For a lot of passengers, prebooked flights can pose a travel delay for various circumstances i.e., personal emergencies, technical errors, natural disasters, etc. In such a case, **British Airways** offers a brief flight cancellation and refund policy to facilitate the passengers. Yet, if a passenger misses his/her flight or doesn’t cancel it, it can result in a loss of ticket value for the passenger.
So, if you don’t cancel your flights, here’s what can happen for you.
A majority of airlines operating across the globe practice a ‘no-show’ policy, which states that if a passenger neither cancels a flight nor shows up for it at the airport, there won’t be any cash refund for such a ticket holder. Whether the passenger holds a refundable ticket, partially refundable ticker or non-refundable ticket – the airline reserves the right to forfeit the ticket value in this case.
On the other hand, if a passenger informs the airline about his/her no-show and submits a valid reason for it, the airline might consider a refund against a fee.
If your travel itinerary includes multi-city flights i.e., connecting ones, missing one flight would negatively affect the rest of your flight departures as well. Therefore, causing you to miss all of your flight reservations and become ineligible for a refund or reschedule. If you want to rebook such flights, airlines charge a hefty fee or even a full fare for issuing a new ticket.
If there’s an emergency that causes you to miss your flight without prior notice to the airline, you are not eligible to reschedule your flight for a different date and destination or even use the value of your ticket for a future flight at all. This scenario goes in the favour of a no-show, thus, resulting in loss of ticket value as well as the ability to rebook a flight.
If you cancel your flight after informing the airline well in advance of time, you may be allowed to reschedule your flight against a minimal or no changing fee at all.
If your ticket fare also includes a free checked baggage allowance from the airline, missing your flight would result in your luggage being transferred to the final destination without you (if you’ve checked in for your flight and missed it). Therefore, it could be a lot of hassle for you to manage your travel without your essentials and even finding the lost baggage itself is a very tiring task.
If you are a member of the Frequent Flyer program of the airline, you may not receive miles or points associated with the flights missed. Additionally, all of the travel benefits associated with the elite status would be missed if you miss the flight.
If you possess travel insurance, some coverages don’t offer support for the missed flights that are because of the passenger’s fault i.e., missing it for any reason and not showing up. Therefore, you won’t receive coverage for it as well. Be sure to check the terms and conditions of your travel insurance policy before buying it.
If you miss a flight but have informed the airline beforehand, the airline charges a rebooking fee for your new flight itinerary. It can vary depending on your;