Middle East Airspace Diversions/Cancellations

[RooFlyer]

Hate to think what’ll be like driving thru the Baltics in a few months time…

Tell me! I have 18 days driving through France in June.

 

[justinbrett]

That being said the way this conflict is panning out it will soon be inadvisable to travel to Europe if Iran starts shooting missiles in their direction. Even trying to holiday overseas in general may be frowned upon in the coming weeks if things escalate further. A worsening energy crises will have some severe knock on effects which will make overseas travel very difficult.

There are other routes to Europe - via the Americas, South Africa and - for now - certain corridors through western Asia.

My biggest fear is getting stuck in a smaller country that can't source jet fuel. We're not there yet but can't rule it out in coming months if the trend continues. We're already seeing countries make deals with each other (like AU & SG today) which could end up like the covid vaccines, with some countries getting by just fine and others missing out.

I think the VA/QR lease deal might be put on ice for the moment with all passengers simply transferred over.

I would think VA could spin up AU-SIN flights fairly quickly and book onto SQ codeshares. I guess the risk for QR is if pax prefer it and don't want to move back to DOH - similar to when QF moved back to SIN from DXB.

I'm still waiting for Qantas to wet-lease some of the spare QR birds to take up the slack to Europe. I wonder which airline would be more repulsed by that prospect?

I wouldn't rule out such a deal between QF and EK if this continues. EK has UK/EU slots and aircraft, QF has traffic rights and demand. One would hope QF has already asked BA for its slots back that will be used for sunrise - they could definitely do with having them early.

 

[Pushka]

Malta in June. A land trip through Morocco in July. Thankfully not us driving. Luxury Escapes took final payment today. Gulp.

 

[SCM]

I'm still waiting for Qantas to wet-lease some of the spare QR birds to take up the slack to Europe. I wonder which airline would be more repulsed by that prospect?

In a logical, objective world, that would be the ideal scenario.

I'm sure that Qantas can get more slots at SQ for refueling and if not there then one of the other "nearby" airports, but of course why would Qantas help QR compete with their partner EK...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Spoke to my travel agent about my flight Singapore to Madrid by Doha in a week time.

Basically QR are being really bad about accommodating customers whose flights are cancelled, coupled with the fact there are simply no alternative seats available.The TA has had no one rebooked by QR. Everyone has done what I’ve done and separately booked an alternative and will take a refund.

The actual rebooking options that QR will accept are not open slather but somewhat restricted by their rebooking rules. They would never rebook me Singapore - Newark Madrid as it’s a different continental combination Singapore - Doha - Madrid.

And not restricted to the current situation either - by the TAs own experience!.

Errrr… just having a quick read… it seems the travel agent themselves can go into the booking and make the changes pursuant to the JWC and specific policy for the Iran conflict. They don’t need to get QR to do it? If they’re waiting for QR to do the rebooking it likely won’t ever come! (QR doesn’t know if the passenger wants a change of date, change of destination, re-route, or a refund)

There are dozens of reports of people getting it done… so not sure why your TA doesn’t know

Reading this policy again it seems to give the workflow for agents, but the flight has to be cancelled first: https://www.qatarairways.com/tradeportal/en/Help/JWC-COMM157-FAQs.html

Turkish, British, Finnair, China Southern, Cathay are all on the list.

 

[VPS]

Malta in June. A land trip through Morocco in July. Thankfully not us driving. Luxury Escapes took final payment today. Gulp.

just as an aside Bolt and Uber are very cheap in Malta

 

[RooFlyer]

There are dozens of reports of people getting it done… so not sure why your TA doesn’t know

Not that they didn't know - its not a back-yarder outfit! I may have skewed a bit what I wrote. Its more that the seats aren't available by the time the actual flight is cancelled. For my flight SIN-DOH on the 31st, when I checked last night, it had only been cancelled up to the 27th or 28th. TAs clients are much like me - had a back-up plan in place weeks ago and that's a better option than being at the mercy of whatever turns up at the last minute.

If I check my flight on-line, it still says "Get ready for your flight ..."

I now need to cancel my back-up-of back-up ... the Aeroplan flight I have Perth to Jo'burg on Air Mauritius!

 

[transpactraveller]

In a logical, objective world, that would be the ideal scenario.

I'm sure that Qantas can get more slots at SQ for refueling and if not there then one of the other "nearby" airports, but of course why would Qantas help QR compete with their partner EK...

SIN must have capacity, QF seem to be able to divert QF9 via SIN fairly regularly, and have also added an extra QF1 / QF331 to LHR on occasion.

 

[jase05]

There's also a situation where Qatari government is looking at their finances and asking QR to try to stem as mich bleeding as they can.

Our friends in Qatar have said the government is looking at ways to give QR pilots and crew a 2 month “holiday”

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Not that they didn't know - its not a back-yarder outfit! I may have skewed a bit what I wrote. Its more that the seats aren't available by the time the actual flight is cancelled. For my flight SIN-DOH on the 31st, when I checked last night, it had only been cancelled up to the 27th or 28th. TAs clients are much like me - had a back-up plan in place weeks ago and that's a better option than being at the mercy of whatever turns up at the last minute.

If I check my flight on-line, it still says "Get ready for your flight ..."

I now need to cancel my back-up-of back-up ... the Aeroplan flight I have Perth to Jo'burg on Air Mauritius!

Assuming there are pax on cancelled QR flights today… there’s availability in business class SIN-MAD tomorrow… Air france, China Eastern, China Soutnern, Air China.

Some of those are on the Tier 1 list. So there should be seats available.

But agree… if the pricing for the paid back-ups are similar to the original QR fare, then the back-ups would be better/offer peace of mind (TK will be better than all of those save a possibly Air France). But for those who haven’t made back-up plans, it looks like there are options.

 

[SYD]

My biggest fear is getting stuck in a smaller country that can't source jet fuel.

Curiously. and I meant to say in my earlier comment above. In NZ (where petrol is always much more than Oz), there was zero sign of panic buying despite what I thought was much higher prices than last visit.

No idea if NZ has any refining capability but if they don’t they probably worked out a long time ago to maintain a better stockpile (as a small country totally reliant on air/sea connections).

 

[RooFlyer]

Assuming there are pax on cancelled QR flights today… there’s availability in business class SIN-MAD tomorrow… Air france, China Eastern, China Soutnern, Air China.

Some of those are on the Tier 1 list. So there should be seats available.

Sorry, if I'm misunderstanding what you are saying, and not disputing that, but for me - flight not cancelled, so doesn't matter how many seats available. My flight ex SIN on the 31st only cancelled up to 28th, now.

We will look once the flight is cancelled, but it will have to be an excellent substitute for me to take it (again, given my particular schedule before and after the 31st). Maybe TK will come up

But agree… if the pricing for the paid back-ups are similar to the original QR fare, then the back-ups would be better/offer peace of mind (TK will be better than all of those save a possibly Air France). But for those who haven’t made back-up plans, it looks like there are options.

I'll be about $2K out of pocket, which is a bugger, but I've already 'committed' to swallow that .

 

[justinbrett]

Curiously. and I meant to say in my earlier comment above. In NZ (where petrol is always much more than Oz), there was zero sign of panic buying despite what I thought was much higher prices than last visit.

No idea if NZ has any refining capability but if they don’t they probably worked out a long time ago to maintain a better stockpile (as a small country totally reliant on air/sea connections).

7 weeks - maybe a fortnight more than us?

Situation looks identical.

Stuff

www.stuff.co.nz

In any case I’m talking about Jet fuel. We don’t make it anymore so reliant on imports - as are many countries.

 

[SYD]

I'll be about $2K out of pocket, which is a bugger, but I've already 'committed' to swallow that .

Is that because of the backup plan or for cancelling QR (or both)?

 

[RooFlyer]

Is that because of the backup plan or for cancelling QR (or both)?

The TK fare is $2K more than the refund I'll get back from QR. Could have ben much worse - I got in pretty early! Could have got China Eastern for about $1K out of pocket, but preferred TK

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Sorry, if I'm misunderstanding what you are saying, and not disputing that, but for me - flight not cancelled, so doesn't matter how many seats available. My flight ex SIN on the 31st only cancelled up to 28th, now.

We will look once the flight is cancelled, but it will have to be an excellent substitute for me to take it (again, given my particular schedule before and after the 31st). Maybe TK will come up



I'll be about $2K out of pocket, which is a bugger, but I've already 'committed' to swallow that .

Understand your booking is just outside the current cancellation period.

So i looked for today, because there’ll be a bunch of QR pax who are in that cancellation window today needing to fly (as you will be in a couple days).

On that basis, there are seats and flights tomorrow, ie a day’s notice. So it will almost certainly be the same when it comes for your turn.

Agree… I would take TK over china southern, eastern and air china. If I was offered Air France (and saved $2k) i probably would

 

[SYD]

The TK fare is $2K more than the refund I'll get back from QR. Could have ben much worse - I got in pretty early! Could have got China Eastern for about $1K out of pocket, but preferred TK

As I mentioned earlier upthread, if you were to cancel QR to a voucher, it should be at no cost.

A cash refund will have $x hundred dollar fee.

Of course, if QR cancel your flight, then you ought to get a refund or an alternate flight option at no cost but who knows how soon out…?

We’ve got CX in the back pocket ($1500 more) but thinking it’s probably the better option overall. Well run it down to the wire come August.

 

[clifford]

Beggars can't always be choosers. I'm sure you know that.

 

[RooFlyer]

As I mentioned earlier upthread, if you were to cancel QR to a voucher, it should be at no cost.

A cash refund will have $x hundred dollar fee.

Of course, if QR cancel your flight, then you ought to get a refund or an alternate flight option at no cost but who knows how soon out…?

Maybe going round a bit here, but I have no intention of cancelling my flight. I'll wait till QR does and get the lot refunded. I don't expect it to be cancelled until about 2 days out.

 

[Rembrandt]

Sorry, I think that's a rather silly scenario. As long as airlines are flying there, I'm going there in a week, and I'm returning there in June.

It's not a silly scenario, more like a sensible scenario considering the head case politicians and heads of state that are involved in conflict. If the strait of Hormuz is still closed this time next month I can almost guarantee aviation will be heavily impacted.