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I recently had a family medical emergency on a BA avios booking where two of my children including an infant were hospitalised for a number of days.
My travel insurance was fantastic and helped with hospital fees, accommodation costs, subsistence etc via Charles Taylor Assistance, all very promptly.
I called BA when this all kicked off regarding the return leg of the avios booking. This was 3 days before we were due to fly. I sent them the paediatrician’s note stating we wouldnt be fit to fly on the return date and got an incident number in response. When I asked about rebooking, they told me there wasn’t any avios availability for about a month for a family of 5, and that if I didn’t want that (obviously not) I would have to find another way home.
Fine I thought, it’s not down to BA to get me home – that’s why I have travel insurance. So the insurers stepped up and booked us a return cash ticket as a family. I was pleasantly surprised that the claims handlers were fully aware of the difficulties with rebooking rewards flights at short notice.
What I didn’t expect was no refund of my avios for the return leg. Apparently there is a policy that there are no avios refunds, for cancellations within 1 day of departure, or during the trip. Is this true even in medical emergencies? I guess I am no worse off in that I am home thanks to my insurance, so maybe that’s all there is to it. Any other views?
BA is correct. Once you’ve flown the outbound, you can’t cancel the return if its on Avios. You can change the date but that’s it.
We’ve written about this before. One reader took a huge hit when they went to Oz for a working holiday, decided to stay on (beyond the one year validity of the ticket) and couldn’t refund the return or extend it beyond 12 months.
I hope the children are better, you must have been beside yourself.
Did you try to cancel the flights in MMB? I was always under the impression that inbound avios flights could be cancelled/changed even on the day of departure but it’s a while since I looked at the Ts and Cs. It should be possible to see these on your original booking confirmation, or on ba.com. BA agents don’t always give the correct information!
However, I would have thought that any refund might cause issues with your insurer as anything you got back from BA might technically belong to them under the terms of your policy.
That’s why I’ve always booked my outward and return on separate bookings for avios. I take the risk of it messing up my EU261 rights on shorthaul bookings so as to have the flexibility. On longhaul I’d be likely to keep it on one ticket if I could though but then you hit the problem you’re seeing.
Firstly glad everyone is better now! Had an infant in hospital too recently and it is a worrying time. Who was the insurer out if interest?
But @NorthernLass is right, you couldn’t have a “free” flight home and a refund on the Avios. I imagine the insurer knew or was working on the basis the cost was sunk otherwise they’d have at least netted the points refund off of your claim or worse said you’ve had a refund so there isn’t anything to claim for the flight element !
Thanks all for the kind comments – and it does seem to make sense as that is why we all get travel insurance – for these types of situations. We were in Cyprus and the quality of care was great. Various gastro bugs so they were pretty dehydrated and on a drip for varying amounts of time. Infant for 3 days. All right as rain now so that’s all that matters.
I didn’t try to cancel on MMB, but the call handler at BA said that you could only cancel upto 1 day before the date of the outbound leg.
@SamG – my travel insurance was via HSBC Premier, and the claims handler/assistance company they use is Charles Taylor Assistance / CEGAOh I have that! Good to know as it sounds like they were pretty helpful
Glad everything has worked out.
But… I would not expect a refund of avios for the return leg. The loss of this has been covered by insurance (who have provided a similar, later, replacement flight). If you were to get any refund, then the value of the avios would be due to the insurance company (or they would deduct the value from your claim).
Hopefully you earned avios from the flight paid for by the insurance company.
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