Exclusive: British Airways cancels flights to Beijing

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• lwwatson1988 says:

  8 Aug8 August 11:14

  I’ve a companion voucher flight booked from Beijing to London on one of the affected dates in business class (return leg from a trip out).

  From the guidance above, would we be entitled to being switched on to an equivalent cabin with China Southern or Qatar Airways? Not sure if the companion voucher complicates things, but want to be clear on where we stand before I contact them.

  • Rhys says:

    8 Aug8 August 11:15

    Companion voucher doesn’t change things, you are entitled to the exact same rebooking policy.

    • lwwatson1988 says:

      8 Aug8 August 11:21

      Thanks Rhys – it sounds from the link above that we should be able to be rebooked on to one of those airlines should there be availability in the same cabin (which there appears to be).

      Thank you – will give them a call.

  • tomjtaylor says:

    8 Aug8 August 11:20

    I am on the phone to them rebooking my ticket which was in the same situation as you (companion voucher, Beijing to London return leg). They are rebooking me on the Qatar flight (via Doha), and the agent says there’s decent availability.

    Yes, we’re being booked on Qatar’s business cabin (on both parts of the connecting flight).

    • lwwatson1988 says:

      8 Aug8 August 11:24

      Excellent thanks – China Southern is more direct but almost keen to use this opportunity to try out Qatar…

      • tomjtaylor says:

        8 Aug8 August 11:30

        fwiw i also asked about moving it entirely to originate from Hong Kong or Shanghai, but the agent said they’d only do that if there was Avios availability (which there is not for Club World)

        • Rhys says:

          8 Aug8 August 11:46

          Yes – that would be rebooking it as a destination change under Avios booking rules, not because the route is cancelled.

          Assuming there is availability you can make changes to your Avios booking at any point up to 24 hours before departure for a £35 fee.

    • barry cutters says:

      8 Aug8 August 11:26

      Theres a good chance it will be booked as tier point earning fare too. SO you may get 560tp as a bonus

  • Mark says:

    8 Aug8 August 11:29

    Phoned BA today and no problem rebooking PKK LHR on China southern with the 241

• Tim says:

  8 Aug8 August 11:15

  With family in China and needing to visit once-a-year, this is really bad news for us. We were redeeming 241 to PKX then travelling onwards on CZ to the North East. PVG/HKG adds too much time to be viable.

  On another note, claiming Avios on CZ has been very, very difficult. The online claim gets rejected and chasers get ignored. The only luck I’ve had was on a 125-issued ticket operated by CZ and even that took months.

  • Voldemort says:

    8 Aug8 August 12:50

    Sounds like you’re making excuses to get out of seeing the in-laws Tim. Best get booked via PVG!

    • Mike says:

      10 Aug10 August 11:41

      Ignorant question: who/what is PVG?

      • Rob says:

        10 Aug10 August 11:53

        Airport code for Shanghai.

• Lady London says:

  8 Aug8 August 11:23

  Still wondering what genius made any UK government remove VAT refund for incoming international visitors.

  If I ever saw an own goal, that was it.

  • sigma421 says:

    8 Aug8 August 11:26

    It coincided with Brexit so I imagine that someone decided that the downside of half a billion people being able to buy items VAT free in the UK for the first time was bigger than the upside that the scheme provided. It’s one of these situations where I imagine you can produce a set of numbers to support whatever conclusion you like

  • Rob says:

    8 Aug8 August 11:54

    You can argue that UK taxpayers massively subsidise tourists via free museum entry etc and a chance to claw a bit of that back is not unreasonable. Not dissimilar to those who complain about cruise ship hordes invading a city, spending nothing and then leaving with a trail of rubbish in their wake.

    • Tom says:

      8 Aug8 August 12:32

      This is not a valid argument to me. I imagine basically zero few tourists come to the UK just because some of the museums are free…

      A Chinese tourist visiting Europe will literally choose the destination partially based on where they can buy the same Louis Vuitton or whatever bag without tax.

      Same as the ongoing exodus of high earners from London to Milan / Switzerland etc. over tax changes which is another own goal.

      • Thegasman says:

        8 Aug8 August 12:57

        Except the Italians have just announced they’re doubling the price of their non-dom equivalent to €200k/year & may be forced to go further as they’re running a 7% budget deficit & the Milanese are all furious their paying 50% more for rent thanks to the tax dodgers.

        At some point there needs to be a global consensus on how much wealth is concentrated in the hands of a tiny minority & how low a tax rate it is acceptable for them to pay. There’s a presumably a point when the plebs start thinking about sharpening the guillotines again.

        • Charles Martel says:

          8 Aug8 August 23:48

          There are ~200 jurisdictions in the world, it only takes one or two to offer tax advantages to the wealthy and they’ll soak them all up. For starters, I can’t see Singapore or Monaco basing their tax policy on bloated European budgets.

        • Track says:

          9 Aug9 August 03:48

          €100k or €200k is not of consequence for people who are prepared to pay it at this level.

          It does not seem that Italy will lose as much, as they would’ve if they dropped the entire arrangement.

          UK, on the other hand, risk to become a transitory country in that sense, a high-earner or capital gains earner comes for 4 years, enjoys the status then moves on to the next jurisdiction. It’s not easy with families but people moved between Gibraltar, UK and Switzerland.. plus some smaller EU countries.

    • Ben says:

      8 Aug8 August 12:46

      You need to consider the lost revenue and economic contributions we now get when all these high value tourists are now deciding to spend their holidays (hotels, food and drink etc) in other European countries. Massive own goal and very short sighted decision. Also if you think shopping is not an important part of someone’s decision on where to travel to then you just need to speak to any Asian or Middle Eastern tourist.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        8 Aug8 August 13:25

        This is my point. They probably assumed everything would stay as it is or there would only be a small percentage drop in the actual luxury goods sales themselves.

        Instead you lose all of that shoppers spend and all the associated VAT. I know I’m going to Europe next time I have a big purchase to make. “Free holiday”

        • Lady London says:

          8 Aug8 August 21:28

          I used to do it s lot in reverse and you’re bang on the ancillary revenue the UK loses now due to that stupid decision is phenomenal I’m sure. Ask Harrods or Selfridges and calculate the ripple through the economy.

          Plus where did you get your LV or whatever ba, for 1/4 or 1/10th of the pice in China or Japan if you can even get it, that goes viral amongst whole families or sets of friends back home in those countries and more will.come.

          It depends what it is where it’s cheapest, and also on FX rates. But the “quota’s” applied by some French brands are in some cases easier to circumvent in London than in Paris i would say.

    • Londonsteve says:

      8 Aug8 August 14:45

      Thing is, most of the VAT reclaimed by tourists would be on items that wouldn’t otherwise be purchased. At present, the LV bag goes unsold and the spend associated with the visit in terms of hotel rooms, restaurant spend and taxis never takes place. London consistently overestimates its international appeal to tourists without incentives like VAT free shopping, fact remains that Paris is seen as an all-round more appealing city destination. Heck, I’m British and I also see Paris as more appealing than London for a visitor. VAT free shopping is and was a major part of the appeal of a city for a significant percentage of the high net worth inbound tourist market. Overall, I wouldn’t be surprised if the loss of VAT free shopping has actually served to reduce the overall tax revenue when factoring in the loss of VAT on accommodation and hot food, the lower rates of employment leading to less income tax and NI, etc. Another valid perspective is that the UK job market is incapable of filling these extra vacancies anyway due to the loss of EU workers so why generate demand you cannot meet?

      • Rob says:

        8 Aug8 August 14:49

        It is totally feasible that VAT earned from tourists who still come and shop outweighs the loss from those who do not come at all.

        • strickers says:

          8 Aug8 August 16:25

          CEBR reported that the loss to GDP was circa £11bn, HMRC estimated the treasury would save £1.8bn in 2025/26. Whilst 99% of statistics are made, if we want the economy to grow then tourism is a great way of doing it.

  • RussellH says:

    8 Aug8 August 16:17

    Back in my tour operating days (when VAT recliming was an option) I met a few Chinese TOs.
    They and UK incoming TO were all agreed – far and away the most important reason for tourists not visiting the UK when travelling to Europe was having to get a separate UK visa, when they could visit almost anywhere else on a single Schengen visa. No one ever mentioned VAT-free shopping at all.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      8 Aug8 August 16:43

      I’ve posted the facts on here before but the luxury goods companies themselves show people have moved from buying in U.K. to Paris.

      While for the global brands that’s just moving inventory from one store/market to another it means eventually one or more of multiple U.K. stores will close and jobs will be lost.

      @stricker I also posted that stat a while back. It’s been a massive own goal. Maybe the new government will listen, though more tourism probably won’t be good for hotel rates so double edged sword lol

• Domo1915 says:

  8 Aug8 August 11:27

  The visa policy of China is key reason i bet why puts tourise travellers off. We went Beijing years ago but was right faff with Visas. Key reason puts us off using reward flights to China to get to / back from other destinations as well. Hopefully they add a route to e.g Penang/ Phuket

  • sigma421 says:

    8 Aug8 August 11:38

    China has liberalised this for some European countries in recent years (15 days visa free access is now possible for a crop of Western European countries) but politics makes it unlikely that the UK will be added to that list anytime soon.

    • Ant says:

      8 Aug8 August 19:52

      Also Australia and NZ recently added to the list for visa free access

    • Jonathan says:

      9 Aug9 August 10:17

      This is a trial being tested by the Chinese government, hopefully they’ll see how successful it is, and make it permanent with many more countries (UK not forgotten) included into the list.

      I was somewhat surprised not too see that non of Europe’s Nordic countries were selected to be part of the trial, at least one or more would usually be selected for this type of trail scheme.

      The visa policy that stops mandates a visa being required to visit just about anywhere in the country that’s outside the range of the airport you’ll arrive into (or transiting via), is a huge deterrent for tourists, and stops being from being able to easily visit say the countryside.

      I’ve also heard that China mandates that you apply for a visa in your home country where you live, so if say you travel to a neighbouring country to China, you then decide you’d like to go and do some travelling around China, and go to the local Chinese consulate ( / embassy), seeking to apply for a visa, they’ll tell you to go back home and apply from there…
      Also I’m not going to get into the hassle of applying for a Chinese (tourist) visa here in the UK, although my experience was based on using the London centre, how busy the Manchester and Edinburgh centres are, almost certainly not as busy.

      Visa policies like this are unfortunate as China is a great country to visit with so much to offer

  • Nick says:

    8 Aug8 August 11:38

    China has long had a generous visa-free policy for connections/transit, so your latter scenario is not an issue. Visas for long visits are difficult, yes.

  • David says:

    8 Aug8 August 12:48

    Still in Asia after arrival via PVG using free 144 hour visa. Very easy. Spanish friends didn’t even need a visa for less than 15 days.

    • Danny says:

      8 Aug8 August 14:29

      The thing is, China could rescind the 15 day visa free visits for those European countries at a moment’s notice if they wanted – so it’s a small, but not negligible, risk

      • John says:

        8 Aug8 August 22:41

        They could do, although since they have currently set an end date of 31 Dec 2025 they probably won’t.

• Traumahawk007 says:

  8 Aug8 August 11:29

  Meanwhile we have Hainan & Juneyo doing well out of MAN without any flight restrictions

• Justin says:

  8 Aug8 August 11:36

  The other day, SeatSpy lit up like a Christmas tree with business and first class availability to Shanghai and Beijing. Must have been some weird data glitch related to discontinuing this route.

• Jr says:

  8 Aug8 August 11:38

  Do we know why BA are finishing flights to Beijing? Or did i miss that?

  • Rhys says:

    8 Aug8 August 11:49

    It’s in the article!

    • James C says:

      8 Aug8 August 12:04

      I think the fundamental shift in Western (particularly UK and US) approach to relations with China and their very late unlock from Covid is a bigger driver of falling demand than changing the VAT rules.

• Lady London says:

  8 Aug8 August 11:42

  “British Aiways will let you rebook to within 14 days”.

  Let’s rephrase that.
  “British Airways’s own preference would be to restrict your rebooking of same start and end destination, that they cancelled their own flight on, to a date within 14 days”.

  There is no 14 day restriction that they can legally apply, to the date on which you choose to be rerouted. It’s you, not them, who can choose amongst 3 options:-

  – take a refund
  – choose to be rerouted as reasonably close to original timing as possible [taking into account not only their own flights or their own friends amongst other airlines, but also other flights available. And not just with award seats available if your seat ticket was purchssed as an award – just the cabin level ( Y, Y+,J, F) hss to be avaiable.
  – choose to be rerouted at a later date of your choice, that does not have to be within 14 days. With no refunds if that date would have been cheaper to buy, and no extra cost even if that date would have been more expensive.

  Anecdotally within reason for your new date but that may depend on the passenger’s own situation eg ability to reorganise, availability of others, work commitments, etc. IMV around same time next year could be ressonable as many purposes of travelling revolve around certsin seasons, dates, or events.
  .
  This all from EU/UK 261 legislation to which BA is subject for any flight to or from Europe/UK from anywhere in the world (not the cae for, say, Chinese airlines on a flight starting outside of UK/Europe).

  • Travel Strong says:

    8 Aug8 August 12:13

    ^ This is a very good point, certainly worth noting at the point of the +/- 14day statement in the article

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