Cancelling Avios tickets via the BA claim form

[Arnerd]

In my experience, when you cancel an Avios ticket online, you encounter one of two potential processes. The first is straightforward – the system automatically calculates the refund of cash (if any) and Avios (usually 100%). You press confirm, the ticket is cancelled, you receive a confirmation screen, and shortly thereafter, an email confirmation with the same details.

The second process is far less transparent, quick, or reliable. Instead of a straightforward cancellation, you’re presented with a claim form asking whether you are a passenger on the booking, followed by a request for some basic contact details. You are then directed to a ‘request a refund’ button. When you submit the form, you get a message saying that BA is processing your refund and that you will receive a confirmation email once it’s been completed.

I’ve read that the claim form appears when the booking has been changed in some way – like a minor schedule change of 5-10 minutes to the departure or arrival time. However, I’ve never been able to confirm this with customer service, and they don’t seem to know how to ‘normalise’ the booking so that I can proceed with a regular online cancellation.

I’m interested to hear about other people’s experiences with the claim form process – both in terms of what triggers it and what the eventual outcomes have been. I’m asking because I don’t think I’ve ever received any follow-up confirmation emails after submitting the claim form. I also suspect that the refund process itself is very unreliable. On several occasions, I’ve called a few weeks later only to find that the Avios refund never went through.

I’d be curious to know if it’s just me with some isolated events or whether the best advice is to stop using the Claim Form altogether.

[NorthernLass]

I’ve been through both these cancellation processes several times; it is slightly unnerving when you aren’t told exactly what you’re getting back, but I’ve always had the correct avios and cash refunded. Take screenshots of the cancellation confirmation page (and of course retain your original email confirmation showing what you paid), for extra peace of mind.