Ongoing Flight voucher challenge following cancelled flight in 2020 as a result of COVID
SharonO23
Forumite 2 Posts
Dear All,
I am not sure where I stand and it maybe that nothing can be done however, in Nov 2019 I booked flights for myself and 2 children to Africa. I was taking my children on a holiday of a lifetime trip. I booked British Airways flights through a travel agent called The Flight Office. We were due to Fly in July 2020 but of course, it was at this time a series of lockdowns occurred in various countries. In June 2020 we were told our internal flights (Precision Air) across Africa were cancelled so we could get into Africa but were not able to get across the country and no reliable option of getting back out of the country. I checked with BA regularly to see if they were still going to fly and unfortunately, the outbound flight went. 48 hours before the flight departed I had made the decision not to go on our holiday because we could not get to our internal destination and may not have been able to get home again. I was able to get a full refund for the internal flights but BA via The Flight Office, gave vouchers. This would be OK except it seems impossible to spend them! I have tried for 2 years to spend them. It seems to take weeks for BA to get back to The Flight Office with confirmation by which time I have had to change plans. Last year I tried to spend them on flights to Turkey. The direct cost with BA was a total of £2,800 but going through the Flight Office I was informed that BA wanted to change an extra £860 per person (£2500) on top of my £2,400 voucher! Naturally I had to decline that also and was not given a reason as to why the direct BA price vs Flight Office price were so different. I have until Sept 2023 to spend the voucher or loose it :-(
I thought I would post here on the off chance that I can get some advice as to wether or not I can get my money back or do I have to try again this year to spend the voucher without paying a fortune on top of the value of the voucher.
Much thanks
Sharon
I am not sure where I stand and it maybe that nothing can be done however, in Nov 2019 I booked flights for myself and 2 children to Africa. I was taking my children on a holiday of a lifetime trip. I booked British Airways flights through a travel agent called The Flight Office. We were due to Fly in July 2020 but of course, it was at this time a series of lockdowns occurred in various countries. In June 2020 we were told our internal flights (Precision Air) across Africa were cancelled so we could get into Africa but were not able to get across the country and no reliable option of getting back out of the country. I checked with BA regularly to see if they were still going to fly and unfortunately, the outbound flight went. 48 hours before the flight departed I had made the decision not to go on our holiday because we could not get to our internal destination and may not have been able to get home again. I was able to get a full refund for the internal flights but BA via The Flight Office, gave vouchers. This would be OK except it seems impossible to spend them! I have tried for 2 years to spend them. It seems to take weeks for BA to get back to The Flight Office with confirmation by which time I have had to change plans. Last year I tried to spend them on flights to Turkey. The direct cost with BA was a total of £2,800 but going through the Flight Office I was informed that BA wanted to change an extra £860 per person (£2500) on top of my £2,400 voucher! Naturally I had to decline that also and was not given a reason as to why the direct BA price vs Flight Office price were so different. I have until Sept 2023 to spend the voucher or loose it :-(
I thought I would post here on the off chance that I can get some advice as to wether or not I can get my money back or do I have to try again this year to spend the voucher without paying a fortune on top of the value of the voucher.
Much thanks
Sharon
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If buying through an agent is more expensive than buying direct then ask the agent why they're charging more....
Having a company issue a voucher but then want twice the normal price to use those vouchers seems unfair.