COVID-19 travel: why you should think twice before accepting flight vouchers

Holidaymakers who accept vouchers will struggle to get a cash refund at a later date.

It's no secret that millions of holidaymakers have seen their plans affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Amid mass cancellations, airlines and travel agents have been pushing customers to accept vouchers instead of an upfront refund.

While many travellers obviously want their money back, it can be tempting to accept the voucher while chasing a full refund  – that way you can be sure you at least get something back.

But if you do so you'll actually harm your refund chances, as one loveMONEY readers recently discovered.

We'll look at what happened, and also reveal why it might be better to wait for your flight to be cancelled instead of being proactive and cancelling your booking.

COVID-19 travel chaos: ‘It took eight months to get £1,500 refunded’

‘I was worried I'd lose my money’

In 2019, Michelle (her name has been changed for anonymity) booked five return flights for her and her family to Cyprus for May 2020 via British Airways (BA) for her daughter’s wedding.

She paid nearly £2,400 for the flights, but then cancelled her booking in March as the COVID-19 pandemic intensified and the wedding was postponed.

When Michelle called for a refund, she was told she could only get vouchers as her tickets were non-refundable, so she accepted them despite wanting a refund.

“At the time, I agreed – I panicked,” said Michelle.

“I was worried about losing my money.”

But she became increasingly concerned about whether she would be able to use the vouchers for the postponed wedding in 2022 due to travel restrictions in Cyprus and so requested a refund instead.

After BA refused, she even sent a letter to Alex Cruz, who was chief executive at BA at that time, and filed a Section 75 request with her credit card provider but got no response, so Michelle got in touch with loveMONEY.

‘I was denied a full refund after I was unable to fly to the US’

What happened next?

I got in touch with BA to see whether they could revoke the vouchers and give a full refund to Michelle instead, but they refused as the vouchers were already issued.

According to BA, once a voucher has been issued, it cannot be changed to a cash refund.

“Where a customer's flight is cancelled, we always contact them to offer options, including a full refund,” commented a spokesperson for BA.

“Customers who are unable to travel, or choose not to, can continue to change their flights or request a voucher for future use as part of our Book with Confidence policy, which has been available since the beginning of the pandemic.”

It’s worth stressing that Michelle could have got a full refund if she waited for the flights to be cancelled, which they were in April 2020 – a month after she contacted BA.

According to BA, as she had non-refundable tickets and cancelled her booking, she was only entitled to vouchers under the airline’s terms and conditions – not a full refund.

While Michelle was unable to get a refund, the expiry date on her vouchers has been extended from April 2022 to April 2023.

Why booking a holiday now is a big gamble

Why you should book with caution

There has been a surge in both UK and overseas holiday bookings since Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed plans to ease lockdown, according to media reports.

While the lockdown easing plans are encouraging, these could be derailed if the Government is worried about COVID-19 infection rates and the vaccine rollout.

So, nothing is guaranteed, especially when it comes to international travel, which could be impacted by restrictions imposed by other countries.

If you have non-refundable flights booked and would like a full refund in the event your holiday doesn’t go ahead, it might be best to wait for your flight to be cancelled.

In Michelle’s situation, waiting for the flight to be cancelled would have meant she got her money back in full instead of getting vouchers.

Alternatively, you could opt for refundable tickets, get travel insurance that covers COVID-19 related issues or claim under Section 75 if you paid by credit card.

You can find out more about travel insurance with coronavirus cover here.

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