How to cancel a British Airways flight

Have a British Airways flight booked but can no longer make it? If your plans change, you’ll need to know how to cancel your flight.

In this handy guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about cancelling a BA flight. This includes refunds, cancellation fees and the airline’s Covid-19 policies.

We’ll even throw in a handy tip for holiday spending when you do finally jet off - the Wise debit card.

But more on this later. For now, let’s get that BA flight cancelled for you.

How to cancel a British Airways flight - your options

The first place to go if you want to cancel a flight is the ‘Manage My Booking’ portal on the British Airways website.

You’ll need to provide the lead passenger name and your booking reference, which you should find on your confirmation email or e-ticket¹. Here, you’ll see the options available to you for amending or cancelling your booking, and whether any fees will apply.

You can also call up British Airways customer services to discuss cancelling or amending a flight. Have your booking reference ready and call 0344 493 0787 - this number is available between 6am and 8pm every day².

Can I get a refund if I cancel a BA flight?

British Airways has a 24-hour cooling-off period on flight bookings. This means that you can cancel your flight within 24 hours of booking and claim a full refund, with no additional fees³. This can be handy if you’ve made a mistake, but you can cancel simply because you’ve changed your mind.

You must have booked your flights directly with BA³ (and not through a travel agent or other site) in order to take advantage of this policy.

British Airways Covid-19 policy

As part of its Covid-19 policy, British Airways will offer a refund in the form of a voucher if you cancel flights booked between certain dates. You’ll be eligible to cancel without fee and claim a voucher to the value of your booking if both of the following are true⁴:

• You booked on or before 7th June 2022
• Your journey is due to be completed by 30th September 2022.

If your booking ticks both of these boxes, you can complete this online form to claim your voucher.

How much does BA charge for cancellations?

If you’re not eligible to cancel or change your flight for free, you may not be able to get a refund - and there may be a service fee to pay too. You can calculate this on the BA website, but the standard service fee for cancellations is £15⁵.

Ready to fly? Holiday spending is sorted with Wise

When you do eventually get to take your flight, check out Wise as a convenient, low cost way to spend overseas.

With a Wise multi-currency account, you can get an international debit card for contactless spending and ATM withdrawals in 200+ countries.

Currency is automatically converted at the moment you spend, and you’ll only pay a tiny conversion fee. And if you already have the currency in your account, it’s free.

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Sources used for this article:

1. British Airways - manage booking
2. British Airways - contact
3. British Airways - cancellations
4. British Airways - flexible booking
5. British Airways - global service fees

Sources checked on 01-Jul-2022.