Cancelled flight – Now out of validity – Options?

[YC]

Hello HfP,

My cancelled BA ticket (redemption) is out of validity (12months since issuance with outbound not flown) and agent is telling me that my only option is to get a full refund or a FTV (Amex 2-1 included).

Is this correct that due to it being ‘out of validity’, the flight cannot be rebooked without being repriced/subject to avios availability?

Read many pieces of advice here on CEDR/MCOL but unsure if this works for out of validity tickets.

[meta]

There is no such thing as out of validity ticket. IATA rules permit re-issuing of the ticket with a new 12 month validity from date of issue in cases when flight is cancelled. This is a self-imposed rule by BA which has no basis in law and IATA rules.

Having said that, you’ll probably need to take BA to court. MCOL is better in my opinion, but you might want to consider CEDR as you will need to pay for a new ticket. The procedures have been outlined on the forum and on previous daily chars, so have a look and then come back if you have a further specific questions.

[YC]

Thanks meta

[Mikeact]

Why go to all that trouble when you’ve been offered two reasonable options….

[meta]

Because with a refund either cash or FTV there might not be avios availability. In this scenario, if there is a seat available for cash in the same cabin, it’s yours. Why would you not want to exercise your legal rights? And what’s reasonable to you, might not be reasonable to someone else. The law gives you three options – re-route on the same day with the same or another airline, refund or travel later. And it’s the passenger’s choice, not airline’s!

• This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .

[Lady London]

Mikeact wrote:

Why go to all that trouble when you’ve been offered two reasonable options….

…Options which are very much to the benefit of BA, as they lose liability to have to fly you when you need to fly, on another airline if necessary, or on BA, no matter what it costs for that ticket. Then, when passenger wants to rebook, BA can say there’s no avios seats on your date, or twice as many avios now needed and 3 times the so-called “taxes”, or hike (or the market hikes) cash fares. Yeah…..right.

Lots of passengers would rather keep the right they have, to fly the route they had booked instead. Why do you think BA’s not mentioning that particular right? They are legally required to inform the passenger of their rights, and yet they aren’t.

[StillintheSun]

I’ve purchased alternative flights and I am now using CEDR to recover the cost from BA. CEDR website very easy to use, simply set out your claim and attach supporting docs. Your rights are set out clearly and simply at Article 8 of the EC Flight Regs (search online for copy) and note that the recital (introduction) to the regs states that the Regs purpose is to provide a high degree of consumer protection. BA’s ticket validity exclusion is contrary to the purpose the regs and is an exclusion not contained within the Regs themselves. If you don’t want to stump up the cost of the flights upfront and you have at least 4 months before you depart use CEDR and ask that BA be directed to ticket you on the flight that you want. Frankly, I’d prefer to have my preferred flights in the bag but understand not everyone will want to take that approach. However many flights are fully covid refundable at the moment!