Travel Voucher from British Airways

Jonathan, I'm trying to get a refund, since BA cancelled a major leg of our flight. A couple of people on this Forum have managed to do it, but I'm still working on it.

I have an eVoucher from BA. It came in an email about 3-4 days after my flight was cancelled. This was in Dec, pre-Covid 19. I imagine it would take longer now. I’d call back, make sure they have your correct email and request that it be resent.

Spam folder?

I cancelled in exchange for a BA voucher. I'd say it was about one week before I received confirmation of my voucher request. BA said to be patient, they have my request, and are processing the requests but due to the large amount of requests, essentially sit tight, it will be coming. Considering the chaos, I'm going to be patient and just wait.

Jane, we are about to start the phone process with British Air; our flight was to be April 13. BA says don't call unless you're 72 hrs out. Pls keep us posted. Thanks

Jonathan, are you a BA Executive Club member? No charge to join, no requirements to fly “X” number of miles, but it gives you an extra phone number to call for resolutions. Flying home from London after our flight was canceled, and getting no success online or getting thru by phone with the BA U.K. office, we finally got thru to a very helpful Executive Club person on the US number. She was surprised we were in England but calling the USA. It can still involve being On Hold for a long time, listening to their guitar hold music, but even if you never use your Avios frequent flyer miles, they can sometimes get more (or faster?) results.

We bought airfare from Ovago online who purchased our flights from American Airlines who booked us on their partner, British Airways.
British Airways cancelled our return flight before we left, and said we were eligible for flat cancellation--return of airfare. But we had to correspond thru Ovago who was completely overwhelmed.
Now Ovago says we have to rebook and that our airfares are non-refundable. The rules are changing despite our having documentation that says otherwise.
We also have two flight credits pending on EasyJet, however they're not for very much $.
We have no desire or time to travel anywhere this year and we're unclear what's going to happen to our almost $1K. And we're not happy with B/A, A/A or Ovago all giving us the runaround. That'll teach me to purchase flights thru anyone except directly from airlines.

Cyn, they've shut down the Executive Club phone line for the time being. I had two different numbers that I found on BA's website, but both of them directed me to a third. The third line put me on hold, but with no idea of how long the wait would be.

Pat, some folks have recommended not waiting for the 72 hour window. I'd like to get the refund process started before then, if possible. Here's a link to a recent thread dealing with refunds: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/airlines-ordered-to-refund-4-3-2020

BA cancelled my flight from NY to London for next week. I tried to get a refund online as they claimed, but all that was offered was a voucher. I wanted my money back. I said to heck with the 72 hour "request" and tried to call. For three days I called and couldn't even get on hold. I decided to get up at three A.M. and call. I got through to the "please hold for the next available agent" recording. After an hour and ten minutes on hold I got through. A very nice agent said he would refund both my airfare and the seat request fees.

The airfare refund came through a couple of days later. No sign of the seat fees.

The EU has stated that BA is one of the worst European airlines when dealing with refund requests and said it will look into the airline's practices.

People love to follow the rules so if the airline says only call if your flight is within 72 hours, they do. This is not a government rule. This is a company that has your money and doesn't want to give it back. Call when you want, Call while they still have it.

Frank II, did they credit your credit card account, or were you able to get the funds put into your bank account? I've already paid the credit card bill, so I'd end up with a walloping big credit balance on the charge card that I used.

Not a bad thing, but not as useful as a cash refund.

Jane, they will only refund to the source of payment. So, my credit card got the refund. Not really bad as I can just charge everything to the card for the next few months and not have to worry about payments since the original payment was made months ago.

Thanks, Frank II. I figured that would be the case. We don't use credit cards much, and the only thing I use that one for is travel. Which ain't so bad: I guess it'll mean our next flight, whenever it may be, will be pretty much paid for!

I just posted this on another thread, one dealing with cash refunds. But since several of us have gotten off onto that track, I thought I'd post it here, as well.

Webmaster, I will understand if you delete it here.

British Airways is making it more difficult to call them. They've rolled the Customer Service Line and the Executive Club Line over into a third line, which will be answered from 0300 to 1500 Eastern Standard Time Monday through Friday, and 0400 - 1200 EST Saturday and Sunday.

If I have my thinking cap on properly, 0300 EST would be 0400 EDT, which would be 0300 Central Daylight Time. I think. 1500 EST would be 1600 EDT, which would be 1500 CDT, or 3:00 p.m. I think.

Is that right?

I did see an article on the NPR website https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/07/829091394/airlines-want-to-cancel-rule-requiring-them-to-refund-fares-for-canceled-flights that some airlines are trying to get the order to pay refunds for cancelled flights changed to allow vouchers for all customers.

The one bright spot in the article was that two airlines, Delta and United, are offering vouchers good for 2 years, not just one. I could accept that, I think.

Jane, I just checked BA's website and they show this:

Monday-Friday: 8:00-20:00 GMT (3AM-3PM CT)
Sat and Sun: 9:00-17:00 GMT (4AM-Noon CT)

GMT is currently 4 hours ahead of Eastern Time, 5 hours ahead of Central Time.)

They are really making it hard to get a refund. I have to wonder, and I have no proof, if they are running out of cash.

Thanks, Frank II. Yes, I wondered the same thing. According to the NPR article, that's the airlines' concern.

We just got through to British Air, regarding our canceled April 13 flights. My husband made three attempts, and couldn't even get put on hold. Finally, about 9:30 am CA time, he was put on hold, and waited about 30 minutes.
We received a refund of our money and Avios points. The cash refund will go to Paypal, [and then to our Visa.] The BA staffer was quite professional and friendly. Overall, it was not as difficult as expected. Good luck to you all!

Thanks, Pat. I'll keep trying.

Jane, thanks for your info posted above. That was very helpful. Good luck!

Frank II, the UK is now on Summer Time. I’m surprised that they are showing anything for the winter times which is GMT. We are now on BST - British Summer Time. Central is six hours behind the UK and Eastern is five hours behind the UK.

Nigel, I'm not lying...

https://www.britishairways.com/en-us/information/incident/coronavirus/latest-information?dr=&dt=British%20Airways%20%7C%20Book%20Flights,%20Holidays,%20City%20Breaks%20%26%20Check%20In%20Online&scheme=&audience=travel&CUSTSEG=&GGLMember=&ban=496d343e633f920588764b56ab5fceff%7C%7CCAM%7C8%7CCTA1%7C1%7C%7C%7C%7CHOME%7C%7C%7C%7CL4%7C%7C%7C%7Canonymous-inspiration%7C%7C%7C&KMtag=c&KMver=1.0&clickpage=HOME#faq

Look under "important information". I know the difference between the U.S. East Coast and the UK is five hours. But it specifically says GMT.

And if you call the US 1-800 number, it reports operating hours in "EST," Eastern Standard Time.

Got our refund! Once I got through to BA, it was a snap. I couldn't get through yesterday, so I tried this morning. I was all set up for a long wait (tea, newspaper, oatmeal) and dialed the number about 7:30 Central Daylight Time. I was only on hold for 2 minutes!

It took about 8 to 10 minutes to process the whole thing. We had paid for seats as well as for the flight, but had purchased the seats in a separate transaction, on a different day, and paid for them with a combination of points and credit card. But it went very smoothly, and the person to whom I spoke was friendly and cheerful.

Thanks everyone, for your helpful suggestions.