It is interesting to see that British Airways have once again extended their flexible booking policy. Also known as “book with confidence”, it gives passengers added protection in the event of plans changing.
Anyone who makes or has a flight booking for travel through to 31 August 2022 is now protected. You can make changes without change fees, and if you wish to cancel, the value of your ticket is turned into a voucher for use on British Airways at a later date.
The Flexible Booking Extension Is Good
I have been looking at flights for July 2022, and have been looking at the various oneworld alliance carriers. As far as I am concerned, all of them have their own unique advantages when travelling with them.
The main two factors at the moment are price – as always – and ticket flexibility. Japan Airlines is on my radar, as they have decent pricing and I rather fancy going via Tokyo Haneda.
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- I’m actually very keen to try the wide and spacious Japan Airlines economy class seating.
The problem with the Japanese airline is their ticket flexibility is up to April 2022, and there are conditions around what is eligible for a refund and what is not. I have been reluctant to book as the dates I plan to travel are outside of this period.
On the other hand British Airways not only have a longer date range but also allow tickets to be cancelled and swapped for a voucher even if I just decide I don’t want to go. This is unprecedented flexibility and means I can actually “book with confidence”.
Overall Thoughts
The flexibility offered by British Airways means I have around €3,000 in flight bookings confirmed with them. It is doubtful I would have tied up so much of my hard earned cash if there was a chance of me losing it in the event of another pandemic switcheroo of government regulations.
While I am a British Airways frequent flyer, there are other options in the oneworld alliance. They are not offering the same protection, which is a key factor influencing my purchasing habits at the moment.
I will be very curious to see if this kind of policy continues in the future. It could well be something of a game changer if an airline could get continuing a policy like this right and use it as a competitive advantage.
What do you think of the British Airways flexible booking policy? Has it influenced the choices you’ve made when purchasing airline tickets? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by aceebee via Wikimedia Commons.
Japan Airlines economy seats by Sam Chui.
Do you know if the British airways ”book with confidence” applies for all types is tickets? So even if I buy the lowest price ticket I can still change date/flight?
Yes, Book With Confidence – now extended to 30 September 2022 incidentally – allows any ticket type to be swapped for a voucher, no questions asked. You can then re-use that voucher towards an alternate flight booking.
Thank you for your quick response!
Do you know if this also applies to Avíos award bookings?
You have always been able to cancel Avios bookings for a €35 fee (or whatever it may be in your local currency) and have all the remaining taxes and the points returned. This remains the same, as far as I am aware.