BRITISH Airways has issued a major update for customers hit by Covid travel delays and cancellations.
Passengers who were given vouchers for British Airways flights disrupted during Covid-19 now have an extra year to use them.
The airline has extended the period that they are valid for another 12 months to September 2024.
British Airways’ parent company International Airlines Group (IAG) said that it was sitting on around £533million worth of unused flight vouchers last month.
This figure included vouchers yet to be redeemed with other airlines in the group including Aer Lingus and Iberia.
The airline has previously extended the vouchers several times to give passengers more time to use them.
All British Airways-issued flight vouchers in 2020 originally had to be used on journeys that were completed by April 30, 2022.
This deadline was extended to April 30, 2023, and again to September 30, 2023.
But customers have even longer to redeem them after the airline extended the deadline to use these vouchers again to September 30, 2024.
Customers won’t need to do anything to take advantage of the change and the expiry date on their vouchers will be automatically updated.
We’ve contacted British Airways to find out how many vouchers are still yet to be redeemed.
Although the airline said that over 700,000 of the 3.3million vouchers issued at the beginning of the pandemic were redeemed last year.
However, passengers who would have preferred cash instead of a voucher may still be able to get what they initially wanted.
If you accepted a voucher after your flight was cancelled but were not offered the option of a cash refund at the time, you can dispute this with the airline.
Here’s how to redeem your voucher, check if you can get a cash refund instead and make a complaint with British Airways.
You’ll need to visit ba.com and find the flights you’d like to book. After this, you’ll need to review your booking and enter your voucher’s redemption code.
The total amount you’ll need to pay including after you’ve applied your voucher will then be shown and you’ll be able to continue and make a payment.
You can use either the full value of your voucher in a single booking or use some of it to pay for a less expensive booking.
If you don’t use all of the credit issued on your voucher, British Airways will send you another voucher covering the difference.
If your British Airways flight was cancelled between March 9, 2020 and November 19, 2020, you should be able to swap your voucher for a full cash refund.
This rule only applied if you took a voucher after your flight was cancelled – not before.
Customers can request a voucher refund on ba.com.
To initiate a refund you’ll need to provide your voucher code and provide your title, full name, email address and mobile number.
Refunds will take approximately 30 days to reach the original form of payment you used to make the booking.
If you booked through a third party like a travel agent, you’ll need to contact them directly to process the cash refund.
