Middle East Airspace Diversions/Cancellations

[markis10]

I don't think CBR will come back for some time.

Well they do have to build that roundabout the airport was talking about yesterday

 

[aussieboozer]

Qatar announced the resumption of flights to BNE from 16th of May,

No flights showing outbound from BNE yet on the QR site. I searched for my previously booked flight on 28/5 that has vanished and the only options are via SYD. The original return flight to BNE on 15/6 does show up however. Perhaps I can rebook out of SYD at an increased cost no doubt,

 

[offshore171]

I would appeal anyone who made a booking on EK, EY and QR to record their booking reference in a piece of paper or screenshot just in case they are cancelled and unable to retreive.

The confirmation emails won't disappear, but it's also a good idea to push everything into Tripit as well.

 

[Mrsfefe]

Expert flyer is showing almost no availability on flights SIN-LHR over the next few weeks. However there seems to be heaps of availability from LHR to SIN. Any thoughts on why?

 

[dairyfloss]

Expert flyer is showing almost no availability on flights SIN-LHR over the next few weeks. However there seems to be heaps of availability from LHR to SIN. Any thoughts on why?

Easter and school holidays for everyone except Tassie starts tomorrow... many not back until the 22nd Apr.
That; plus the one-way traffic as more stranded or delayed people make it out of the ME3 via Asia hubs and back to Europe?

 

[SYD]

Easter and school holidays for everyone except Tassie starts tomorrow... many not back until the 22nd Apr.
That; plus the one-way traffic as more stranded or delayed people make it out of the ME3 via Asia hubs and back to Europe?

and my sympathies go out to anyone flying ex SYD tomorrow! I learnt the hard way that a “Good Friday” at the start of school hols is a BAD day to travel!

 

[Rembrandt]

and my sympathies go out to anyone flying ex SYD tomorrow! I learnt the hard way that a “Good Friday” at the start of school hols is a BAD day to travel!

I doubt it will be as busy as other years due to the cost of fuel etc
Some families would've canceled their interstate / overseas trips for sure.

 

[Aeryn]

I doubt it will be as busy as other years due to the cost of fuel etc
Some families would've canceled their interstate / overseas trips for sure.

Most would have booked their Easter travel tickets well before the war started, and if not hiring a car then no impact to costs.

 

[SYD]

I doubt it will be as busy as other years due to the cost of fuel etc
Some families would've canceled their interstate / overseas trips for sure.

Unlikely, they’ll be posting Insta pics for their friends who thought it was safer to drive….

 

[OATEK]

Expert flyer is showing almost no availability on flights SIN-LHR over the next few weeks. However there seems to be heaps of availability from LHR to SIN. Any thoughts on why?

UK School holidays now in week 1, so their demand will drop after next week, just as ours goes up.

 

[dairyfloss]

and my sympathies go out to anyone flying ex SYD tomorrow! I learnt the hard way that a “Good Friday” at the start of school hols is a BAD day to travel!

Yes - we're waiting and going away in the middle weekend... though that's more to do with something that's on, then. We do generally try and leave before or after the madness though.

 

[Pushka]

and my sympathies go out to anyone flying ex SYD tomorrow! I learnt the hard way that a “Good Friday” at the start of school hols is a BAD day to travel!

We commented as such whilst in the lounge on Weds that we felt sorry for the business people trying to work on laptops while the kids were screaming and others running amok at the buffet. That was bad enough.

 

[SYD]

We commented as such whilst in the lounge on Weds that we felt sorry for the business people trying to work on laptops while the kids were screaming and others running amok at the buffet. That was bad enough.

The SYD T3 J lounge was relatively quiet this arvo. I suspect it won’t be tomorrow.

But it was the QF F lounge one year that was an absolute zoo!

 

[frodo]

Refund request with QR was originally submitted on 15 March and the refund received today, less the credit card fees.

 

[Rembrandt]

QR seems to be promoting that they will have 120 destinations back in operation by mid May. Lets hope so, but it's just a wild guess at this stage.

 

[kpc]

QR seems to be promoting that they will have 120 destinations back in operation by mid May. Lets hope so, but it's just a wild guess at this stage.

And who in their right mind is going to book these flights?

 

[transpactraveller]

I think it will largely depend on price. There were some very cheap EY flights available for travel until June. Maybe people will take the risk for the right price.

 

[stu961]

I'll differently book IF cancellation and refund terms are favourable to me....

 

[Seat0B]

Meet a French couple today on my cruise who live in Abu Dhabi. I naturally asked if things were getting back to some sort of normal.

They said they lived on the Corniche near the Presidential palace and that the war hasn’t affected them much at all. Doing things they always normally did ( going out, shopping etc). Just the occasional missile going overhead and an alarm going off . A case of ‘war? What war?’. I’m certain they were quite serious.

This is kind of the attitude that Seat Son has too. I personally think they are drinking the KoolAid. Any conversation that includes “they are intercepting most of the missiles anyway” or “those drones are a few k from my place” does not make me feel better

 

[tradingup]

EU261 covers your entire journey including any connections.

So if QR cancels the SOF-DOH they need to re-route you to SYD.

EU261 only kicks in once QR cancels the flight… so could be as little as 24-48 hours before departure.

In theory I suppose they could re-route you on EK if EK was still flying, or even on something like Saudis via JED and SIN/KUL to SYD. You’d hope they wouldn’t fly you via a ‘do not travel’ hub, but I haven’t read anything definitive on that situation.

QR’s ‘regular’ rebooking policy seems a little more generous and may allow the re-routing on a select number of airlines, and possibly further in advance than 24-48 hours. But they seem to have withdrawn this from their latest travel advisory? (now offering a choice of two date changes or refund).

If your flight is cancelled ex EU, research some options avoiding the gulf. When QR gives you options to re-route, feel free to suggest the routing you have found.

As far as I am aware, the travel warnings have no strict legal effect to operate as a ban on travel - they are “advisory” notices to Australians that the Australian government does not regard it as prudent to travel to these locations. So I don’t think QR would have any legal obligation to avoid flying Australian pax through Doha because of a DNT warning. They may perhaps feel a commercial or PR obligation to re route you. By comparison, closed airspace does have legal effect - if a country closes its airspace then it is not legal to fly in contravention of that airspace closure.

Your pickle is that the airspace is now at least partially open, but for very sensible reasons, you want to change your journey to either avoid Doha altogether or shorten the stay there. And the airlines are tending to leave cancellations to the last minute - 24 to 48 hrs is common at the moment. I feel like your best bet financially at the moment is to sit tight and wait to see if your flights re cancelled by QR. This gives you a lot of options as described by @MEL_Traveller in their post above.

I know this does not give you much peace of mind, so you might feel it’s worth booking an alternative set of flights home, with good cancellation conditions, if you have the finances to do so. If things settle down and you want to go via Doha, then cancel these Plan B flights and be happy to pay the fees as cheap war insurance. If QR does not cancel but you still don’t want to fly to Doha, what would it cost you to cancel your existing flights? But it would be good to have a Plan B in place as last minute scrambling for flights is exhausting and expensive as we found out when rearranging flights for our daughter last week.

And of course, your travel insurance won’t cover you while you are in a DNT area.

I hope it works out for you. Post again to update us all please.

Thank you for your replies MEL_Traveller and SeatOB. I appreciated your advice.

Sorry for the delayed reply post, but in the interim I have been on a two week Mediterranean Cruise and only had internet access at some port stops on my travel sim. Happily, I have just arrived safely home - five days earlier than planned, being one less night in Sofia and four in Doha. This is how my trip home evolved.

I decided I needed a Plan B and to pro-actively book new flights home, since the WAR was continuing and expanding. The cruise finished in Rome and I had a stand alone flight booked to Sofia on Bulgaria Air, although I was prepared to abandon this flight if necessary to find a re-route home.

After checking out various airlines and alternative routes home, I found Turkish Airways to be my best option. Business Class flights out of Istanbul were massively more expensive than flying out of Sofia, so the Bulgaria Air flight stayed in the itinerary. The fly through to Sydney premium was also well in effect, and luckily found a lone QFF J redemption flight on MH out of KL and was able to fit this with a TK flight from Sofia to KL, allowing two nights accommodation as a buffer for any flight delays. At this time my Qatar flight dates did not yet qualify for free cancellation.

Subsequently, Qatar extended the free cancellation period and I requested a refund online. The Qatar online chat was disabled and contact was only by phone... I did not have the time or resources while travelling to spend hours trying to phone Qatar and pursue enforcing EU 261.

When I had data access, I kept a watch on airfare pricing and availability and three days before my new flights home a couple of seats appeared at a much more reasonable cost and I was able to extend my existing TK flight to fly all the way to Sydney. The QFF redemption flight and accommodation were then cancelled.

As is regularly noted on this forum, being flexible with flight options and dates enabled me to achieve the best possible (elevated) airfare home. Flying out of Sofia on 1 April was more than 50% less than the equivalent flights on surrounding days.

I had also booked all accommodation (except the cruise) with free cancellation up to a certain time and worked within this timeframe.

Now waiting on the Qatar refund which will also include a FX loss due to the AUD appreciation since the airfare was purchased.

For those who are considering booking their own Plan B flights, there is considerable movement in both availability and pricing, in short time frames.