Well, there’s the good news and then there’s the bad news. Let’s start with some good news first!
All BA Amex 2-4-1 vouchers extended
It appears that ALL British Airways American express companion vouchers have been officially extended finally. BA have been doing this unofficially if you called up, but people are now seeing vouchers automatically extended for 6 months in their account. I just spend my two vouchers so I can’t check, but have a look at your online account and see if they have been extended.
If you have a 2-4-1 booking and need to cancel you should be able to do this by using the workaround here. After that the voucher should go back on your account automatically. This should then have the new expiry date, but again it’s best to check when it goes back onto your account.
Hopefully, this will free up the phone lines to help people with more urgent matters.
Note: They have not automatically extended the Gold upgrade vouchers. You will need to call to get this.
HT: Head for points
Aer Lingus offers a 10% discount if you take a voucher
Aer Lingus are not normally my favourite airline (the worst flight I have take since starting TLFL was with Aer Lingus), but in this case, they got in right. Whilst we would rather have a cash refund, there are certain situations where either you are not entitled to one, or you know you would use the voucher fairly quickly (like you commute by air). In this case, Aer Lingus is making the voucher option seem much more palatable. They are offering a voucher bonus for customers booked on flights between 21 March and 31 May 2020. You get the value of the flights (fare, taxes and charges, ancillary purchases) plus 10%. What’s more, the vouchers are valid for FIVE years from the date of issue.
Why don’t other airline’s try and do this? I think it’s a good way to encourage people to take a voucher even if they don’t have to. If you are worried about what happens if you take the voucher and the airline goes bust, see my other article on vouchers.
You can find the official Aer Lingus page here.
HT: GSTP
Will the law change to mean we have to accept vouchers for cancelled bookings?
Last week I wrote about the EU261 conditions would change but that airlines were demanding more. Airlines and holiday companies have been asking for the suspension of the law that means that they need to refund people in cash if the airline cancels the flight.
On Friday, the EU updated its guidance about refunds for cancelled holidays – encouraging people to take vouchers providing that the option of a future refund is provided.
According to The Telegraph, it is expected that Transport Minister Grant Shapps will allow those on package holidays to only be given a voucher instead of a refund. This would be valid for 2 years and if not spent the customer would be given their cash back eventually.
If the travel company folded in the meantime, you would be protected by the ATOL scheme.
7 comments
I personally do not see the problem as you were going on holiday anyway. The only thing that has changed is the dates. The only grey area is i know how these companies work. They will try and get additional funds out of you at peak times of the year. They cannot have it both ways!! Either they keep the cash for liquidity flow or they accept that people may want to change to peak season thru no fault of their own!
That’s the big issue for me… package holiday booked for a week, departing 18th April, 4 pax.
Booked in one of the BA sales at an amazing hotel; before restrictions were being put in place, the price had increased by more than £200 each.
The chances of getting the same deal in the future are pretty slim
My husband and l booked a flight to Zambia to go on safari for my 70th birthday treat, flying with BA. In 2021 it is our hope to go to New Zealand, but not with BA. Doing research based on this years prices and thanks to TLFL, we have found eight European airports that we can start from for about £2000 business class. Therefore a voucher is useless, and why should we have to wait two years to get our money back, when the only cost the airline has incurred is probably a small amount on administration.
I think in these times when money is going to be very tight for a lot of individuals especially the self employed the option of a cash refund should be available. The airlines will be bailed out by the governments anyway so it makes little difference to them. £1000 is far more important to an individual than airlines like BA who have £9 billion of cash reserves.
I am very concerned as we spent £2750 on an inclusive package trip to Jordan & have been offered a voucher only that is valid for a year. This is a lot of money to use up as we don’t normally take this sort of trip; we usually go to Europe using budget flights & book accommodation separately. This was a one off trip for us.
Did British Airways cancel your flights or do you wish to cancel? If you still have time before you trip I would not accept the voucher and wait and see if they cancel the flight. The law may not change for a while and until that point you can still have a refund if BA cancels.
Good news for Canadians holding RBC 2-4-1 vouchers they have also been extended 6 months 🙂
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