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A recent confusion posting has made me wonder: anyone else sitting on BA pandemic vouchers they can’t/won’t use and getting itchy?
I’ve got about £700 worth, and have only just realised it’s book and fly by, not just book and spend by. This could be a significant problem for me. I just don’t have a travel plan that works with them.
Just try and use them against a BA Holidays booking and they will refund the cash back to your card.
I called BA Holidays yesterday because I actually want my vouchers applied to a BA Holidays booking. I have some Avios wrapped up in my booking that I used to get 2p per Avios – and I don’t want the cash returned. The agent told me categorically that they would keep the Avios and return the full cash value of the voucher to my card.
Let’s see…
I’ve managed to use up all my vouchers
Not sure what will happen to them if you don’t use them. It would be hughly unfair for BA just to keep your cash but there is time for them to make alternatve arrangments such as extend the dates or refund
Given the complexity of the voucher system – when I called the Gold line the other day and asked in passing about whether I had any live ones because their email service said I had 4 which I thought I had used – the agent had to check 3 different systems / data bases / records to check their status – they may just start to refund them
I think that unless you were told very clearly when you accepted a voucher that you would lose the value of it on a specific date, BA would struggle to justify keeping the cash. There have been cases since the pandemic when companies have been ordered to refund cash held in the form of vouchers. It would be interesting to know what exactly the Ts and Cs say – I spent all my vouchers very early on, then the alternative trips I booked were cancelled by BA and cash refunds given!!
Just try and use them against a BA Holidays booking and they will refund the cash back to your card.
If I understood it right, book a BA holiday using the voucher and then cancel it next day and get a refund?
I have one left, and it also has (or should have!) a GUF2 associated with it. Because of that, it has been more difficult to use – all the travel booked so far post-pandemic has been short-haul. I either need to forget the GUF2 or get a long-haul booked…
Just try and use them against a BA Holidays booking and they will refund the cash back to your card.
If I understood it right, book a BA holiday using the voucher and then cancel it next day and get a refund?
No, that’s not correct. You can’t cancel a holiday within 24 hours of booking if it’s booked online like you can with a flight.
Just try and use them against a BA Holidays booking and they will refund the cash back to your card.
If I understood it right, book a BA holiday using the voucher and then cancel it next day and get a refund?
No, that’s not correct. You can’t cancel a holiday within 24 hours of booking if it’s booked online like you can with a flight.
Thanks. Am not sure what t0M was trying to say.
The point I was making is that BA no longer let you use the vouchers with a BA Holidays booking. So if you try and redeem against one they simply tell you that they will refund the voucher in cash instead. Worst case, you lose your deposit but get the rest of the voucher value back?
Knowing that is an option, I would sit tight with the voucher and wait if they just refund it first. If they don’t, this could be your backup option.
I was hoping @Rob was about to pop into this thread and mention that they’re all about to get a twelve month extension. 🙂
Refunding them all would be a nightmare for BA. Not only would lots of cash flow out, returning to original forms of payment would be tricky in many cases. A ton of manual work required. I just can’t see them doing this.
Extending them all would be operationally easier and cheaper.
Just allowing them all to expire would also be easy and cheap, but at the risk of a backlash and/or legal action. This is only viable if the number of vouchers is small and the average value low.
Having pondered this myself, were I a BA Exec, I’d wait until they have a few weeks until expiry and extend the remainder for two years. A factor for any decision would be the number and value of vouchers, and the current rate at which they are getting used up — clearly I don’t have that data when doing this thought experiment. Then again, if I were a BA Exec, I’d be allowing through checking of bags, putting F on more planes and running the UK call centre 24/7, so what do I know?
I actually don’t think in the scheme of things that is BAs finances that there is a lot 0f money locked up in vouchers. There may be a lot of vouchers currently in existance but I think theey are mainly of small value. Until December I had 4 vouchers left ranging from £ 28.40 – £ 253.82 and a total value of less than £ 500. I’ve previously had vouchers with values of less than £10.
And BA did last year start to refund vouchers anyway starting with those issued earliest in the pandemic and moving on from then.
Thinking back I should have used up my vouchers much, much earlier than I did instead of saving them up to pay for a ‘big trip’ so I was buying flights / holidays with new money despite having vouchers.
And of course, if these are cash only vouchers, you can use them to help pay for other peoples flights.
The point I was making is that BA no longer let you use the vouchers with a BA Holidays booking. So if you try and redeem against one they simply tell you that they will refund the voucher in cash instead. Worst case, you lose your deposit but get the rest of the voucher value back?
Knowing that is an option, I would sit tight with the voucher and wait if they just refund it first. If they don’t, this could be your backup option.
Not sure about that. From what other people have posted you still have to pay for the holiday in full (or at leastpay over the same value as the voucher) and then they’ll refund the voucher. You’re still left with the holiday booking.
For anyone with FTVs locked inside a specific travel agent’s domain,I’d say plan to use them for travel by 30 Sept. The agent interaction adds another layer of uncertainty to this. My experience with Amex Travel was that it took 62 mins on the phone to do a relatively straightforward flight booking because of the FTV preserved credit not being well understood there.
I’ve seen them on ebay – seem to get >80% of value.
(Ignoring the fact that I’m a) not sure is this within the T&Cs of the vouchers b) not sure I trust ebay buyers / ebay)Call and ask if your voucher can be swapped for cash. You may be very happy with the outcome.
Call and ask if your voucher can be swapped for cash. You may be very happy with the outcome.
What do you mean by swapped for cash? As in they will just refund the vouchers?
Call and ask if your voucher can be swapped for cash. You may be very happy with the outcome.
I might try this. If I find time I’ll report back on results.
In my case, I don’t want my eVoucher or eVoucher difference refunded by BAH.
I get a feeling that BA will refund them because the bad PR otherwise isn’t a good luck. Bit risky to hold out though.
Sad news.. after trying to use my vouchers on a BAH booking and they told me on the phone that I would receive cash back to my card (BA would keep the Avios) I just received a refund into my Avios account that looks to be Avios coming back from the 2p offer.
Just received a trickle of Avios back from my the vouchers that BA are meant to be refunding.. no sign of any cash yet, and only about 1/3rd of the Avios that went into the vouchers in the first place…..
Sad news.. after trying to use my vouchers on a BAH booking and they told me on the phone that I would receive cash back to my card (BA would keep the Avios) I just received a refund into my Avios account that looks to be Avios coming back from the 2p offer.
Just received a trickle of Avios back from my the vouchers that BA are meant to be refunding.. no sign of any cash yet, and only about 1/3rd of the Avios that went into the vouchers in the first place…..
Sad news indeed. Any work around with BAH, or would you recommend avoiding all together and just booking flights on BA.com? My eVouchers also originated from the 2p offer and so certainly don’t want a refund.
The only way that you’ll keep your value is by booking a flight for yourself, family or friends.
value
Indeed. Trying to find a silver lining somewhere…!
The only way that you’ll keep your value is by booking a flight for yourself, family or friends.
Yes, BAH just isn’t worth the risk now, I’ve noticed a few more recent reports of refunds upon receipt by BAH.
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