How To ‘Force’ The British Airways Website To Offer A Cash Refund (Canceled Flights)

By
Ziggy
-
a plane flying in the sky
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Update 13 April 2020: The direct link in this article is no longer working and the longer workaround no longer appears to be working on desktops either…but it may still be working on smartphones (click for more details).

If you’d rather not play around with your smartphone settings or if the smartphone workaround doesn’t work for you click here for your offline options.

There’s a saying that says that desperate times call for desperate measures, and a number of airlines appear to be taking that saying very literally as they blatantly attempt to circumvent laws that dictate that passengers are due a refund if an airline cancels their flights. British Airways is one such airline.

Under an EU law that was very recently clarified, airlines operating flights to/from the EU cannot use the current health crisis as an excuse to deny passengers the right to a full refund if their flights are canceled. Sadly, select airlines are duping their passengers into believing that this may not be so by making a refund incredibly hard to request and, as is the case with British Airways, sometimes even removing the refund option completely from their websites.

I recently had a couple of my BA short-haul flights canceled and this is what I was presented with when I logged in to my account:

a screenshot of a emailThere are three things to note from the screenshot above:

  1. There’s a very clear statement there that reads “You may obtain a full refund by cancelling your entire booking”
  2. There’s a clear statement there that reads “To re-book or refund please call us”
  3. There’s a button to click which reads “cancel and refund flight(s)”

I have multiple issues with this:

Firstly, point 2 appears to contradict what the button says because the button is inviting the website’s users to cancel and refund a flight online while point 2 says a call is required to refund. Which is it BA?

Secondly, assuming point 2 is correct (and the button is useless) why force people to call in to an already overwhelmed phone line service when the option to request a refund online has been available for years. Why did BA remove this option from its site?

Thirdly, the button which claims to offer customers the option to cancel and get a refund leads to a page that looks like this:

a screenshot of a travel voucherThere is no option to request a refund, just an option to request a travel voucher in place of whatever monies are actually due to the customer.

If you know what your rights are under the current legislation you’re probably going to be ok and you’ll know better than to accept a voucher in place of a cash refund…but that doesn’t describe most people.

Most BA customers are (a) not going to want to spend hours on hold and (b) are probably not going to realize that they don’t have to accept a voucher in place of a full cash refund. After all, the button they clicked on promised them an option for a refund but the page it led to just offered a voucher – a lot of people are going to think that the voucher *is* the refund.

At best this is deceptive, at worst it’s an outright scam to help the airline preserve cash.

The Work Around

Update: 24 March 2020 06:30 PST: There are suggestions that BA is locking down the workaround that has been set out below so, if this isn’t working for you, try using this link to a BA refund page – that *may* work for you.

Fortunately for us, there are some technically savvy people who read miles and points blogs and a Head For Points reader (Antonio) has provided us with a workaround which ‘forces’ the British Airways website to offer a refund option where a flight has been canceled by the airline.

Here’s a step-by-step guide:

  • Open up the British Airways website in Google Chrome
  • Log in to the BA account of the lead traveler
  • Open up the canceled reservation by using the “manage” tab at the top of the BA homepage and by inputting the booking reference and a passenger’s last name.

a screenshot of a computer

  • Click on the three dots (one on top of the other) that you’ll find in the top right corner of the Chrome browser window and select “settings” from the dropdown menu.
  • A new “settings” page will now have opened (do not close your British Airways page) – click on “privacy & security” in the menu on the left. Depending on your screen size “privacy and security” may automatically be visible or you may need to click on a dropdown menu to make it visible.
a screenshot of a computer
Privacy and Security visible on a larger screen
  • Click on “site settings”
  • Scroll down the page until you see “JavaScript” under the “Permissions” section and click on it.
  • On the page that’s now on your screen change the JavaScipt option from “allowed” to “blocked” using the slider button on the right.

a screenshot of a computer

  • Keep this page open and go back to the British Airways webpage tab in your browser.
  • Under your canceled flight, click the “cancel & refund flight(s)” button
  • A new page opens up asking you if you’re a passenger on the canceled flight – do not do anything here just yet. Move on to the next step.

a screenshot of a computer

  • Go back to the JavaScript tab and toggle JavaScript back on.
  • Go back to the British Airways webpage tab and, where you’re asked if you’re a passenger on the canceled flight, select “yes” and press return/enter.
  • An error page is generated which asks you to enter a valid email address – ignore this error

a screenshot of a flight registration form

  • Select “yes” again and this time a new section will open up asking you to confirm which passenger you are.

a screenshot of a flight registration form

  • As soon as you select which passenger you are, a form will open up where you are asked to fill in your email and address and offers up the following terms and conditions:

Requesting a refund will cancel all the flights listed above for all the passengers in the booking.

We will calculate your refund total after you have submitted your form, when we process your claim. The refund amount will be based on our terms and conditions and is final and non-negotiable. Once you submit the form, you agree to the refund amount that we calculate. Under normal circumstances your refund will be processed within 7 working days of form submission, but please be aware that it may take up to two billing cycles before appearing on your credit card statement.

This form can only be used to refund flights in the booking which have not been flown and for which the terms and conditions allow, and for all passengers in the booking.

If you have any car or hotel reservations, or insurance associated with this booking you will need to cancel them separately.

If these items were booked through British Airways please contact us. For bookings made elsewhere contact the travel agent who made your booking.

If these items were booked with Avios and you are an Executive Club member, follow the ‘View my bookings’ link from your account home page. Non Executive Club members should go to Avios.com.

  • Fill in all your details, read through the terms and conditions thoroughly (make sure you understand them), accept the terms and conditions (assuming you’re happy to do so) and then click on the “request a refund” button at the bottom of the page.

You should now see a confirmation page that looks similar to this…

a screenshot of a flight registration form

…and you should receive an email that looks similar to this:

a email notification on a white background

British Airways should now process the cash refund as per its terms and conditions.

Important Note

Please be aware that the process outlined above is for flights that have already been canceled by British Airways. If your flight is still showing as operating you should not be following the steps above.

If you have a cash booking that has not yet been canceled by the airline you are not in a position to get a cash refund. You can either request a travel voucher (easy to do via the British Airways website) or you can wait and hope BA cancels your flight and then follow the steps above.

Following the steps above if you have a cash booking that has not been canceled by BA will see you forfeit most of your cash. You have been warned.

Bottom Line

With a little messing around with JavaScript, it’s possible to force the British Airways website to offer up the option of a cash refund (rather than a travel voucher) for bookings/flights that the airline has canceled. Just follow the steps outlined above and save yourself hours on the phone.

Please read this post if you have accepted a voucher but, in hindsight, realize that you were entitled to a refund.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

169 COMMENTS

  1. I hope this works for my two 7500 flights from LHR to VIE (players 1 and 2). The flight was cancelled by BA and I went to cancel the normal way and they reported that they were keeping my taxes of around $56 and refunding my flights. Not good.

  2. Hi, i have very similar experience with Qatar Airways. They canceled my Milan -Bangkok flight. I tried to get a refund but there is no refund option on the website.
    Eva

  3. Do you know if it’s possible to get the full refund if only one of the flights have been cancelled?

    • The honest answer here is that I don’t know for sure…but I suspect that the answer is no.
      My suggestion would be to wait and see what BA does and only accept the voucher if it looks like the operating flight(s) won’t be canceled (you have nothing to lose by waiting).
      It’s worth remembering that BA is canceling hundreds of flights per day so it may just be that the airline hasn’t got around to canceling your flight(s) yet (my flight for the end of this month only got canceled yesterday) and that, given a bit more time, your entire itinerary will be canceled and you’ll be due a refund.

    • At what time did you attempt the workaround? (it worked for a number of people as little as an hour ago)

    • Excellent! Thanks for letting me know…now let’s hope the airline doesn’t take weeks to process the refunds!

  7. Done! Email received, let’s wait for the cash refund! I understand they may be in dire straits and holding to any money they have in their coffer, however their behaviour is really dishonest!

  9. Brilliant stuff – works! Thought it was odd they were only offering a voucher. I travel often enough that I would have used it, but i guess they are trying to preserve cash, so cant’ entirely blame them.

  10. Just tried this at 17.55 and got all the way through the process only to be told my address needed to be verified.

    • That’s great!! (and I’ll take the thanks on behalf of Antonio who figured this all out)

      I’m puzzled as to why it’s working for some and apparently not others.

  12. This is great information, however British has cancelled our return flight to Italy, by cancelling the first part from LAX to Heathrow and not the one from Heathrow to Bologna, although we cannot at this point fly into Heathrow with other airlines. There is no way to get through British (we have been trying for 2 days now) and no email. Does anyone have an email for them? Thank you!

  17. worked for me at 4pm MST

    I almost stopped at the screen where they wanted a valid email address!
    Then I kept reading the process. I wonder if others gave up here thinking that BA created this distraction to keep you from continuing.

    Email received. Let’s see what happens. A few thousand dollars at stake.

  18. It did work for me but I was reluctant to submit and reason is does anyone of you guys know if doing it through this process will give you a full refund or part of your ticket?

  19. Thanks so much. It worked for me .1145AM 8GMT. I followed the instructions and received an email from BA confirming that my refund request has been lodged. Will update once I get my refund. Thanks

  22. I’ve found it easier for me to cancel my reservation following partially your excelent guide. The steps that worked for me are:

    – Enter the settings/javascript tab in chrome as shown in your tutorial. Don’t do nothing here yet.
    – Click “Cancel and refund flight(s)” in the Manage my booking page.
    – NOW Block javascript when you are in the “Consent” page. Accept the consent and click continue.
    – Now I’m on the refund webpage. Reactivate javascript on chrome settings, accept the refund.
    – Done

    Money refunded. Thank you for this, it was really useful.

  23. I followed the instructions & clicked ‘cancel’. Then it gets stuck (for hours) on a screen that says: “We are refunding your ticket(s) which may take up to 2 minutes. Please wait for confirmation that your booking has been cancelled.”

    No email, no refund…any ideas?

    (my flight was cancelled by BA)

  24. Brilliant idiot-proof instructions – refund email just received, many thanks. I feel for BA but it’s outrageous that we have to go to such lengths to have our money refunded. Once again they seem intent on sabotaging their once-good reputation.

  25. Thank you Elias! Have been trying for 7 hours (yes 7!). Your tips above did the trick! Thank you Elias & thank you Travelling for Miles!

  26. Really useful thank you! refund applied for and confirmation email received! outrageous that we should have to go to these lengths!!

  27. You are a life saver thank you so much! I’ve shared this with other people in the same situation. Hope you have a lovely day ahead! 15:30 GMT

    • Thank you for the kind words and thank you for sharing the information (but I’m also only sharing someone else’s great work)

  28. Hi, thanks so much for this tip ! It worked !!!
    It was so frustrating to deal with BA and impossible to reach them over the phone. Hopefully they really return the money !

    Thans a million

  32. Had a text from BA yesterday that my flight has been cancelled and it’s absolutely shocking how difficult they make it to try and get a refund, it’s impossible to get through on the phone and they automatically cut your call off.

    Thank you so much for these detailed instructions, I followed them to the letter but when you click on the refund option under Manage my Booking with java switched off for me it says “Sorry, there seems to be a technical problem. Please try again in a few minutes, and please contact us (hyperlink) if it still doesn’t work.”

    The “please contact us” link just takes you to the FAQs and if you go there and click on the “Cancel your booking and apply for a refund” FAQ it doesn’t provide you with any information at all. Basically they have completely removed the option to get a refund. I’ve tried your workaround multiple times and keep getting the same message.

    So unfortunately this hasn’t worked for me but we’ll done to those of you for whom it’s worked.

  33. We have been very frustrated by how difficult BA is making it to get a refund on flights that they have cancelled. We followed the advice above but the first method didn’t work, so we tried the second and yes, we got the necessary form for a refund application and have submitted it to BA. I kept screen shots of each stage of the process as evidence. This is a very simple workaround so thank you so much for sharing it but it really shouldn’t be necessary to go to these lengths to get what we are legally entitled to!

    • Agreed. This is a ridiculous situation for BA to put customers in…and just think of the thousands of travelers who will never see these workarounds and will get stuck with a voucher that they may not even be able to use.

  34. Has anyone actually received a refund from BA? If so, how much time elapsed after the initial email? I requested a refund on 3/14/20, and received the email stating “We have received your information and are currently processing your refund.”, but as of 3/25/20 (11 days later), my credit card has not yet been credited.

    • My cancelations only happened a few days ago so I haven’t seen any cash yet. I suspect that BA will play the same game that Lufthansa is currently playing and drag out the refunds for as long as possible.

  35. I don’t think it is working now. It worked for my first flight that got cancelled, did it yesterday. Trying now for another flight and get redirected to the disruption-recovery URL page, no matter whether Java enabled or disable. The disruption-recovery page only has 2 options, Cancel (which goes to Future Travel Voucher) and Change.

  36. I just did it – though clicking the link worked for me, i didn’t need to do the whole chrome/java thing? I hope it went through ok, no email as yet but took a screen shot of the page.

  39. Same – the link worked and presented the form. Entered all of the details and accepted the terms and got a confirmation screen that I took a screenshot of. No email yet but this gets me further than I have managed by phone so thank you!

    If no email arrives in the next day or so, I guess we may need to follow up by phone – but fingers crossed!

    Much appreciated!

  40. Thank you. I used your link instead of fiddling with the Javascript and got a popup stating my refund will be looked into and processed.
    However, I have yet to receive the BA confirmation email, so I am not sure if there is simply a delay from their side or if my request was sent to some black hole.
    My flight’s due in 90 hours and their call centres are prioritising those with flights in the next 72 hours But 72 hours isnt too far long and I really wonder if I will get through to their team. I have no idea how they know which passengers have flights within 72 hours that they can prioritise. So here’s hoping the link you gave worked!

  41. Have you had any luck with Delta? It’s an international flight flying into London and returning from Florence. I don’t want a eCredit, and would much rather have the $1,400 back!

    • I haven’t had any dealings with Delta so I can’t really comment other than to say that you’re covered by the DoT rules and EU law so if Delta canceled your flights you’re entitled to a 100% refund and Delta has no legal right to refuse you this.

  42. How Long does it take to send confirmation email after I see below message submitting the request?

    I have received below message after submitting the request using link https://www.britishairways.com/travel/webforms/execclub/_gf/en_gb?eId=120001&wfpId=mmb_ticket_refund

    Your request to cancel and refund your flights has been sent

    What happens now?

    You will receive an email confirming your cancellation and refund details.

    We will review your request and calculate the refund amount payable.

    All flights in the booking will be cancelled.

    I want to cancel other items in the booking

    If you have other items in your booking you wish to cancel (e.g. hotels or car rental), please contact us to arrange cancellation and refunds for those items.

    Our contact numbers.

    If a refund is payable

    The refund will be paid onto the orginal form of payment.

    Once payment has been made, we will email you to notify you of the payment.

    Refund totals are final and cannot be challenged.

    If a refund is not payable

    We will email you to notify you that there is no refund payable.

    • I got my email very quickly…but that was a few days ago. Things seem to have slowed down since then and I know people who filed for refunds 2 days ago who still haven’t received emails.

  43. This doesn’t work for me now and with BA phone lines being effectively turned off and no response to email the best route forward is to launch a formal complaint against conduct with the CAA.

  44. Hi. Need urgent help. BA even not allowing me to manage my booking.

    ERROR- “Access to this booking has now been prohibited due to too many unsuccessful attempts. Please check your travel details are correct and retry in 24 hours”.

    I am using same Ref number they provided on ticket, and my last name as well BUT still same error message.

    Trying for last 36 hours. Cleared the cookies and history as well. Used 3 browsers (Edge, Firefox, Chrome).Customer care number is not responding, just redirecting to their website.
    Anyone plz help me to get rid of this.

    Anyone have/had this issue.. What is the solution.

    Kind Regards

    • Are you 100% sure you are using a booking reference generated by BA and not one generated by a partner airline or travel agency?

  45. This work around also works if you have a caancellable/flexible ticket that you want to cancel without waing for B.A.
    Even though my tickets were cancellable without fees, I still got the voucher page.
    Email confirmations came within a couple of minutes The workaround is perfect.
    Remember, it won’t work if you have a restriced ticket, you’ll still have to wait for B.A to cancel.
    Thanks for sharing
    Paul

  46. BA cancelled our flights and – like you – I was so frustrated when I got to the page about getting a flight voucher, when I actually wanted a refund. I so pleased that I stumbled onto your site. I was able to submit a refund request using the link you provided. Thank you so much for doing this!

    • You’re very welcome…but I don’t deserve any credit as I’m just writing about someone else’s good work 🙂

  49. Just thought I would let you know that I actually got the money back on my credit card today. 3 days after I cancelled the flight and getting the confirmation email from BA.
    Many many thanks! 🙂

  50. I’m still having trouble! One leg of my two leg itinerary was cancelled by the airline. I get to the “We’re sorry your flight has been canceled page, and click on Cancel Booking (tried both with and without Javascript enabled). Then it just takes me to the future voucher page. No option for refund. What am I doing wrong?

    • Same thing. Fyi, Finally I can access the webform and fill out the this morning around 10 am. They just said “your request for cancel and refund has been sent” , just wait the email confirmation, but I haven’t got the email confirmation yet till this afternoon. Do I have to repeat again fill out the form later?

    • Same thing. Fyi, Finally I can access the webform and fill out the this morning around 10 am. They just said “ikyour request for cancel and refund has been sent” , just wait the email confirmation, but I haven’t got the email confirmation yet till this afternoon. Do I have to repeat again fill out the form later?

  52. Sadly, didn’t work for me just now. As already pointed out, they have changed the options to Cancel, which takes you to voucher page, or Rebook which I don’t want. I’m really hoping you can rustle up some other workaround mastery! Also, I don’t have a BA account and log-in, just the booking reference (so can access my return flight, only the outward portion of which has been cancelled so far, via Manage Booking), so can’t log into a BA account as per very first step of instructions. Is that the cause of my failure? Thanks for all help!

  53. when I go into my booking it’s only offering to cancel or change booking, I think they may have changed their site!

  54. Completed yesterday, thanks but no email received as yet. How long does that usually take to come through ? Looked at the link this morning and no longer works.

  56. Hi. what to do if you were already tricked to accepting voucher? Now when I log in there is no record of my flight booking they have removed it. so above doesn’t work right?

  59. I used the link on the 28th March and applied for a cash refund. I took screen shots of both the application and their website response. However, no email received. Not sure what to do now.

  60. Above guide is not working now becuase BA changed browser little bit.
    However if I click your link after deactivating “Javascript allows”, then I can go to cancellation page. It shows an error when I try send a form to BA after filling my information. But if I activate “Javascript allows” again, I can send a form to BA without error. Thank you for good information.
    But I am still waiting comfirmation email since 1:40 PM.

    https://travelingformiles.com/how-to-force-the-british-airways-website-to-offer-a-refund/

    • It’s been two days and still no confirmation email from BA. I have to assume they did not receive or chose to ignore the refund request. Looks like my only alternative is call them and wait for hours on hold. *sigh*. I don’t think I’ll ever be booking with BA again after this shady business.

      • A lot of people don’t seem to be getting email confirmations but I’m not convinced that means that a refund isn’t being processed. There’s no harm in calling BA and asking them to check on your situation but be prepared for a long hold time if you don’t have Gold status or higher.

  62. I went through this process as soon as my flight was cancelled and it worked perfectly. I received the email but since then nothing. Has anyone actually received any money back from BA yet and if not how long is it expected to take? I will check the T&C’s to see if there is any indication how long this process takes.

  63. Not working for me. Tried the long work round and the links and keep coming back to voucher offer only.
    Guess BA have worked it out and put a stop to it.

  64. any advice for those of us who did ‘accept the voucher’ via the spurious link they sent…I have £984 tied up in them at the moment, I can’t afford to just let it go

    • I’d really like to be able to give you some good news here but I can’t. Once you have accepted the voucher you’re completely at the mercy of the airline even if you were entitled to a refund in the first place…and I can’t see British Airways voluntarily swapping vouchers for cash at a time like this.

      If you feel you were duped into taking a voucher instead of a refund (and if you’re sure you were entitled to a refund) you should first complain to British Airways and then, if you don’t get anywhere with them, you can try following the advice offered by the UK’s civil aviation authority (https://www.caa.co.uk/Passengers/Resolving-travel-problems/How-the-CAA-can-help/How-to-make-a-complaint/) or, if your trip included the US, you can try raising a complaint with the US Department of Transport (https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/file-consumer-complaint).

      Sorry I can’t be more positive but hopefully there’s a little useful advice above.

    • I did the same an accidentally accepted the voucher. When I called to explain I was basically told ‘tough luck’.

      Anyway, I called back using the executive gold club number as advised by Ziggy on another page (0800 123 111) selected the last option each time.

      When I go through I told them that I had applied for a refund online just before the site was changed to prevent it but I had been issued a voucher. (A little lie!)

      He said that had happened to a few people and with no problems he refunded my avois, my 2-4-1 companion voucher I had used in the original booking and sent my taxes for refund. He said that could take up to 10 days for the taxes refund.

      Avois and 2-4-1 companion voucher were back in my account in about 10 mins.

      Hope this helps someone!

  66. I went through the process, it kind of worked but same as Aaron’s respond frm 5th April. I haven’t received refund confirmation from BA. My original bookings are still there. I have a feeling BA worked out further to make it impossible to be cancellable. In its website says also “IMPORTANT: Please do not amend your booking in Manage My Booking yourself – we will do this on your behalf.” :/

  67. Unbelievable from BA. Firstly they i received this email:
    Important information about your booking
    Booking Reference: RKD4JM

    Dear Customer
    You’re currently due to travel with us to London. Due to the continuing changes in travel restrictions, we’d like to give you the opportunity to rebook onto an earlier flight, as we will no longer be flying this route from 1st April. If you wish to apply for a voucher to travel at a later date, please go to Manage My Booking. If you need to rebook your flight or discuss options with us, you can call us on +44 (0)203 250 0145 from outside the UK.

    3 DAYS BEFORE THE FIRST OF APRIL MY FLIGHT WAS REMOVED FROM THE SYSTEM. INSERTING MY BOOKING NUMBER ON “MANAGE MY BOOKING PAGE” I WAS GREETED WITH: “Error
    Sorry, we are unable to display your booking as all the flights have been flown.”

    WITHOUT ANY NOTIFICATION!!!

    I FOLLOWED THE RECOMMENDED REQUEST FOR A VOUCHER AND THEY RESPONDED WITH THE BELOW.

    Thank you for contacting British Airways. Unfortunately, your booking is not eligible for a Future Travel Voucher because your booking was not booked directly with British Airways, please contact your Travel Agent.

    We apologise for the inconvenience.

    Warm regards,
    British Airways Customer Service

    BA IS THE WORST AIRLINE/NATIONAL CARRIER OUT THERE. KENYAN AIRWAYS BY COMPARISON ISSUED A OPEN ENDED TICKET. DEPLORABLE CUSTOMER SERVICE.

    IS THERE A WAY OF GETTING ANY REFUND ON THIS?

    • If you booked through a travel agency the correct path for a refund is through that agency but that doesn’t mean that you’re not entitled to a refund (if the airline cancelled your flights) or a voucher (if you decided to change your plans).

      Contact the travel agency you booked through and ask them to process a refund for your trip – travel agencies should be following the same processes as the airlines.

  68. My flight to ibiza in May has just been cancelled and the page on ‘my account’ on the app it says ‘The amount you paid to hold this booking will be automatically refunded.’ Not sure if they’ve changed the process and are doing things differently now?

  69. I’m so grateful for your guide – trying it this morning we don’t get this step coming up :
    ” •Under your canceled flight, click the “cancel & refund flight(s)” button”

    we just get two buttons: “cancel booking” or “change booking”
    Am I ok to click the “cancel booking” button?
    thanks so much in advance for your help!

    • Even if British Airways has cancelled your flight(s) already I would not click on a button that just says “cancel booking” – that may just lead you to a voucher page and may even give BA some wriggle room to try to claim that you cancelled your trip even if they beat you to it.

      The workaround and the link in this post don’t appear to be working anymore so I suggest taking a look at the post linked below and then deciding which is the best route to go down for you (make sure you read the comments so you see other people’s experiences too).

      https://travelingformiles.com/how-to-get-a-refund-from-british-airways-the-last-working-ways/

      Best of luck!

  70. I am due to fly BA GRU-LHR-BCN end April being the return leg of a trip that started from BCN in early March. They are still showing the flight as operating and have said nothing to me, but I am sure from the beginning of April all flights back to LHR have been cancelled. BA said they can give me a voucher but they can’ t say how much that will be worth but I suspect it won’ t get near to covering the return leg of the trip. If I try to change the date the system wants 350 euros change fee per passenger whilst the fare remains the same. Any advice. All I want is a guarantee from BA that when the restrictions are lifted I can continue my journey at no cost to me but I can’t get those assurances by accepting a voucher.
    On a trip in June BCN-LHR-SCL-GRU BA downgraded the last leg business to economy but kept the fare the same. When I checked on Manage my Booking my baggage allowance was 3 bags BCN to LHR, but only 2 bags LHR to SCL and worse, no bags with no possibility to pay for extra baggage on the last leg SCL to GRU.
    So I would depart BCN with 3 bags and arrive in GRU with no bags. Happily BA have agreed a refund .

  73. Our flight due April 8 was canceled on March 18. After receiving a cancellation email, I called BA to request a refund. Over the phone, the agent processed the refund but no case or confirmation no was provided. No refund till April 7. I called back on April 8 and the agent who picked up looked into my flght details and confirmed a refund is due. Checked back and requested to wait for 3 working days to see a refund. 4 working days have gone by, but still don’t see a refund.

    Should I file a case with my credit card in this situation?

    Thanks,
    Alpina

    • Yes. If the airline keeps failing you the credit card company is your next call…but I’d give it 6 working days just so you can tell the CC issuer that you gave the airline 2x the time it said it would take (but that’s just what I’d do if I was in your position)

  74. Okay I mad. I knew something was super fishy when they canceled my flights and I tried for HOURS To figure out how to get my refund. I spent hours waiting on the phone with them. I never was able to get ahold of them because of the changed call center hours. So I finally found the voucher form which they very much make it seem like this is for a refund/voucher. Well is started filling it out and I got suspicious and clicked back. It sent the damn form in and now I have a voucher. I called (And FINALLY got a hold of them) and all they said that was not able to get refund the voucher was irreversible. So now I can’t get my money back and I’m stuck with a voucher I can’t even use. If y’all know of a way to fight this let me know. Also it’s TRUE, they scamming everyone.

    • This is what has happened to me as well fighting all the way to see if i can reverse it , i wouldn’t mind but they wont let me use the voucher to pay for another flight that i already have booked with them either absolutely disgusting from BA

  77. this is how they treat you…..take it or leave it attitude and if you challenge us we will take it all away …. pure scum. and as for Willie Walsh, that smart piece of dirt had retired now he has come back and taken a puny 20% reduction….thus in effect he has got an 80% gain.

    Our final response

    Thank you for your email. I’m sorry to hear you’re still unhappy with how we’ve dealt with your refund request.

    I’ve thoroughly reviewed all the information you’ve sent us, and I can confirm that we believe we’ve dealt with your case fairly and appropriately. We’re unable to respond to any further requests for a refund.

    If you’re still unhappy with the outcome, and want to take it further, you can refer your complaint to the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution. CEDR is an independent dispute resolution provider, which is certified by the Civil Aviation Authority. They decide on any disputes between airlines and passengers that can’t be resolved using the airline’s own complaints procedure.

    A few notes about contacting CEDR:

    Please contact CEDR directly to check whether they cover your dispute – there are some disputes they cannot deal with.
    Please check their website here for contact details.
    Alternatively, you can send your complaint to CEDR using the European Commission’s online dispute resolution form
    If CEDR take on your complaint, we’ll withdraw any previous offer of settlement we’ve made. If CEDR make a judgement on the issue, their decision will be final.
    Once again, I’m sorry we weren’t able to resolve this between us this time. I hope this information is useful to you.

    Best regards

    Laura Dent
    British Airways Customer Relations

  78. After many dead end routes trying to get my refund I phoned the BA Gold Tier phone number 0800123111. Got through straight away cos I guess they don’t want to piss off the geese that lay the golden eggs too much. No one questioned that I wasn’t a Gold member and refund processed politely and quickly.

  80. I successfully managed to get my refund from British Airways. I booked through my credit card rewards program, so British Airways was refusing to give me a refund even though my credit card rewards program informed me that BA was the one in control of the credit. If you would like to email the customer relations department directly, their email address is: “ba.cr.na@ba.com”. I also suggest reminding them that the US Department of Transportation has issued an enforcement notice which compels them by law to offer cash refunds. If they deny you your refund, you may consider consulting with a lawyer about a class action lawsuit (dlawler@tzlegal.com).

    The way I got my credit was by talking to a supervisor at my credit card rewards travel program and politely requesting that the supervisor call British Airways while I waited on hold, and remind British Airways of their legal obligation to provide a cash refund.

  81. Hi. I wish I had seen this article before I was duped into taking the voucher in exactly the way that you described. The refund buttons didn’t work. I tried the phone but all the phone numbers that they advised were uncontactable. You just went round and around in a circle before they cut you off. So frustrating.
    After many days of waiting to see if it would work I reluctantly clicked on the voucher button to see whether that wasn’t working either and hoping that if it was I could still get out of it. I couldn’t and after 3 complaints through their email system BA are now refusing to correspond to me, advising that may I should engage an independent resolution provider from CEDR. They say that I made a choice and hard luck, I’ve got to accept the voucher.
    Is this the case? Can I expose what they’ve done and force them into refunding me?
    Any other ideas please?

    • Sadly there’s not much you can do. You can try complaining to the DoT if your flight was to/from the US or the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK but the small print is in BA’s favor here – they’ll say that you voluntarily took the voucher and that that’s the end of it.

      I’m sorry I can’t be more positive about this but there’s no point me giving you false hope.

  82. My May 15 flight YVR to LHR was cancelled by BA a while back. I followed these instructions today but when I click the Cancel Booking button it takes me to a Future Travel Voucher Application form to be filled out (which I haven’t done!). The Java script business didn’t seem to do anything for me. Have BA sussed out this method and blocked it? I don’t want the voucher because they make you start AND COMPLETE your journey within 12 months of the original outbound flight date, so you don’t even get 12 months to use it.

  83. Update for those who used the direct link to get a refund:

    I did fill out the refund form and got the green confirmation screen saying my refund is being processed and that I will receive a confirmation email.
    The email and the refund never came.
    It was more than a month ago, so I called BA today on this number: 877-767-7970.
    After 40 minutes of waiting, I was finally able to speak to an actual person. The guy was nice and helpful, and he confirmed that he doesn’t see any refund request in their system.
    He did put me on the refund queue, which will take 1-2 weeks to complete.
    I will update this post when I receive the refund.

  84. My return flights from Abu Dhabi to London were cancelled. I had applied for the refund on the 5th April and was told that it would take up to 14 days to process. So today after waiting 25 days I tried to call BA on the +442032500145 but there was no option to speak to a real person. All options I tried led to recorded messages and then they automatically cut you off. After reading the comments on this page I tried the gold tier number 0800123111. Surprisingly someone answered within 2 min. She took all my details and said she will escalate my request. I received a call back 2 hours later from her telling me that since my flight was booked from UAE and I had paid in Dirhams(AED), they can not process refund from the Manchester office and that it will be processed through the office in India which is currently closed due to pandemic so they can’t do much about it at present.
    Has anyone else faced this situation? Not sure what else I can do about it.

  85. Hello ! I really hope you would notice my comment. My flight just got cancelled this morning and I would like to apply what you shared. I would like to know normally how much do they give the refund ? Is there a percent ? My flight is from France to Malaysia, worth of 630Euros.

  86. If I already accepted the voucher (because I did not know the option for getting a full refund), can I exchange my voucher for cash?

    Hope you got an answer for me!

  87. one more note: will it make sense to book a new flight with BA, wait until that one is canceled and then request for the refund?

    • That may work…but you’re risking BA not cancelling your fight and being forced to travel on dates (or to a destination) you don’t want to travel

  88. Ziggy, I just wanted to say a massive thanks for sharing this link. Because of it, I have been refunded my £2500 today. I will share my story here below, which may help those who are still waiting for a refund:

    1-Beginning of March, BA decided to cancel our flight. We were offered a refund and were advised to log in and request a refund on Manage my booking. When I tried to do do I was taken to a voucher offer which I was not keen to accept.

    2-23rd of March I saw this page and decided to give it a go. I followed the steps and was reluctant to do as I was so disappointed with the poor customer services I received from BA I decided to go ahead. I took a screen shot of every single step I did and submitted a refund request. I received a confirmation email the same day.

    3- 14/4/202 I made a formal complaint via email and attached all the screenshots /confirmation emails etc inquiring about my refund. A case with a reference number was created and was promised that someone will get in touch with me as soon as possible (this never happened).

    4- Today 1/5/2020, I received a full refund Hurray!!

    This will be the last time I used British Airways…I learnt the lesson.

    • Thank you for the very nice comment. I’m delighted things worked out for you – it’s always good to hear of a victory for the customer 🙂

  90. Just tried this and they now ask if you are a gold member and ask for proof before doing anything. However she gave me this number and I got through on this number by phoning 1 minute before the lines closed:

    02032500145

    • I fly regularly to Cairo and had my March flight cancelled, rebooked, cancelled and took a voucher. Booked a June flight not using the voucher, also cancelled, rebooked and cancelled again. Gave up and booked a July flight on EgyptAir.
      All the BA numbers and options got me the polite ‘sorry we can’t take your call’ cut-off, but I kept trying and eventually got through to a real live human on the 0800 number using the ‘for anything else’ option.
      She was extremely helpful, used my voucher to book a flight in September and organised the cash and Avios refund for my cancelled June/July flight. Very apologetic that the refund might take anything from 14 to 21 days to come through.
      My advice is to just keep trying, it does work sometimes.

  91. Unfortunately I fell to their trap when clicking on “refund” button back in March and applied for a voucher by mistake.
    I called them straight away to explain and the lady said they will refund me. Of course this didn’t happen and I received a voucher instead.
    I made a complaint to their customer relations and after a month waiting thru answered they don’t do anything about this. Help please!

  92. Hi there and plenty of good reading above. We had paid a £300.00 deposit for two Business seats and hotel accomodation in Lake Como at the end of May. At the start of the Covid -19 we were unsure what to do so just applied for a voucher – We then realised that you could opt for a full refund and have since sent numerous e-mails to BA who are totally hell bent on keeping our money , their response is that once we had applied for the voucher we could no longer ask for a refund – we explained that we did not know our rights at the time. Any advice on this please ??? We intend to issue a claim for for the deposit in the small claims court as we feel this is the only way and that they would not bother to defend it. Thanks and hopefully someone can help us on this ????

  93. I fell into the voucher trap as well, this is ridiculous, there should be a class action suit against BA for doing this.

    Have you heard back from them since?

  95. Having read the above comments, and thanks to everyone for sharing and helping, I decided to go down the ‘call Gold Line’ route, ready to fess up to being a humble Blue if asked. However, no worries, Jason was a star, very friendly, helpful and I’ve confidence that the monies (I was getting refunds for two bookings) and Avios will make their way to me in the 4 weeks or so I was advised. Also, I’ve heard that some people are being asked to pay an admin fee (£35!) for their Avios to be returned, no mention of this, quite rightly.

    • If your trip was to/from the US (i.e covered by US DoT rules) and the airline cancelled your trip – yes. Otherwise, probably not.

  97. I also went down the ‘call Gold Line’ route, spoke to a lovely chap called Craig. Very chatty and helpful. Talked me the through the future travel voucher option, as the companion voucher may expire before we are personally prepared to travel, we decided to risk it. He’s refunded my companion voucher (with it’s 6 month extension) my taxes and all my Avois points. No mention of an admin fee either… I recommend this option.

  98. Thank you to all above responders.

    I went down the route specified by Pamela June 5, 2020 At 8:38 pm. Thanks, Pamela.

    1. Dial 0800 727 800
    2. Select Option 3, Anything Else.
    3. Do NOT select Option 1, Refund Enquiries; this leads to a dead end.
    4. Instead select Option 2, Anything Else.

    I got through to an operator immediately.
    I asked for a refund. There were no queries, no attempts to sell me on the voucher scheme. She confirmed my details, and then filled out a form on her end. It took about 3 minutes.
    I was told that a refund will be processed in 21 days.
    Fingers crossed.

    • UPDATE:

      Refund reached my bank account 72 hours after the phone call.

      Wishing everyone else good luck.

      • Adrian, thank you very much for this post. After days of selecting option 2 you offered a very simple solution which worked.

        I am now waiting for my refund.

        • Apologies, a correction to my post above. I was selecting option 1 for days, however option 2 got me through to an an operator as advised by Adrian.

  99. There is no doubt that British Airways are deliberately flouting the regulations on refunds by making it almost impossible to obtain a cash refund for a cancelled flight. I was “conned” by the website pages shown in your article. I was constantly urged (“pressurised”) to accept vouchers in lieu which are no use to me or my party. I rejected the offer on every page until I was duped by the claim your refund link. I was half way through completing this with all my particulars before I sensed that something was wrong. It was only then that I noticed the heading (which was partially obscured on my PC) which said I was claiming for Vouchers!

    Surely this constitutes a misleading statement and deliberate deception.

    I was so outraged by BA’s deceitfulness that i closed down the website with a view to contacting BA by telephone. Big mistake! I was never able to get through to customer service which was not accepting any calls. Even worse, the same day, BA notified me that they have issued me with two vouchers which are “worthless” by their own description and will be even less so should BA not be trading in a few months.

    Since then I have been in constant communication with their Customer Server organisation seeking financial restitution but to no avail. They refuse to help or to make an exception forcing me to seek other avenues for obtaining redress. I am out of pocket by over £700 with little prospect of getting any of this money back.

    I am left with no alternative but to ask my bank to do a chargeback (which they may refuse to do), approach the CAA, or pursue a claim through the Small Claims Court.

    Unless someone organises a ‘Class Action’ against BA I think they will probably get away with it. Needless to say i have no intention of travelling by BA in the future.

    BA

  100. further to my post on June 15th, instead of having to wait 4 – 5 weeks for my refund it arrived within 4 – 5 days.

  101. This is not working anymore, the BA webpage only takes to Voucher only.
    Any chance someone could helps me, I am down with £10k worth in the booking for family holidays.
    Thanks
    A

  102. Our return flight was cancelled. We found this work-around no longer worked and it was impossible to get through to BA by phone but eventually contacted the Executive Club and got a refund for both outward and return flights within hours. executiveclubuk@email.ba.com

  103. Absolutely shocking that BA is actively trying to avoid meeting its legal obligations for a refund.

  104. Telephone 02032500145
    used this number and didn’t press any buttons and went through to operator within 10 mins. Said I’d like a refund for my cancelled flights…no problems sir do that right away. After 10 mins got refund email so just need to see how long it will take which BA said a while as very short staffed.

  105. BA cancelled one leg (LHR-BCN) of a four-leg open-jaw (SFO-LHR-BCN, MAD-LHR-SFO). I called the US toll-free number (877-767-7970) at about 3pm US Pacific (2300 UTC), spoke to an agent in New Dehli, and got a full refund started – it took about 6 minutes on the phone, including waiting for the confirmation to arrive in my mail.

    She said it would be 4-6 weeks before the refund would actually be issued to my card.

    Hope this helps someone.

  106. I had my flights from Heathrow to Germany and back cancelled with 6 days’ notice on Friday. I’ve tried all the different phone options but they all end with “Due to the exceptionally high volume of calls, we are not able to take your call at this time. Please try again later.” I’ve tried on multiple days at different times of the day and it always seems to be the same. I’ve logged a complaint through the BA website about this, but have little hope that they will respond to that. It seems like there is literally NO way left to get an actual refund …

    • Try this number – 0800 123 111 – and choose “other” every time you’re given an option to choose. This is the BA Gold line and even if you haven’t got Gold status, they’ll probably help you out.

  107. Similar to David Singer, I had one leg of my trip cancelled. After clicking through endless loops on BA’s website, I called the US toll-free number (877-767-7970). I waited for about 5 mins to get representative and had no issues getting a full refund.

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