British Airways scrapped its ‘Book With Confidence’ guarantee last night

British Airways ended its ‘Book With Confidence’ policy at midnight yesterday, Tuesday.

There was no advance notice given to the public, although we were able to get an article up on Tuesday afternoon after we were told in our role as a British Airways affiliate partner.

Any flight or BA Holidays bookings made from Wednesday onwards will no longer be covered by the policy.

Booking a flight to the US is now risky unless you have good travel insurance, since there is no sign of the requirement for a negative test within one day of travel being removed. Even Avios bookings carry some risk due to the need to cancel within 24 hours of departure.

What were the ‘Book With Confidence’ rules?

Until last night, any British Airways cash flight booked for travel by 30th September 2022 (this is the date by which your entire trip must be completed, not just the outbound) could be cancelled at any point – up to an hour before departure – for an eVoucher.

You could also change the details of your ticket (time, date) without any change fees, although any fare difference was payable.

The eVoucher would be valid as part payments towards any new BA flight booking, on any route, for travel up to 30th September 2023.

If you had made an Avios booking, it could be cancelled for free – no £35 fee – up to one hour before departure. You did not receive an eVoucher. All cash, Avios and any relevant vouchers were returned to your Executive Club account.

If you have existing BA bookings, nothing changes. You are still covered by ‘Book With Confidence’ on the terms above as long as your trip is completed by 30th September.

What happens for bookings from today?

Normal pre-covid service has resumed:

• non-refundable cash tickets will, once again, become non-refundable (taxes and charges can, technically, be refunded but the administration fee is usually higher than the amount due)

• Avios tickets can be cancelled up to 24 hours before departure for a fee of £35 per person

Whilst I initially thought that BA Holidays may continuue to have a version of ‘Book With Confidence’, it is clear this morning from the covid pages of ba.com that this is not the case.

Caveat emptor.

Is BA making a mistake here? It is possible that the airline is seeing revenue leakage from business class tickets, with corporate travellers booking ‘cheap’ tickets because they know that they can be refunded if plans change. The gamble is that increased revenue from forcing business travellers back to flexible tickets offsets the lost revenue from leisure travellers who now choose to book elsewhere.

You can see the new policies on ba.com here.

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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.