Cancelling a British Airways Avios Booking for a Refund
British Airways Executive Club is currently advertising that you’re able to “change your dates, destination or even cancel if you need to, with no additional fees“. Unfortunately, this is misleading, as you’re only able to cancel for a voucher, that can only be used when booking through the call centre. I found a way to cancel your British Airways Avios flight for a refund, without calling the call centre.
The Booking
By now, blog followers can likely tell that I wasn’t able to go to the UK for Euro 2020 (1). While the trip of a lifetime would have been epic, the combination between the quarantine in England, a quarantine on return and only having one dose at the time made the trip impossible.
While I just received my second vaccine dose today, earlier this week I cancelled the last flight, British Airways flight 98 in business class from Toronto to London that was supposed to take place last Friday.
I had decided to pull the trigger on those expensive direct British Airways flights when there was a 50% discount for redemptions. Ultimately, redeeming Avios on the Toronto to London route in Business class isn’t cheap, coming in at a whopping $567 dollars plus 25,000 Avios points (discounted from 50K Avios). If I was a loyal British Airways customer, I wouldn’t be happy with their loyalty program, that’s for sure!
So close, but not possible in the end
The Attempted Cancellation
The flexible cancellation policy advertised by BA is a bit of a stretch. While you’re able to change a flight to another date (as long as there is availability), to cancel a flight, you’re only able to get a voucher.
Not only is this voucher not a refund, like many airlines are providing right now, but it also has an expiry date of April, 30 2023, which is complete rubbish. From a British Airways point of view, any of these that expire in 2023 goes straight to the bottom line as pure profit, pretty awful for the customer.
Even worse, you can’t use this voucher online to rebook, as you must contact them via the contact centre. While normally you might wait a bit, getting in touch with British Airways by phone right now is impossible.
Honestly, the British Airways phone experience right now is trash. Firstly, the number they advertise on their site is incorrect, so when trying to call the British Airways Avios contact centre from Canada or the US, the correct number is 1 (877) 767-7970. Regardless, I tried calling the contact centre twice which resulted in a 90 + minute wait before being disconnected, what awful customer service. How has the British Airways product team not enabled using these vouchers online? (Seriously, please tell me BA)
With less than 24 hours before my flight, I cancelled it online to avoid losing the booking and causing myself more trouble. I was emailed a cancellation and this voucher (to be used on the phone)
How is this possible?
Knowing that I didn’t want to lock up $500+ with British Airways, I took to Twitter to express my frustrations.
Luckily, they listened, responding within a few hours. They asked for lot’s of info from me to confirm my identity.
Then they confirmed that even though I applied for the voucher, I would be receiving a refund, less a $55 cancellation fee (brutal!).
Even though I pushed for them to waive the fee, they wouldn’t budge.
The Point
If you’re booking a flight through British Airways Avios, recognize that beyond the outrageous taxes, you will not be able to cancel for a refund easily as their process is archaic, especially because they’ve had 16 months to improve their user experience. As a potential customer looking to resume work travel, British Airways is likely not going to get my business, as their “loyalty” program has massive friction and frustration.
