British Airways offering (near) free cancellation on Avios bookings

[ExpatInBerlin]

Any recent DPs on whether SH avios booking cancellations are still being priced up as 50p per person please?

[aq.1988]

ExpatInBerlin wrote:

Any recent DPs on whether SH avios booking cancellations are still being priced up as 50p per person please?

Yes, I cancelled 3x return flights online this week and was charged £1pp, and they also returned to inventory immediately. It also shows you before the confirmation stage how much cash and avios will be returned. I had paid the middle avios avios and £50 cash option, and got £49pp back.

[ExpatInBerlin]

aq.1988 wrote:

ExpatInBerlin wrote:

Any recent DPs on whether SH avios booking cancellations are still being priced up as 50p per person please?

Yes, I cancelled 3x return flights online this week and was charged £1pp, and they also returned to inventory immediately. It also shows you before the confirmation stage how much cash and avios will be returned. I had paid the middle avios avios and £50 cash option, and got £49pp back.

Thank you!!

[zapato1060]

I can confirm 2 weeks back I cancelled a LHR-MAD flight which was £1. Mine did not actually state what exactly I will receive back ‘avios or money’ but received the correct Avios and obvs as I had paid a £1, received no money back.

[jintycat]

I think it depends on the type.of booking. I just cancelled 5 flights. 1 was with a companion ticket and they only charged £1PP to cancel. All the other flights were max avios and minimum cash bookings and the normal £35pp was charged. They were all book via Ba and flights were qantas and Qatar. About £300 in cancellation costs..

[zapato1060]

jintycat wrote:

I think it depends on the type.of booking. I just cancelled 5 flights. 1 was with a companion ticket and they only charged £1PP to cancel. All the other flights were max avios and minimum cash bookings and the normal £35pp was charged. They were all book via Ba and flights were qantas and Qatar. About £300 in cancellation costs..

Wow, better than losing it all but thats a still a lot.

[dynamodolman]

Hello
Anyone know if the £0.50 is still working on higher cash / lower avios RFS bookings please?
Thanks

[aq.1988]

dynamodolman wrote:

Hello
Anyone know if the £0.50 is still working on higher cash / lower avios RFS bookings please?
Thanks

If you do a dummy cancellation online, you can see how mnay avios and £ you will receive before pressing confirm. The avios should return immediately.

[dynamodolman]

aq.1988 wrote:

dynamodolman wrote:

Hello
Anyone know if the £0.50 is still working on higher cash / lower avios RFS bookings please?
Thanks

If you do a dummy cancellation online, you can see how mnay avios and £ you will receive before pressing confirm. The avios should return immediately.

OK thanks – how do I do that please? (I haven’t made the booking yet)

[Roberto]

OK thanks – how do I do that please? (I haven’t made the booking yet)

You can’t cancel a booking you have not made.

[NorthernLass]

1. Make the booking.
2. Wait 24 hours so free cancellation period expires.
3. Go into MMB and follow the instructions for cancelling until you get to the page which shows you the amount of avios/cash you will get back.

[dynamodolman]

I booked about 10 flights.

For 7 of them the cancellation worked as expected – only charged me the £0.50 admin fee and I got the £17 back.
However, for 3 of the flights, when I try to cancel rather than get the normal cancellation form with avios, refund amount etc, I get the form below.
This is a bit worrying as I imagine after I submit that form the cancellation will go down a different route and I will lose the whole £17.50.

Has anyone else experienced this please?
Thanks

Ah I can’t copy in a screenshot of the form – so here is a text version!

Cancel and refund your flights
Your booking
Passengers
Mr <name here>
Booking reference:<ref her>
Depart From To Flights
<flight details here>
Your details

Are you a passenger in this booking?
Yes
No

Which passenger are you?
Mr <name here>

All items marked with an asterisk () must be completed
Email
Confirm email
Address line 1
Address line 2
State/County
Zip code/post code
Country

Contact telephone number
Terms and conditions
Requesting a refund will cancel all the flights listed above for all the passengers in the booking.
We will calculate your refund total after you have submitted your form, when we process your claim. The refund amount will be based on our terms and conditions and is final and non-negotiable. Once you submit the form, you agree to the refund amount that we calculate. Under normal circumstances your refund will be processed within 7 working days of form submission, but please be aware that it may take up to two billing cycles before appearing on your credit card statement.
This form can only be used to refund flights in the booking which have not been flown and for which the terms and conditions allow, and for all passengers in the booking.
If you have any car or hotel reservations, or insurance associated with this booking you will need to cancel them separately.
If these items were booked through British Airways please contact us. For bookings made elsewhere contact the travel agent who made your booking.
If these items were booked with Avios and you are an Executive Club member, follow the ‘View my bookings’ link from your account home page. Non Executive Club members should go to Avios.com.

[Aston100]

Working as intended surely?

[dynamodolman]

I don’t understand I’m afraid…
“Working as intended” would be the normal cancellation that appears with an amount that you get refunded and an amount that you lose through administration.
For most of my short-haul European cancellations I see the normal cancellation screen with a £0.50 admin fee and a refund of £17.00.
But for 3 of the cancellations I see the form above with Name, Email, Address etc and no admin fee confirmation

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Had there been any changes made to those bookings?

That’s the type of thing that prevents the auto cancellation process from working thus requiring manual review.

[dynamodolman]

Ah good point thank – but no there hadn’t been.

But what I did do was book the flights using the 9250 Avios/£0.50 option first.
Then cancelled them – and the normal cancellation form came up.
The re-booked them using 4750/£17.50 option

So maybe that means it now requires manual review.

Oddly, I did that with all my original flights and for most of them the second cancellation went through fine

[ns]

@dynamodolman did you end up cancelling your booking? If so were you charged the full £35? I’ve just had the same issue. I cancelled one flight and it showed me that they’d only be a 50p fee but when I tried to cancel the other I got the same form you mentioned!

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

The policy is the cancellation fee is £35 but if the cash element of the fare is less than that then that’s all you pay.

If the cash element is more then the max you pay is £35

So id you made a booking where the cash element is 50p then that’s all you pay. Same if it was £17.50.

If you paid £50 then the refund will be £ 15 ie £ 50 – £ 35

[ns]

Thanks @BAFlyerIHGStayer and sorry my post wasn’t clear. In both cases I mentioned the cash element was more than £35 so I know that per the cancellation terms I *should* be charged £35. I’m wondering what is happening in practice given that many seem to be able to cancel for 50p at present (as I’ve just done for one flight). But the cancellation form was different for both flights and in the second case was the same as @dynamodolman experienced – so maybe in that case the full £35 will be charged.

[shub]

Hi,
Any experience cancelling short haul Iberia or Iberia express flights booked on BAEC?
Wondering if they’re also charged 50p cancellation charges or the usual?
It would be great if anyone with an existing booking can check.
Thanks

[yonasl]

shub wrote:

Hi,
Any experience cancelling short haul Iberia or Iberia express flights booked on BAEC?
Wondering if they’re also charged 50p cancellation charges or the usual?
It would be great if anyone with an existing booking can check.
Thanks

If you book an IB (or any other airline) using the BA website you pay £35 to cancel (or less if the cash element was lower).

I have a couple of Iberia flights and if I try to cancel I see the system shows they will charge me that.

Be careful: if you book on Iberia’s website an avios flight with another airline (BA, Latham, whatever) they won’t let you cancel. IB avios flights booked on the Iberia website can be cancelled for €25.

[shub]

yonasl wrote:

shub wrote:

Hi,
Any experience cancelling short haul Iberia or Iberia express flights booked on BAEC?
Wondering if they’re also charged 50p cancellation charges or the usual?
It would be great if anyone with an existing booking can check.
Thanks

If you book an IB (or any other airline) using the BA website you pay £35 to cancel (or less if the cash element was lower).

I have a couple of Iberia flights and if I try to cancel I see the system shows they will charge me that.

Be careful: if you book on Iberia’s website an avios flight with another airline (BA, Latham, whatever) they won’t let you cancel. IB avios flights booked on the Iberia website can be cancelled for €25.

Great, many thanks. Clarifies everything.

[yonasl]

No worries. And just to be super clear. On BA I currently have:

– a JAL flight I paid 9,000 avios and £0 for. If I cancel I will pay £0 as there is no cash element and get my 9,000 avios back

– I also have an IB flight I paid £50 and 5,000 avios for. If I cancel I will get £15 back (cost of £35) and 5,000 avios

I did in the past enjoy the £1 cancelation fee but it must have been a bug they now sorted.

[shub]

@yonasl I have a short haul BA booking, it still gives me £1 cancellation option. However, I recently cancelled a booking on short notice (around a week before flight date) and I got the form to submit for cancellation, with no mention of cancellation charges. I guess can’t rely on £1 cancellation now.

[ns]

Datapoint and in response to @shub: as I mentioned further up the thread I too had a short haul booking I cancelled for £1 and another short haul booking for which I got the cancellation form with no mention of £1 cancellation. For the latter I didn’t cancel but tried again to do so on different days to see if the £1 option reappeared (the flight isn’t until next year so I had time). On several days I got the cancellation form option. Then coincidentally I had an email from BA saying the flight time had changed (by about 30 mins). I then tried to cancel again and the £1 cancellation option was back. So I cancelled the flights and sure enough was only charged £1 with the rest being refunded. I assume, had I used the cancellation form option with it being manually processed, that I would have paid £35