Middle East Airspace Diversions/Cancellations

[drcam]

OK, I have attempted to change my flight and called up QF (cannot be changed through the EK website, it said call Qantas), and being a lowly bronze member, I get connected to the Philippines call centre after over an hour of waiting.

They are unable to change my flight date or booking. They said that it is not possible to rebook my flight as a revenue fare class as it is not allowed for award flights, and, even though there did happen to be first class Classic flight availability on my preferred dates and destinations, this was not allowed in my case as I did not have enough Status (only Silver and above) - even though I had booked the original redemption far in advance of that rule change.

I was also offered to downgrade to business with points refund, or cancel the booking.

Needless to say I was less than impressed this lady's attitude. Her motto seemed to be "deny the customer until forced to do otherwise". I have escalated this to her manager who is meant to call me later today. Let me know whether there are any other options. There is still time, and if there is ultimately no resolution I am going on this booking as it stands (although according to the EK schedule it no longer runs on that day of the week for now, I wonder what happens then).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

OK, I have attempted to change my flight and called up QF (cannot be changed through the EK website, it said call Qantas), and being a lowly bronze member, I get connected to the Philippines call centre after over an hour of waiting.

They are unable to change my flight date or booking. They said that it is not possible to rebook my flight as a revenue fare class as it is not allowed for award flights, and, even though there did happen to be first class Classic flight availability on my preferred dates and destinations, this was not allowed in my case as I did not have enough Status (only Silver and above) - even though I had booked the original redemption far in advance of that rule change.

I was also offered to downgrade to business with points refund, or cancel the booking.

Needless to say I was less than impressed this lady's attitude. Her motto seemed to be "deny the customer until forced to do otherwise". I have escalated this to her manager who is meant to call me later today. Let me know whether there are any other options. There is still time, and if there is ultimately no resolution I am going on this booking as it stands (although according to the EK schedule it no longer runs on that day of the week for now, I wonder what happens then).

The Qantas commercial policy for Iran war can be found here: https://www.qantas.com/agencyconnect/gb/en/agency-news/march-2026/airspace-closure.html

Presumably you have an 081 ticket number, so the very first box says you can change flights until 15 June, and if the same fare class is not available, you can book into the next lowest class (in that cabin).

Award tickets are treated the same as cash, with the only exception being you cannot retain an award ticket in credit.

Between EK and QF, you’d seem to be covered. Not for the change of origin… still has to be HND, but you can push it out to 15 June. So if an award seat is not available, you can book into the next lowest F class fare bucket available.

 

[drcam]

OK, thank you for letting me know, I will have this ready when the supervisor rings me (which is a very big if, because QF have a habit of not calling after they promise to).

 

[aussieboozer]

EK now has what appears to be a full schedule of flights for BNE-DXB on their web site from 2 May onwards.. Worth the risk of cancellation?

I am still looking to replace my BNE-FCO trip in late May at a reasonable price after QR cancelled my original booking and wouldn’t offer any acceptable rerouting option only refund.

 

[drcam]

OK, supervisor has rung me and said that they can offer a date change but not rerouting in the same class at the next lowest REVENUE fare bracket, which is okay given that it is not hard to get from my original destination to my new intended one (only a few hours by bullet train). They said they will confirm with their boss and get back to me after 3pm Sydney time

 

[MEL_Traveller]

OK, supervisor has rung me and said that they can offer a date change but not rerouting in the same class at the next lowest REVENUE fare bracket, which is okay given that it is not hard to get from my original destination to my new intended one (only a few hours by bullet train). They said they will confirm with their boss and get back to me after 3pm Sydney time

So exactly in line with their commercial policy!

Qantas is usually very good with those sorts of things.

 

[drcam]

So Qantas' commercial policy is not allowing rerouting even though Emirates' policy states that rerouting of destination within a region (Europe) is allowed? Not that it's hard to get between places in Europe.

Anyway the supervisor called but not at my nominated time and I was in the middle of seeing patients who have bigger things to worry about than first vs. business. He said he'd call me back on Thursday afternoon when I'm not rostered, lol.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

So Qantas' commercial policy is not allowing rerouting even though Emirates' policy states that rerouting of destination within a region (Europe) is allowed? Not that it's hard to get between places in Europe.

Anyway the supervisor called but not at my nominated time and I was in the middle of seeing patients who have bigger things to worry about than first vs. business. He said he'd call me back on Thursday afternoon when I'm not rostered, lol.

Technically you’d be able to enforce the EK policy. But that would take a fair bit of effort, and in the interest of a fast resolution, I think the QF policy is a good and fair one. The destination is not affected by war.