How do I change an Avios flight booking? What will it cost?

How do you change an Avios booking?  Today I want to run through how the process works and what it will cost to change your flight.

The simple answer is that all Avios flights can be changed or cancelled up to 24 hours before departure.  There is a £35 fee per person to pay.  I will look at exactly how this works below.

It is smart to book with Avios if your plans might change

One good reason to book a flight using Avios points is that it can be changed if your plans change.  This can often be a valuable extra benefit which you should think about when deciding whether to book a particular flight for cash or to use Avios.

Even if you aren’t getting the best ‘pence per point’ value from a particular Avios flight booking, it still might be worth using Avios if you thought there was a chance you would have to make changes.

How do I change my Avios booking?

There are two options.  You can either:

go into ‘Manage My Booking’ on ba.com and select the change option, or

call your local British Airways Executive Club service centre

For anything apart from a simple change of time or date, you will probably find it easier to call.

Without wishing to state the obvious, there must be Avios reward availability still showing for the flight to which you want to change.  This can be a problem if trying to make a change at short notice.

Whilst you might be tempted to cancel your original flight and rebook from scratch, only do this if you intend to change both the outbound and return flights.  There is no guarantee that the seats you are cancelling will go back into Avios reward availability.  If you only want to change the outbound but keep your return intact, do it as a ‘change’ and not a ‘cancel and rebook’.

(During the pandemic, the process has not been as easy as outlined here.  A full cancellation or change has required a call to British Airways.  Online cancellations are only allowed if you are willing to accept a Future Travel Voucher.)

Can I change my return flight after I have flown my outbound?

Yes you can.

However, you cannot cancel the return leg of a flight once you have the outbound.  The only thing you can do is make a change.

What are the Avios change fees?

The good news is that you can change your Avios flight up to 24 hours before departure for a fee of £35 per person.

Do I get my Avios back if I cancel my redemption flight entirely?

Yes, as long as you cancel your Avios flight up to 24 hours before departure, you will get all of your Avios points back.  They should return to your account immediately.  You will also get your taxes and charges back, less the £35 cancellation fee.

The fees page of ba.com, which lists all of BA’s ancillary charges, is here.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works.  You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.4 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (January 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also good bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These are available to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.