Cancellations – Family Bereavement

[rk1]

My wife and I have a three week trip booked on the 12th June to Italy from London to Naples on BA return.

Sadly my mother passed away a few days ago.

I’m making arrangements for the funeral and will cancel/amend outbound flight (not sure what to do) but I’m guessing if I cancel outbound flight the return will also be cancelled. The booking was made using a 241 voucher that was close to expiry.

I also have several non-refundable Italian train tickets – can I try to claim something on my Amex Platinum card Insurance or should I just forget about it.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks.

[JenT]

Sorry to hear your news. The Amex Platinum insurance will pay out if you paid for the train tickets on that card or any other Amex card in your name. t’s likely the insurance would cover the cost of rebooking your flights without the voucher, but you’ll need to ask first. It won’t pay out if you used another card or if you booked the tickets after a point where the insurers considered you were aware your mother’s death would happen (e.g. terminal illness and booked after prognosis given). The insurers were very quick to come back to me with decisions on what I could/could not claim on when my dad died, so get in touch with them.

[Roberto]

Sorry to hear your news.
BA let me ammend one flight and cancel another with no costs or question when I found myself in your position a few years back. One of the flights was within 24 hours and was part of a 241.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

BA are usually pretty good in these circumstances even if it’s only to allow a date change but not a full refund.

As you say if you miss the outbound then the return will be auto cancelled.

Call Executive Club to discuss options.

[DJ]

For the train tickets, if the merchant, i.e. the booking website didn’t accept Amex card at the time of booking, then they should also be covered.

[AJA]

So sorry this has happened to you. Definitely call BAEC as they can be flexible in these situations and do allow you to move the booking.

[meandthekids]

Really sorry to hear this. I think it’s worth calling customer services like everyone has mentioned.
We had the same near the end of last year albeit with easyJet. We had booked our flights with the advent calendar vouchers that were also due to expire in dec. they cancelled the flights and extended the vouchers by 6 months for us, which we were truly appreciative of. Now waiting for the mid June schedule to come out so we can book something for next year with the vouchers. Hopefully BA will show similar compassion in the circumstances. All the best to you and the family.

[meandthekids]

Separately because of the 241, if you did go via the travel insurance route, travel insurance may not be able to quantify how much you are due back. We had the same with the vouchers because they only cost £400ish vs cost of flights significantly more, so if there is anyway they may extend the 241, definitely worth exploring.

[rk1]

Thank you for all the advice. BA have been very good but don’t have a funeral date yet and current outbound flight availability is very limited – worried about rebooking too soon and have to change again. Good point about train merchant not accepting amex – will go down that route with Amex insurance.

Thanks again to everybody.