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I hope someone can help with a query I have regarding a refund for tickets I bought using the buy and upgrade with avios option. We had to cancel some flights at the end of August. The customer service adviser I spoke to advised I would receive a refund of all the cash and avios minus the usual £35 cancellation fee. Four weeks later no refund had been received so I called again and was advised the first adviser was wrong and the tickets were non-refundable. Following discussion he then advised the taxes/charges were refundable along with the avios. I have received about £60 back to my Amex card which is the taxes minus the £35 per person fee. I still have no refunded avios (about 30000) after a week. Are the avios lost/non-refundable? I thought the avios were always refundable?
This is a good question and not one I ever remember seeing before.
Thinking it through …. you bought a non-refundable ticket (except for the taxes), upgraded with Avios and it remained a non-refundable ticket.
I am leaning towards agreeing with BA and saying that you have lost the Avios.
If you had bought the ticket in the higher cabin and used Avios to part-pay a non-refundable ticket then it wouldn’t be in doubt – the Avios are lost.
For anyone who is ever in the position of having a cash ticket which is going to waste but wants the taxes back, do NOT cancel it until the last minute. You always have a tiny chance that BA cancels your flight or retimes it, and you suddenly get the opportunity for a refund.
Thanks Rob. It’s frustrating because the reward seats had to be available to book and if I had paid in-full with Avios I would have received a refund of the Avios (minus the service fee). Looking back at my booking email the ticket is endorsed as ‘restricted refund’ and when I try a dummy booking today the T&Cs say the Avios are refundable as long as not cancelled less than 24 hours before the flight. Of course the T&Cs today aren’t necessarily the same as when I booked. May have to try calling again…
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