Rebooking cancelled flight within 1 year

emmariley19

I was due to travel on my honeymoon to Japan with British Airways on the 2nd June 2020, but obviously due to the corona virus pandemic both this and the wedding were cancelled. Our wedding has since been postponed until the 29th May 2021, and we were hoping too still go on our honeymoon on the 1st June 2021.

My question relates to my rights with BA: Our flight was cancelled by BA and as such we are entitled to a full refund, voucher or to rebook. We ideally wanted to rebook, since we got very cheap flights on a good deal which we put a lot of effort into securing. However, BA are saying we have to fly within 1 year of our original booking date, which is by 4th Feb 2021.I’d expected that we’d have to fly within 1 year of our original flight date, and so going 1st June 2021 would be fine. We cannot go on our honeymoon before our wedding, nor would we want to go in January. Can anyone provide any advice on whether this 1 year from the booking date restriction is true as it seems to me to penalise those who book flights far in advance (and technically if you booked a flight a year in advance you'd have hardly any room to change it if cancelled)?

magritte

BA is best to advise you on that... perhaps they can extend the period in your case, if you ask. 

If I were in your shoes though I would take the cash and I would book flights closer to the departure date. No one knows what will happen next year... what if there's a 2nd wave of covid-19 in 2021, either here or in Japan? 

[Deleted User]

Who told you the vouchers were to be used one year from purchase?   I think it was always a year from flight date?    But now am told BA have increased the time of  voucher validity until 2022 for all  (please check this with BA as my source was word of mouth)

I wouldn't expect the price to remain same for your flights though, especially if you got a rare bargain in first place.  You may be better taking the cash?   Then you can do your research into your best bargain options.   

emmariley19

BA told me since my flight was cancelled I could be rebooked directly onto a new flight (i.e. not take any risk of the price changing), but only up to 1 year from the initial booking, which is February 4th 2021. I'd always understood you could rebook a cancelled flight up to 1 year after the initial flight date, which for me is 1st June 2021. I'm trying to work out if this is a customer service representative just trying to get me to a take a voucher "as its valid until April 2022" or actually true. 

[Deleted User]

Ahhh...maybe what they meant was you can rebook at same price up till February?   A voucher would be valid for a lot longer but doesn't guarantee the flights will be same price.  You can still request a refund.