or however you choose when you are ready to return to the skies. ”

  Wow – 4 weeks for an ‘automatic’ process. How can an IT organisation suck so badly?

  • PGW says:

    2 Mar2 March 13:05

    Is that 4 weeks for both the avios and the cash element?

    • masaccio says:

      2 Mar2 March 14:08

      I guess I will find out – certainly nothing in my account yet. I can’t even remember whether the 241 voucher is valid much beyond the flight date as it was rebooked so long ago

  • Gavin454 says:

    2 Mar2 March 13:11

    It’s probably not actually automatic. Before the pandemic, Avios would be back in your account instantly when cancelling a booking.

  • Lady London says:

    2 Mar2 March 15:31

    That’s 4 weeks+chasing+chasing for a lot of people I think

    • Lady London says:

      2 Mar2 March 15:35

      Why do I think that like a lot of companies used to do in the UK, BA looks at their bank account at the end of every month and decides how many of the outstanding bills/claims for refund, it can actually afford to pay out this month? regardless of when due.

• BFT01 says:

  2 Mar2 March 12:52

  I have booked a flight using a 241 voucher, but the booking has me as both passengers and not my my husband as the other passenger, how poor is their IT system to allow that to happen,? I have contacted customer services to change this but 3 weeks after contacting them they still haven’t changed the 2nd passenger’s name on the booking apparently they are really busy, I don’t want to cancel it in case I loose the seats before I get the chance to book it again, does anyone have any suggestions as to what to do? Thanks

  • elt says:

    2 Mar2 March 15:40

    Phone again.
    My bookings which included a voucher each time had me as mrs E Txxxxx
    and mrs Two Txxxx as the 2nd pax.

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