You can now cancel British Airways bookings for free even if made before pandemic
British Airways has extended its "book with confidence" policy to keep up with the huge travel disruption caused by the coronavirus and the ever-changing global restrictions and quarantine regulations that come with it.
In a post on Instagram, the airline stated: "All existing bookings due to travel by 10 January 2021 now benefit from flexible changes."
The keyword in this message is "all". Let's look into what that actually means.
In an update earlier in October, the airline extended the time period on changeable tickets to any new flight and holiday bookings made from March 3 to October 13. Now, the initiative has been extended to cover all bookings from March 3 to no fixed date -- meaning if you make a booking today, tomorrow or in the near future, according to this update, you will incur no fees when making changes to your booking -- other than any difference in fare, of course.
Now, the best update, if you made a booking before March 3 -- and well before the pandemic had started -- you are now able to cancel it and you'll receive a Future Travel Voucher for the value of the booking as long as you were due to travel before January 10, 2021.
This means that for people who booked travel well in advance for this year's Christmas and New Year period, they are now able to cancel their bookings if they choose to do so. Interestingly, tickets before March 3 can't be changed, just canceled.
Related: How to understand and use a British Airways Future Travel Voucher
The vouchers don't need to be used until April 30, 2022, meaning that there's plenty of time to spend them.
Bottom line
Even more flexibility means that if you booked travel with British Airways before March 3, 2020 and are due to travel by January 10, 2021 you can cancel your booking for free and receive vouchers with validity until April 20, 2022. If you made your booking after March 3 and you're due to travel before August 30, 2021, you can still cancel your booking and receive a voucher.