Is a British Airways eVoucher cash refund possible outside the March - November 2020 window?

HeehawD

Can anyone here recommend the best way to approach British Airways to request a cash refund for flight eVouchers?

I understand there is a form for customers who were given eVouchers after their flights were cancelled between March and November 2020, however, my flights weren't within that period, yet I was told by BA that I couldn't get a cash refund and that I had to accept eVouchers instead. I've since read that a cash refund should've been offered at the time, or at least provided after asking for a cash refund when I was offered eVouchers.

My attempts to contact BA about this haven't been fruitful whatsoever, the phone line has been useless for months and emails are simply ignored. I tried Resolver hoping that after 8 weeks, if they continued to ignore me at least an obudsman would be able to intervene, however, now that those 8 weeks are up I can see that asking an obudsman to intervene via Resolver isn't actually an option. 

I've since read that CEDR might be my best bet given BA aren't responding to emails, but CEDR says that if they're unsuccessful they will charge a fee of £25 which has me concerned I may end up even more out of pocket.

Besides the argument that I should've been offered or granted a cash he refund when requested, I feel that the fact BA decided to reduce it's services from my local airport (Inverness) to 1 flight to London per day has greatly reduced the usefulness and value of the eVouchers. This means lengthier layovers for connecting flights, and for some destinations that previously connected with Inverness flights, it means an overnight stay and the additional expense that comes with that.

Has anyone here been successful in getting a cash refund for eVouchers outside on the March - November 2020 window? And if so, how did you go about it?

Thanks kindly for reading and for any advice you can share.

eskbanker

In terms of establishing your rights, when were the flights scheduled to operate, and when were they cancelled, and for what reason?

Westin

" I've since read that a cash refund should've been offered at the time, or at least provided after asking for a cash refund when I was offered eVouchers."

It comes down to why you could not travel.   Those reports covered a situation where the airline cancelled the flight and push people down a route to accept an e-voucher or FTV.  Passenger entitlement is for a cash refund in those circumstances.   In the case that the passenger wished to cancel due to their own personal reasons, covid travel restrictions or covid entry restrictions at arrival point, then the airline was not obliged to offer a cash refund but instead was offering a travel waiver in the form of a eVoucher/FTV.  Some reporting was not clear on this and gave a false and wrong impression that all eVouchers could be turned for cash.

HeehawD

eskbanker said:

In terms of establishing your rights, when were the flights scheduled to operate, and when were they cancelled, and for what reason?

The flights were booked Oct 2nd 2021, originally scheduled to fly out over xmas 2021. However, it's not quite as straightforward as a single flight cancellation as there were multiple changes and cancellations made by both BA and myself over the course of several weeks.

BA made the first change to our booking when they rescheduled one of our flights so that it was due to depart over an hour before the connecting flight was due to arrive, this happened on Oct 25th, I was told it was rescheduled automatically by a computer and the issue was caused by an oversight in programming. I was able to resolve this over the phone and BA rescheduled our booking. 

I made the 2nd change, when I became aware that I would be unable to meet Covid-19 regulations due to a lack of PCR/LAMP testing facilities within 200 miles of Inverness Airport that could both provide a PCR test within 72 hours of departure and guarantee that I'd get the results before my flight departed. Postal PCR tests were also not reliable enough in my area to guarantee both receiving the test and getting a result within the 72 hour window, especially given the departure day was Dec 26th. Some of the PCR testing facilities said that labs would be closed or working at lower capacity on xmas day, others said they could only test up until 3:30pm on Dec 23rd which was more that 72 hours prior to departure. That said, there was one option that could've preventing me from having to reschedule my flights. I had a 5 hour layover at Heathrow which had testing facilities that could provide results within 3 hours. I spoke to BA about this and I was told flat out that they would not let me board at Inverness Airport without the test results, despite not requiring a PCR to travel from Scotland to England. Had I booked my connecting flights separately, I would've been able to fly to Heathrow, get a 3-hour PCR/LAMP test, and show the result prior to boarding my connecting flight. So while it wasn't BA's fault that sourcing a reliable PCR test in the Highlands wasn't possible, they could've changed my booking to allow me to do the PCR test at Heathrow, but they refused to do this so I had to reschedule the flights at a cost upwards of £400. 

The flights had to be changed for a 3rd time due to a change in Covid-19 regulations at our destination. We rescheduled for the summer of 2022 in the hope that Covid-19 restrictions may be less erratic. As the new flights were cheaper we were refunded £900 in eVouchers. 

BA then cancelled our new outgoing flight which meant we had to call up again and reschedule it for the next day. 

I'm guessing I'm not going to get very far with this?

eskbanker

HeehawD said:
The flights had to be changed for a 3rd time due to a change in Covid-19 regulations at our destination. We rescheduled for the summer of 2022 in the hope that Covid-19 restrictions may be less erratic. As the new flights were cheaper we were refunded £900 in eVouchers. 

BA then cancelled our new outgoing flight which meant we had to call up again and reschedule it for the next day. 

If your question relates to the £900 of eVouchers that you received when you chose to change your booking to a cheaper one, then I don't believe that BA would be under any obligation to buy those back for cash.

However, if they fobbed you off with eVouchers when they cancelled that last flight then you'd have had the right to insist on cash at that stage (regardless of payment method).

What was the reason for that last cancellation and how far in advance were you informed of it?

RCN10

I was issued with vouchers for a flight for April 2020 cancelled due to the first lockdown. I partly used the voucher in January 2022 and again yesterday, after which I was issued with a new voucher for the residual amount (now down from £4,000+ to £761). I wasn’t offered a cash alternative even though the original voucher was issued within the eligibility period. BA told me today that it is working through cash refunds for vouchers issued in 2020, it will then move on to those issued in 2021 etc. It seems that because I part-used my original voucher the replacement voucher drops down the list and I will now have to wait two years until August 2024 to get a cash refund. Meantime the latest voucher has an expiry date of Oct 2023…