Middle East Airspace Diversions/Cancellations

Just fyi I used a loophole to cancel an EK flight (booked via QF).
Qantas have been bugging me for ages to review and accept minor schedule changes - tonight I just called up and said the new schedule wouldn't work for me, so got full fee free refund issued.

Worth considering if you're in a similar situation - not sure if the offer was due to Emirates policy or EU requirements, but either way a minor inconvenience provides a useful loophole if you're not comfortable waiting to see if your flight will be on the refund list due to conflict.
 
HSB44 said:
Just fyi I used a loophole to cancel an EK flight (booked via QF).
Qantas have been bugging me for ages to review and accept minor schedule changes - tonight I just called up and said the new schedule wouldn't work for me, so got full fee free refund issued.

Worth considering if you're in a similar situation - not sure if the offer was due to Emirates policy or EU requirements, but either way a minor inconvenience provides a useful loophole if you're not comfortable waiting to see if your flight will be on the refund list due to conflict.
Click to expand...
EU261 - schedule changes are treated as flight cancellations under EU261 and airlines must offer you your choice of either a full refund or re-booking.
 
transpactraveller said:
EU261 - schedule changes are treated as flight cancellations under EU261 and airlines must offer you your choice of either a full refund or re-booking.
Click to expand...
EU261 can apply in some cases for schedule changes, but only if the replacement flights leave or arrive significantly earlier than the original schedule… -1 hour earlier or +3 hours later.

It’s not a blanket right to refund or rerouting for a minor schedule change.
 
Yes I thought it seemed a bit small to qualify for the rule.... having said that, Emirates has been sending so many requests to change the flight, I have completely lost track. It seems strange that Qantas would be so generous to offer free refunds if they werent required to be law. Not sure what happened.

Anyway - rebooked with THY via Istanbul.
Bit longer, but worth it I hope.

Once they ramp up the MEL-IST direct flights, I think there will be serious competition.
 
Last edited:
HSB44 said:
Yes I thought it seemed a bit small to qualify for the rule.... having said that, Emirates has been sending so many requests to change the flight, I have completely lost track. It seems strange that Qantas would be so generous to offer free refunds if they werent required to be law. Not sure what happened.

Anyway - rebooked with THY via Istanbul.
Bit longer, but worth it I hope.

Once they ramp up the MEL-IST direct flights, I think there will be serious competition.
Click to expand...
Qantas is often, maybe surprisingly, quite generous in this aspect. They’ll often just cancel FOC for even a minor change.

It’s certainly not required by law.. either ACL or EU261.

Maybe they can sell the seat again?

QF’s (unofficial) policy is in contrast to many other airlines that now enforce a policy of ‘significant’ schedule change.
 
Check out the latest credit card signup bonus point offers
Read our AFF credit card guides and start earning more points now.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Won't be long before the ""Do not travel" for UAE, Qatar etc is declared again. :(

As an aside, just returned from Europe in Sq J...both there and back, the J cabin was absolutely chockers! Sq must be making huge profits atm as passengers avoid their main competitors!
 
Last edited:
jrfsp said:
Iranian media have issued a threat to target UAE airports if Iranian civilian infrastructure is targeted

Could get messy
Click to expand...
Seems like Iran issued a direct warning to evacuate civilians from DXB and AUH (+ marine ports) if they don't want civilian casualties if US has new strikes on civilian infrastructure.

There doesn't seem to be much likelihood right now of de-escalation, rather more escalation so we may very well see these threats being carried out.
 
Well we have a new grandbaby arriving in mid November, so the usually cautious and risk averse Seats will be heading to the UAE as planned on 23 November. I’ve checked our insurance and we will be covered for medical etc not related to the war so it’s a risk I am going to accept, much to my own surprise!
 
The March 2026 international airline activity to/from Australia issued by the Federal Government's BITRE lays bare how the Iran v Israel (and USA) war that commenced on 28 February has adversely affected Gulf carriers.

In March 2026, QR only conveyed 1221 passengers from Doha to Australian airports, while just 1014 made the outbound trip from Australia using this airline. This totalled 2235: compare it to March 2025's total passenger numbers of 108793. In March 2026, QR had a total market share of just 0.1 per cent, many times below its normal percentage. The 15 outbound Australia-Gulf flights it operated had (in total) only 26 per cent of seats occupied.

EY was down to respectively 3780 and 4091. This total of 7871 compared to 30196 in March 2025.

EK did somewhat better, but still way short of normal numbers: in March 2026, 17192 inbound to Oz airports and 19900 Dubai-bound. This total of 37092 compared to 147789 in March 2025. EK's market share of all arriving and departing passengers was just one per cent for DXB passengers and a further 0.4 per cent for the c.6700 carried each way between Oz and New Zealand.

SQ's total passenger numbers to/from SIN shot up from 299900 in March 2025 to 326932 in March 2026. It already had high load factors, so as @kpc implied , it must be making lots of money.

SQ subsidiary TR even made it into the top 10 airlines serving Australia by passenger numbers with a market share of 2.8 per cent, while USA airline UA was 10th with 2.2 per cent. Neither has regularly featured previously in this metric IIRC.

QFi's market share rose, though not by as much as I'd thought it might: 16.6 per cent in March 2025 v 17.3 per cent in March 2026.

JQi's rose by a higher percentage: it became 14.1 per cent against March 2025's 12.9 per cent.

EK has been undertaking a lot of TV advertising (not that I watch much free-to-air). Its ad is short, featuring a hostess standing on the top of a tall structure with three signs such as 'flying again' or similar included.

Flying via the ME must be a fairly hard sell at present.
 

Become an AFF member!

Join Australian Frequent Flyer (AFF) for free and unlock insider tips, exclusive deals, and global meetups with 65,000+ frequent flyers.

AFF members can also access our Frequent Flyer Training courses, and upgrade to Fast-track your way to expert traveller status and unlock even more exclusive discounts!

AFF forum abbreviations

Wondering about Y, J or any of the other abbreviations used on our forum?

Check out our guide to common AFF acronyms & abbreviations.

Recent Posts

Currently Active Users

... and 10 more.
Total: 2,878 (members: 60, guests: 2,818)
Back
Top