Middle East Airspace Diversions/Cancellations

I wonder how many people will pay a little extra and do 3 flights instead of 2 to get to Europe now?
I can see CX is very popular to CDG LHR MXP at present,
and anyone traveling will have to factor in the fact that it may cost 4k one way to get home if the ME does not settle down.
 
Howdy all,

I’ve had a good search and couldn’t see anyone discussing this specifically (apologies if I’ve missed it).

We have 4 x J fares of VA/QR (paid not points) leaving April 6, MEL-DOH-FRA.

We won’t cancel them (still happy to go to Europe) and understand VA/QR will need to rebook us if Qatari Airspace is closed.

Wondering if anyone has been on similar route / impacted and what their rerouting options have been from VA/QR?

Keen to hear your experiences.

PAX are 1xVA platinum and 3xVA gold.
 
For those of us at home looking for the latest information in the region, I came across this article in Wired, which is possibly paywalled.
How a Music Streaming CEO Built an Open-Source Global Threat Map in His Spare Time
The site Elie Habib built, World Monitor is very impressive in the way it collates data.
www.worldmonitor.app

World Monitor - Real-Time Global Intelligence Dashboard

Real-time global intelligence dashboard with live news, markets, military tracking, infrastructure monitoring, and geopolitical data. OSINT in one view.
www.worldmonitor.app www.worldmonitor.app
From the article:
"Processing hundreds of live data streams during a military conflict raises a question: How do you verify information fast enough to keep the system moving?
Habib’s answer was to remove human editors entirely. “Zero editorializing,” he says. “No human editor makes a call.”
Instead, Habib says the platform relies on a strict source hierarchy. Wire services and official channels such as Reuters, AP, the Pentagon and the UN sit at the top tier. Major broadcasters including the BBC and Al Jazeera follow, along with specialist investigative outlets such as Bellingcat. In total, he says the system processes about 190 sources, assigning higher confidence scores to more reliable ones.
Software then scans incoming reports for major events and emerging patterns. If multiple credible sources report the same development within minutes, the system flags it as a breaking alert. But headlines alone are not enough.
Because online claims can be unreliable, the platform also looks for physical signals on the ground. It tracks disruptions such as internet blackouts, diverted military flights, halted cargo ships and satellite-detected fires. “A convergence algorithm then checks how many distinct signal types activate in the same geography simultaneously,” Habib says.
“One signal is noise. Three or four converging in the same location is the signal worth surfacing,” Habib says. If an internet outage coincides with diverted aircraft and a satellite heat signature in the same area, the map flags a potential escalation.
 
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aussielori said:
I wonder how many people will pay a little extra and do 3 flights instead of 2 to get to Europe now?
I can see CX is very popular to CDG LHR MXP at present,
and anyone traveling will have to factor in the fact that it may cost 4k one way to get home if the ME does not settle down.
Click to expand...
I'd hazard a guess at - a lot.

There's lots of people booking the wrong way too (aka via NA).
 
Quickstatus said:
Why "thread the needle" via Azerbaijan? .Fly East with JL45 or NH215 north of Canada, and Greenland to CDG
Click to expand...
I believe at the moment theres so much disruption and cancellations - its get whatever you can if you really need to travel.

One of the flow on effects from this is that most airlines long haul will struggle to recover their own ops with rebooking if one of their flights goes tech with everything booked out.
 
I'm with @Quickstatus - just decided to flip our European travels in the April school holidays on their heads and go east!

Original Plan: SYD-SIN (QF Y, cash fare), overnight in Changi, then onto a SIN-LHR day flight (SQ Y+, on VA points).

All that air traffic over Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea made me think long and hard over the weekend and I've pulled the pin and shuffled things around.

Updated Plan: SYD-SCL (QF Y, cash fare, repurposed from the SIN flight credit), 48 hour stop-over in SCL, then SCL-xCDG-LHR (AF J, on QFF points). Leave one day earlier, get there one day later... and yes, Santiago on Good Friday should be pretty quiet but it's at the other end of the planet and I will certainly value the quiet!

I was very surprised to see J reward availability on both AF and KL using QFF points out of SCL, so I snapped them up first and then bolted on the QF SYD-SCL one-way. I did have to call QF to use the flight credit (as SCL didn't appear on their list of destinations ex-SYD) but that was sorted relatively quickly and painlessly.

Our return journey is on QR in J, using QR Avios. Mid-April, departing from FCO-xDOH-xMEL-CBR, so I'm schooling up on EU261 and hoping for the best... might need to take that narrow corridor over Afghanistan after all?
 
Growing Older said:
Our return journey is on QR in J, using QR Avios. Mid-April, departing from FCO-xDOH-xMEL-CBR, so I'm schooling up on EU261 and hoping for the best... might need to take that narrow corridor over Afghanistan after all?
Click to expand...
EU261 is straightforward… but you have to go,d your nerve unto the flight is cancelled! The. you are entitled to re-routing, same cabin as originally booked. Can be on any airline. Reports are that QR is sort of playing ball on it… so by the. it shouldn’t be anything new to them.

I find it helps to ‘zoom in’ on FR24… that whole bunch of flights all of a sudden looks a lot more spaced out :)
 
In our experience which is outlined in the thread mentioned by @Quickstatus, VA (QR) are not offering re-booking in the true sense of that. They are offering to change the date of your existing booking or refund the unused part of the fare.

IMG_0354.png

IMG_0355.png
 
They are about 20% exposed going off results. You know very well they will do everything possible to prevent Management taking a hit to metrics on the bonus scorecard. They won’t be waving through hikes out of the kindness of ones heart. They think with personal gain in mind across any decision making.
 
Have a return flight from Europe through DOH in late September. Not worried yet but am wondering if some sort of normality/safety will have returned by then? Hope so!
 
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cagiva said:
Have a return flight from Europe through DOH in late September. Not worried yet but am wondering if some sort of normality/safety will have returned by then? Hope so!
Click to expand...
As @RooFlyer said, if it hasn't, it's going to be the least of our problems!

(Which is why my expectation/hope is that it will have stabilised at least to a manageable degree...)
 
I can’t seem to find this in the thread - but has anyone successfully had their fare rerouted when they’ve been on VA/QR booking?
 

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