The good news for BA Club members is that BA is now offering Avios points as an alternative to cash and voucher refunds for cancelled flights.

The scheme is only being offered to BA Club members, across all tiers, who booked directly with British Airways.

Cash refunds are available via BA customer services, though until recently, the only alternative has been to use ba.com to claim a voucher, valid for redemption against new bookings until 30th April 2022.

However, our view is that the new points offered could be very attractive for anyone who doesn’t need to get their hands on the money right away.

A British Airways spokesperson said: “We want to give our customers as much choice as possible, so if their flight is cancelled they can now choose from a voucher, a refund, or a generous amount of Avios based on the price of their booking.”

BA has been somewhat vague about how many points individuals will receive as a refund, beyond saying it will be based on the price of the original flight ticket.  However, they did state it would be roughly double the amount of Avios you would receive if you bought them for the same cash value.

Buying Avios points is something we at Reward Flight Finder (RFF) generally advise against. Normally, 10,000 Avios would cost £175 which is the equivalent of 1.75p a point, which in many scenarios, is significantly more than the redemption value.

However, if the purchase rate is doubled, 10,000 points would be awarded for £87.50, or 88p per point, which is lower than we can recall BA offering Avios for as a cash purchase.

Using BA’s sliding scale for Avios pricing, the value of this deal should increase with the number of points you receive as a refund: 50,000 Avios costing 82p a point, compared to the usual £1.63.

Avios points don’t expire, as long as you spend, purchase or share at least one within a 36-month period.  Therefore, this could be an opportunity to boost your Avios balance, very cost-effectively.

With Coronavirus wreaking economic havoc, many people will just want the cash. Others might have concerns about BA’s future prospects- though, of all the major carriers, BA is one of the most likely to weather the current crisis.  It may emerge as a different carrier to the one we know today, but analysts generally consider it to be less at risk than other airlines of similar scale.

In the past, the choice of reward flights available has been far more limited than voucher redemption opportunities.  However, we predict that it’s going to take a while for corporate travellers to start filling BA’s business class cabins again.  Logically this will mean more reward flight availability and the chance to use your Avios refund to snap up some great deals on Club World tickets.

Sign up for free reward flight alerts at Reward Flight Finder to be among the first to hear about them.

RFF is the new name for BA Redemption Finder, the UK’s most popular site for discovering British Airways reward flights.

The good news for BA Club members is that BA is now offering Avios points as an alternative to cash and voucher refunds for cancelled flights.

The scheme is only being offered to BA Club members, across all tiers, who booked directly with British Airways.

Cash refunds are available via BA customer services, though until recently, the only alternative has been to use ba.com to claim a voucher, valid for redemption against new bookings until 30th April 2022.

However, our view is that the new points offered could be very attractive for anyone who doesn’t need to get their hands on the money right away.

A British Airways spokesperson said: “We want to give our customers as much choice as possible, so if their flight is cancelled they can now choose from a voucher, a refund, or a generous amount of Avios based on the price of their booking.”

BA has been somewhat vague about how many points individuals will receive as a refund, beyond saying it will be based on the price of the original flight ticket.  However, they did state it would be roughly double the amount of Avios you would receive if you bought them for the same cash value.

Buying Avios points is something we at Reward Flight Finder (RFF) generally advise against. Normally, 10,000 Avios would cost £175 which is the equivalent of 1.75p a point, which in many scenarios, is significantly more than the redemption value.

However, if the purchase rate is doubled, 10,000 points would be awarded for £87.50, or 88p per point, which is lower than we can recall BA offering Avios for as a cash purchase.

Using BA’s sliding scale for Avios pricing, the value of this deal should increase with the number of points you receive as a refund: 50,000 Avios costing 82p a point, compared to the usual £1.63.

Avios points don’t expire, as long as you spend, purchase or share at least one within a 36-month period.  Therefore, this could be an opportunity to boost your Avios balance, very cost-effectively.

With Coronavirus wreaking economic havoc, many people will just want the cash. Others might have concerns about BA’s future prospects- though, of all the major carriers, BA is one of the most likely to weather the current crisis.  It may emerge as a different carrier to the one we know today, but analysts generally consider it to be less at risk than other airlines of similar scale.

In the past, the choice of reward flights available has been far more limited than voucher redemption opportunities.  However, we predict that it’s going to take a while for corporate travellers to start filling BA’s business class cabins again.  Logically this will mean more reward flight availability and the chance to use your Avios refund to snap up some great deals on Club World tickets.

Sign up for free reward flight alerts at Reward Flight Finder to be among the first to hear about them.

RFF is the new name for BA Redemption Finder, the UK’s most popular site for discovering British Airways reward flights.