BA Avios Refund

IslandHopping

I recently booked a return flight from Gatwick to Tenerife with BA for October 2023. I used 27,200 avios points to save £136 from the total cost. 
Unfortunately BA cancelled my outbound flight (inbound still ok). They offered to move my flight to Heathrow or I could have a refund. Heathrow was not really practical (I wish I had took it now) so I requested a refund. 
I have received a cash refund, however, BA applied the avios points to the outbound flight and will not refund them to my account. I have spoken to them and stated that I think it is unreasonable as they cancelled my flight but they state it is in the terms and conditions. 
I have seen on the MSE website that if you paid for part or all of your flight using air miles and opt for a refund for a cancelled flight, the CAA says its reasonable for the airline to reinstate the air miles. Does anyone have a link or clause number for this? I have hunted on the CAA website, but can not see it. 
As a side note, BA didn't offer me a flight with an alternative airline like they are meant to. When I mentioned this, they just said sorry. 
So far, after booking a new one way flight to Tenerife with Easyjet, I have spent an extra £200 and down over 27,000 avios points. 

MeteredOut

What was the price of the return ticket and what were you refunded? 

FWIW, using Avios to reduce the cost of flights is typically a very bad idea - many value them up to 1p whereas you got 0.5p of value per Avios.

silvercar

For all things BA I look on here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club-446/

IslandHopping

@MeteredOut the flights cost £701.14 (this includes paying to pick my seats). When I used my avios the total came to £565.14. I was refunded £173.54 and I have lost my 27,200 avios points. Therefore my return flight has cost me £391.60 and all my avios (which equate to £136).

MeteredOut

IslandHopping said:

@MeteredOut the flights cost £701.14 (this includes paying to pick my seats). When I used my avios the total came to £565.14. I was refunded £173.54 and I have lost my 27,200 avios points. Therefore my return flight has cost me £391.60 and all my avios (which equate to £136).

And when BA refunded, did they tell you how they calculated the refund?

IslandHopping

MeteredOut said:

IslandHopping said:

@MeteredOut the flights cost £701.14 (this includes paying to pick my seats). When I used my avios the total came to £565.14. I was refunded £173.54 and I have lost my 27,200 avios points. Therefore my return flight has cost me £391.60 and all my avios (which equate to £136).

And when BA refunded, did they tell you how they calculated the refund?

They said the flight break down is £114 in fare, £40.77 in taxes and then £28 for the pick your seats. As I part paid with Avios this means for this flight the Avios break down is equivalent of £68 per person (2 people travelling). Unfortunately they are unable to provide me with any other refund value and no other refund value above this will be offered. 

I think they are just meanies. I have spent years travelling with them and saving up those avios points to ultimately lose them through no fault of my own. 

silvercar

According to an expert on another site " if you use Avios to reduce a commercial fare then it's treated as if you paid cash instead. so no Avios refunded, and a bit more cash back. Hence my (his) frequently made point to be very wary of doing this, you may be giving BA your Avios at 0.6p per Avios or sometimes below 0.5p per Avios. "

jimi_man

Hi. This is unfortunate and it’s a shame it ended this way. As said above, using Avios to part pay is a bad idea both from a value perspective and also from getting a refund. 

BA didn’t really need to offer you an alternative airline as they had already offered you a LHR service to the same location. Though I know they are reticent to do this so sometimes you have to push harder. 

As a point for the future, if a flight gets cancelled again then there is no need to make an immediate decision about what to do. Usually going for a refund is the worst possible option - especially when you still want to do the trip - but you’ve usually got plenty of time so it’s worth going on to Flyertalk on the BA board and raising a post there. There are some incredibly knowledgeable people and your query will be answered and advice given very quickly. 

Archergirl

Did you claim for the cancelled flight?