NEWS: How to get a cash refund from BA without calling (new) & Qatar restart flights including Brisbane

How to get a cash refund from BA without calling (new)

EDIT: BA have obviously spotted this post as they have now removed the link and you get directed to the voucher. Sigh!

Thanks to reader Tim D for sharing this with us. 

BA has not been making it easy to cancel your flights if you have had your flight cancelled or had a refundable booking. Previously when you tried to cancel a booking you got taken to the voucher page or in my case there was no option in Manage My Booking to do anything once my flight was cancelled.

The BA twitter team are now giving out a link to a refund form online. 

The webform is for enquiring about refunds of flight-only bookings which:

• were made directly with British Airways
• and where you are unable to log in to Manage My Booking

You will receive a faster response if you are able to cancel your flights and request a refund in Manage My Booking. For bookings made through a travel agent, you will need to contact them directly to arrange a cancellation and refund.

If you want to cancel an Avios booking there is also a workaround which we talked about here. 

Qatar restarts flights and new route to Brisbane to help bring travellers home

If you know someone who is stuck abroad or are perhaps reading this and trying to get home, this may help.

Qatar Airways is expanding operations to Australia to help get people home. From 29 March, Qatar Airways will add an extra 48,000 seats to the market to help stranded passengers get home. The airline will operate the following flights:

• Daily Service to Brisbane (Boeing 777-300ER)
• Double daily service to Perth (Airbus A380 and Boeing 777-300ER)
• Double daily service to Melbourne (Airbus A350-1000 and Boeing 777-300ER)
• Triple daily service to Sydney (Mix of Airbus A350-1000 and Boeing 777-300ER)

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “We know there are many people who want to be with their families and loved ones during this difficult time. We are thankful to the Australian Government, Airports and staff for their support in helping us to add additional flights to get people home, and in particular, to bring flights to Brisbane.

“We continue to operate around 150 daily flights to more than 70 cities worldwide. Sometimes governments put in place restrictions that mean we simply cannot fly to a country. We are working closely with governments around the world, and wherever possible we will reinstate or add more flights.

Adding extra seats world-wide

Figures for the last seven days show load factors of over 80% for flights to the UK, France and Germany, with only 36% for outbound services which shows how many people are still trying to get home. TLFL’s Roving Reporter nearly got stranded in India last week after his flights got cancelled and he got zero help from Swiss.

 Qatar have added 10,000 extra seats added to their network and are providing charter services to Europe and the US from Asia.

They have added addition of extra flights to Paris, Perth and Dublin from Doha. and are using a larger aircraft on services to Frankfurt, London Heathrow and Perth with an A380.

Qatar are working with embassies around the world to bring people home. The airline has operated one-off services from destinations such as Phnom Penh, Denpasar, Manila and Kuala Lumpur to Europe. More than 5,000 passengers were flown home by these services over the last week, a number that is expected to more than triple over the next week.

Qatar Airways is currently operating flights to 75 destinations, though this number may reduce as nations introduce tighter restrictions. They are still flying from London Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh in the UK. 

You can see all the routes they are operating here.