Middle East Airspace Diversions/Cancellations

[MELso]

Out of curiosity if QR cancel a flight do they reimburse you for seats that have been purchased? It would be nice to get the money back (if if just a credit).

Yup - see here. https://www.qatarairways.com/en-us/complement-your-journey/preferred-seat.html

 

[offshore171]

Seems to be a fair bit of BAU activity into Dubai now.

Qatar still deserted though

 

[Tiki]

Anyone looking to get home, try SQ. I got home yesterday to BNE VA award in Y. The flight had heaps of empty seats. IST-SIN empty middle seat, SIN-BNE whole row of 3 to myself, laid down and slept like a log for 6 hours. When I checked in, I could have paid $1000 USD-ish to upgrade to J or $500 to PE. But I overdid the shopping in Istanbul so couldn't afford it.

 

[offshore171]

Just sawthis on the Front Page of the SCMP - pretty chilling picture; not sure when taken as it does not say...

March 16

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/03/16/dubai-airport-drone-strike-iran/

 

[Beer_budget]

View attachment 501594Just saw this on the Front Page of the SCMP - pretty chilling picture; not sure when taken as it does not say...

Google Lens indicates this is from the 16/03 fire resulting from a drone striking a fuel tank at DXB

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

My friend was not contacted by Virgin as they stated in their blurb. Checked with Virgin where to from here, date change same flights, 12 month valid Virgin Airlines Credit or cash refund. Asked for alternative flights, none could be found...

Refund requested.

I was only notified yesterday for a flight departing 28 March, so it may be they just hadn't gotten to your friend yet. I didn't bother asking for alternatives as I'd booked elsewhere and the agent sounded rather relieved when I proactively asked for the refund.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

March 16

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/03/16/dubai-airport-drone-strike-iran/

FWIW, and as an example of overall "stability" (relative term, obviously) at Dubai Airport, this incident caused what is the only cancellation of the EK 412/413 DXB-SYD-DXB sector (the only SYD rotation operating at the moment) that's happened since March 7/8. Other than that it's operated daily including the CHC tag for the last ~3 weeks (the SYD-CHC tag has operated without interruption since the beginning of the war). SYD-centric again, but Etihad also seems to be back on track with their one daily flight currently operating. QR is definitely the outlier of the big 3.

As I'm risking this on Saturday, I'm hoping it holds. Seat map for SYD-DXB is surprisingly full, DXB-CDG and then CDG-DXB-SYD two weeks later very empty for now.

 

[Aeryn]

the SYD-CHC tag has operated without interruption since the beginning of the war

Never a reason not to, there were available aircraft and crew on the ground in Aus/NZ and no clear and present dangers in this region.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Never a reason not to, there were available aircraft and crew on the ground in Aus/NZ and no clear and present dangers in this region.

The tags were almost certainly not commercially viable on an A380 with no through-traffic to/from Dubai so that could be a good reason, but that would have been balanced with parking costs at SYD, costs and poor optics associated with disrupting those pax who were only flying SYD to/from CHC, and perhaps utilising otherwise idle crews while keeping planes in the air where they're happiest.

Then again, for the fun of it I did have a look at F fares to CHC those first few days as I've always wanted to experience it but prices didn't budge from normal.

 

[MELso]

QR rebooking extended to flights departing 15 June.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

QR rebooking extended to flights departing 15 June.

That seems very generous! Lots of airlines open for the rerouting and rebooking process!

Interesting note there that it seems some agents aren’t filling the rules, and they’ll get billed the full fare to the agency for not following procedure! Might explain why some agents are reluctant to do it?

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

QR rebooking extended to flights departing 15 June.

I think this might also be to try to encourage people to make future bookings by offering flexibility. Eventually this will end and these carriers are going to have real work ahead of them to try to convince people to come back and fly with them. They’ll already be bleeding mid-term revenue as people start booking northern summer holidays and staying away. Some won’t consider the Gulf carriers for a long time - if ever - but offering flexibility may help win over some of the others. Price will also likely have to play a very big role.

Etihad is already offering free date changes for flights into 2027.

 

[jasrulz63]

That seems very generous! Lots of airlines open for the rerouting and rebooking process!

Interesting note there that it seems some agents aren’t filling the rules, and they’ll get billed the full fare to the agency for not following procedure! Might explain why some agents are reluctant to do it?

Looks like those airlines are only for rerouting flights to/from Doha.

There's reports on Reddit that there's been a policy change that essentially ends re-routing on another airline.

 

[RooFlyer]

QR rebooking extended to flights departing 15 June.

Well, that over-rules one of the main reasons why I decided today not to accept a re-booking .... because the return leg of my itinerary was still on QR and both my TA and I thought QR wouldn't be back to normal ops by then, so I'd have to go through the whole process again! And say QR had some 'limited' through services, including mine, the chance of getting stuck and/or DFAT still having a 'do not travel' advisory out, I couldn't take those flights anyway.

Back to the drawing board tomorrow!

Interesting note there that it seems some agents aren’t filling the rules, and they’ll get billed the full fare to the agency for not following procedure!

Ohhhhhh ..... yessssss. Perhaps not so much not following (I think you meant?) the rules, but not catching & understanding each and every nuance of a policy they've probably never properly read before. Combined with that QR are absolutely savage (to quote my TA) about hitting anyone who messes up. The agency has a special person in charge of knowing the policies and advising the rest ....

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Well, that over-rules one of the main reasons why I decided today not to accept a re-booking .... because the return leg of my itinerary was still on QR and both my TA and I thought QR wouldn't be back to normal ops by then, so I'd have to go through the whole process again! And say QR had some 'limited' through services, including mine, the chance of getting stuck and/or DFAT still having a 'do not travel' advisory out, I couldn't take those flights anyway.

Back to the drawing board tomorrow!



Ohhhhhh ..... yessssss. Perhaps not so much not following (I think you meant?) the rules, but not catching & understanding each and every nuance of a policy they've probably never properly read before. Combined with that QR are absolutely savage (to quote my TA) about hitting anyone who messes up. The agency has a special person in charge of knowing the policies and advising the rest ....

Well this is perhaps an example of where a TA isn’t necessarily the best option - strange as they may seem. It’s the job of the travel agent to understand and rebook correctly. It’s. It that difficult to read the policy?

There are recent reports that TK is available as an alternative for close in flights. With people being booked. I guess the issue there is availability within that short window.

Edited to add… from the policy above it looks like you can also book the return fare at the same time as the outbound.

 

[MELso]

QR rebooking extended to flights departing 15 June.

Just realised there's a bit of a sting in the tail - rebooking to OALs is only with 24 hours of departure whereas there was more flexibility beforehand.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Looks like those airlines are only for rerouting flights to/from Doha.

There's reports on Reddit that there's been a policy change that essentially ends re-routing on another airline.

Yeah, it looks like that but if you read the full policy it’s those airlines only for flights to and from Doha with QR codeshares, but the policy also applies outside DOH from using those and other airlines.

Just realised there's a bit of a sting in the tail - rebooking to OALs is only with 24 hours of departure whereas there was more flexibility beforehand.

I think it was 48 hours.

 

[MELso]

I think it was 48 hours.

I may be misreading QR's JWC policy...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I may be misreading QR's JWC policy...

Yeah, there’s 0-1 days (within airport control) and on the top is 2+ days (on the OAL side of the flow chart).

The difference being that for 2+ days notice of cancellation you have a 14-day rebooking window. For flights under airport control you have 2 days in which to travel.

 

[AIRwin]

QF9 is getting a fuel stop in SIN it seems from 4 March and is now QF209.

This will be renumbered as QF219 with a later departure/arrival:

Qantas Extends Perth – London routing Change to late-April 2026 — AeroRoutes

Published at 0200PDT / 0900GMT 25MAR26 Qantas this week adjusted operations for Perth – London Heathrow route. Since earlier this month, Perth departure has been operating via Singapore on daily basis with Boeing 787-9. Initially scheduled until 28MAR26, the 1-stop flight is now scheduled at lea

www.aeroroutes.com