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Qatar Airways - UAE, KSA, Bahrain and Egypt withdraw licenses and close airspace

Old Jun 5, 2017, 6:48 am
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Last edit by: plunet
Wiki last updated: 21 July 2017 18:00 UTC

Summary of key traveller experiences and feedback on this forum since Mid-June
  • Policy statement (link) for the travel industry issued 15th June 2017
  • Refund is always an option, but very varied experiences of how quickly the refund is processed, from a few days to "still waiting". Some experiences of passengers being pressurised into taking refunds when this is not necessary if you can wait.
  • If you want to reroute from a closed destination to another middle east destination still served by QR, you might be able to do this as early as 30 days from 1st sector, although we have had reports of rerouting at 6 weeks out.
  • Where QR have to reroute onto other carriers, long haul reroutes typically onto BA, CX and TK seem to be quoted most often. In the Gulf region ME, KU, WY are quoted most often. Although RJ is a OneWorld carrier and should be a parter for QR, they are not accepting QR rerouted tickets.
  • Status of reservations for travel to affected destinations typically changes to "Unconfirmed" 7 days ahead of travel.
  • If your booking was via a 3rd party or agent you probably can't get Qatar to change the ticket until 72 hours before the first sector. 3rd parties and agents seem to be offering refunds rather than rerouting, although there has been some success if you can show them the QR rebooking policy document.
  • There has been a very mixed bag of reports of how QR are handling rebooking. Some people have no luck getting itineraries changed before 72 hours before departure, but others do. So some good advice is to always be polite but if you don't get what you want, then thank the agent for their time and HUACA (hang up and call again) - preferably after you have had a drink and have calmed down, and maybe calling a different office.

Some specific data points from other travellers:
(but there is a lot more valuable information if you can trawl back through the thread)

#753 CAI-LHR-DOH been offered as alternative for ex-CAI 4 days prior to 1st sector.
#772 KUL-DOH-LXR reroute to CAI and IST refused
#792 AUH-DOH-DPS by QR rebooked to DXB-HKG-DPS by CX
#794 Australia-DOH-HBE rebooked as DOH-BEY on QR on 2nd attempt.
#808 CAI>DOH>BOS>DOH>CAI rebooked to KRT and date change
#818 SYD-DOH-CAI changed to SYD-DOH-KWI-CAI, layovers optimed and +Qatar stopover
#830 and #840 Economy ICN-DOH-DXB rebooked onto CX ICN-HKG-DXB
#849 ex-CAI ininaries changed to ex-AMM but needed to HUACA a few times.
#856 CAI-DOH-BKK changed to FCO-DOH-BKK all on QR
#868 DFW-DOH-HBE changed to DFW-DOH-LCA all on QR 2 weeks out.
#906 Unable to get LXR-DOH-HKG-BNE rerouted until 72 hours prior
#927 CAI-DOH-BKK rebooked onto CAI-BAH-AMM on Gulf DOH-BKK (on QR) and return back to AMM
#966 DXB-DOH (award ticket) was changed to DXB-KWI-DOH on Kuwait+QR 48hrs in advance
#966 DOH-CAI (2 award tickets) were changed to DOH-BEY on QR 48 hours advance
#966 CAI-DOH-MUC (paid business) were changed to BEY-DOH-MUC 72 hours advance
#981 HKT-DOH-DWC (J/F tix) change to HKT-DOH-KWI all on QR 10 days out.
#985 ex-LXR ticket rerouted by OTA as CAI-BEY-DOH outside the 72 hr window
#1004 BKK-DOH-CAI in F rebooked as BKK-DOH-BEY in QR F, BEY-CAI in C on ME
#1005 HEL-DOH-DXB rebooked HEL-DOH-MCT on QR and MCT-DXB on Oman once ticket status went to unconfirmed.
#1057 MAN-DOH-DXB rebooked as MAN-LHR-DXB on BA (had to HUACA 3 times)
#1141 Multiple ex-CAI itineraries CAI-DOK-BKK return in J, CAI-DOH-LHR return in J, CAI-DOH-BKK single in F changed to all be ex-KWI. Had to HUACA 3 times.
#1157 LXR-DOH-NRT booked in January, flight changed to CAI-DOH-NRT
#1172 Rebooked CAI-(F)-DOH(J)-BKK to CAI-(C/ME)-BEY-(F)-DOH-(C)-BKK at 77hrs from departure
#1173 Rebooked at QR office HBE-DOH-DPS to HBE-IST-DOH-DPS on TK/TK/QR and improved timing on DOS-DPS segment

Offical guidance from QR website as of mid July:

Passengers who have purchased their tickets from Qatar Airways have the following options to refund their tickets:

For tickets booked on qatarairways.com, they can:
  1. Go to Refund requests;
  2. They can approach their nearest Qatar Airways Office; or
  3. They can call the Qatar Airways contact Centre at +974 4022 0072
For tickets booked through a Qatar Airways Office or through the Contact Centre, passengers can
  1. Contact their nearest Qatar Airways Office; or
  2. Call Qatar Airways Contact Centre on +974 4022 0072
The refund will be made to the original form of payment and the refund will be processed within 14 - 28 days.
Passengers who have purchased their Qatar Airways tickets through a Travel Agency can request their refund from the issuing Travel Agent.
Within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kingdom of Bahrain and Egypt please use: https://refundsapp1.blueivysync.com/...er-refund.html

This is a different web form as the Qatar website is blocked from some of these countries.
For further information and FAQs please visit: http://support.qatarairways.com/hc/e...002369667-FAQs
What Happened

On the 6th of June flights from Qatar to Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (and vice versa) were suspended.

This includes all Qatar flights between Doha and Abu Dhabi, Abha, AlexandriaBorg el Arab, Bahrain, Buraydah, Cairo, Dammam, DubaiAl Maktoum, DubaiInternational, Gassim, Hofuf, Jeddah, Luxor, Madinah, Ras Al Khaimah, Riyadh, Sharjah, Tabuk, Ta'if and Yanbu.

Adding to this at 00:00 (UTC) on the 6th of June restrictions were put in place limiting flights to Doha to one particular corridor through the airspace of Bahrain. This has since been relaxed to two specific corridors through Bahrain airspace with a second corridor up the Saudi Arabia the new addition.

All other flights to other Qatar Airways destinations including the Maldives are still operating although some have delays due to the extended time required to avoid restricted airspace.

There are a couple of routes that are having to make fuel stops in Athens or Muscat but this seems to be dependent on the type of aircraft as well.

Details on the Airspace can be found here - https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/f...ain-and-egypt/

What about my Flights to other destinations?

Flights to Europe, Asia, Pacific and Norte America are operating as per schedule with minimal delays. There is no need to contact QR regarding these services.

Flights between Doha and Souto America are facing delays due to longer times and/or need for a technical stop-over. Flights to GRU and EZE are 2hr to 5hrs longer.

Flight between Doha and Africa/Middle East have longer flights times due to the airspace restrictions. Some routes like Doha to Khartoum have felt the full force of the restrictions with the flight now taking 2hr 30 mins longer than normal.

Qatar has begun to re-time flights to ensure the network continues running smoothly. Changes have been since Monday 12 June 2017, so it is advised to check your flight status and times on the Qatar website.


What about my flight to a suspended destination?

If you are due to fly in the next few days, search for alternative routings and note them down.

24 hours before your scheduled departure time, contact your LOCAL QR office, and ask for their assistance. Advise them that you have found an alternative routing which you would be willing to accept and see if they will book it for you.

If you are due to fly more than 5 days from today, try and relax. Do not panic and please do not call QR as you are blocking the lines for those flying in the next 24 hours. At this stage, Qatar is only offering options to those who are traveling in the next 24 hours.

Currently, people in the thread have suggested that Qatar is rebooking on flights through Muscat, Kuwait, Amman, Istanbul, Mumbai, Beirut, Athens and Tunis.

You can only get a refund if your booking is to one of the destinations listed at the top! (The number of people asking QR on Twitter for a refund of other flights is amazing)

What about other airlines?

Most other carriers in and out of Doha are still operating except for Air Arabia, Air Arabia Egypt, Air Cairo, EgyptAir, Emirates, Etihad, FlyDubai, Rotana Jet and Saudia.

Most other carriers are using the new restricted routes into Doha although provided the aircraft is not registered in Qatar they are allowed to use the Saudi Arabia or Egypt Airspace.

Timeline of Events:


5 June 2017

- UAE, KSA, Bahrain and Egypt withdraw licenses and close airspace
- All MS flights between CAI and DOH was zeroed out
- All GF flights between BAH and DOH closed for sale
- All QR flights between DOH and CAI closed for sale
- All QR staff travel was canceled

6 June 2017

- Airspace Restriction came into effect at 00:00 (UTC)
- All QR flights between DOH and UAE/Bahrain/KSA closed for sale
- QR flights between DOH and MLE still bookable
- QR Charters 3 aircraft from Jeddah to Muscat

7 June 2017
- QR Charters an aircraft from Jeddah to Kuwait

8 June 2017
- Qatar Airways website blocked in the UAE
- Qatar Airways offices in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain close

11 June 2017
- Second flight corridor added along the Saudi Arabia Coast

13 June 2017
- UAE Relaxes rules allowing non Qatari registered aircraft to use their airspace to/from Qatar but they are still not allowing flights between the UAE and Qatar from any operators.
- Egypt Relaxes rules allowing non Qatari registered aircraft to use their airspace to/from Qatar. The new rules also allow for non Qatar or Egypt registered aircraft to operate flights between the two countries.

14 June 2017
- Agreement between QR and BA/A3 on reticketing passengers (link below)



Further information:
- QR Travel Alert http://support.qatarairways.com/hc/e...bile_site=true
- QR FAQs http://support.qatarairways.com/hc/e...002369667-FAQs
- QR Charter flights arranged from Jeddah KSA to Muscat Oman http://support.qatarairways.com/hc/e...Muscat-to-Doha
- QR agreement with BA & A3 to reticket their flights http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qatar...r-help-qr.html
- Political background and latest updates: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-40155829
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Qatar Airways - UAE, KSA, Bahrain and Egypt withdraw licenses and close airspace

Old Jun 27, 2017, 1:40 pm
  #976  
 
Join Date: May 1998
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Originally Posted by SullyofDoha
Interesting. When my outbound was changed, they were. Not willing to change the inbound because things might go back to normal seven weeks later. I am pretty confident that if the situation does not improve, I would surmise that a change will be complimentary. I guess I will give an update in mid August
I await with eager anticipation!
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Old Jun 27, 2017, 1:58 pm
  #977  
 
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Originally Posted by lucyjane
Sorry i am sure this is a repetitive post, but having read through a reasonable amount of posts on this forum I'm still slightly confused with what I should do. (There are a LOT of posts on this forum to sift through! None similar to my situation).

I am flying LHR to Dubai on 6 August, then Dubai to Singapore on 10 August.

I am confused with how is best to go about this, I booked my flights through a travel agent who have advised to call Qatar directly - is this right? Or should the TA be sorting this?
One option is to wait and see what happens. 5/6 weeks is a long time in a situation like this.

Alternatively, how much is a new ticket compared to your QR ticket?
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Old Jun 27, 2017, 2:06 pm
  #978  
 
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Originally Posted by C17PSGR
5/6 weeks is a long time in a situation like this.
This situation is not going away soon. The demands imposed onto Qatar are preposterous, making any compromise impractical.
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Old Jun 27, 2017, 3:37 pm
  #979  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
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3544quebec In reply to your comment
“I don't see how doing nothing for some customers equates to providing the best possible solution to as many customers as possible. Surely doing something for just one of the unfortunate ignoreds will provide the best possible solution to as many customers + 1.”
It is not just you but many others in the same situation. If they all were to be rerouted before the full need for re-routing was known then they would, naturally, take the earliest flights. And when 24 hours before departure the seats available was known these persons would have taken most if not all of the early flights leaving those whose need has just been made known with the later flights and misconnections.

You MAY be satisfied but the others will not! So your action is reducing the number of satisfied customers NOT increasing it!

Add to this the risk of cancellation of your flight due to a worsening of the situation and you will have a problem. You have already used the one free change per journey for affected customers and thus you will probably have to pay change fees etc. You will find that information in at least two different posts on this thread.

If you insist upon immediate rebooking against QRs policy you are removing QRs responsibility for the rerouted sectors. Thus you could end up with no flights and no refund!

Remember what NoY said in post 941
“Indeed, the sole reason QR gave me on the phone (for the rebooking time limit of 24/72 hours, even if booked directly on QR.COM) was that airlines with whom QR were rebooking - "autocancelling QR bookings by the concerned airlines". “

Since thay are aware of this it is illegal for them to reroute you onto flights that they are aware of may be cancelled. In some jurisdictions this is regarded as Fraud!

QRs hands are tied in this matter and they are trying to keep their actions legal but they are being pressured by individuals who are demanding that they break the law!

Seen in that light QR are offering the best possible service in this situation. In fact the 72 hours is in excess of what they are required to give!
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Old Jun 27, 2017, 6:58 pm
  #980  
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I have a CAI-DOH-Asia itinerary that is at least 6 weeks out, but I have to position to CAI from ATH. Given the insanity and uncertainty of this, I am concerned about buying my nonrefundable positioning flights to CAI (both ways), and then risking being told in the last moment they cannot re-route me, or if they do, flying the positioning followed by two flights of rerouting to DOH. What I am thinking of doing is booking back up flights with miles ATH-DOH, and then asking them to drop the first/last sector, so I start and finish in DOH, as far as they are concerned. In this scenario, they cannot claim that there is not re-routing availability, as I am dropping one sector and not asking for any re-routing. The ATH-DOH flights with miles cost about the same in miles as buying the positioning flights ATH-CAI, with the difference that the former are fully refundable as an EXP. My plan is actually to see if they will reroute me ATH-DOH-Asia to begin with, in which case I cancel the ATH-DOH award tickets, but I want to keep them as back up in case they refuse.

The only downside to this I see is if they actually have fixed the problem by then and they insist I fly CAI-DOH on their metal, in which case I may be SOL, as I won't have tix to CAI. What do you all think? Anyone doing anything like this?
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Old Jun 27, 2017, 7:10 pm
  #981  
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I just changed a HKT-DOH-DWC (J/F tix) to HKT-DOH-KWI all on QR metal & done about 10 days out fro the travel date (because its QR metal there is no 24/72 hour limitation on re-booking). I decided to find my own way from KWI-AUH (net on-cost to me=10k EY miles & about 50 for J tix o/way, which is fine by me). The return leg I left as, DWC-DOH-HKT for now, which is in about 8 weeks time.

I was assured that the return leg is "good" even though it's now open-jaw,
although having got the e-tix through I now cannot "manage my booking". Mmm??
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Old Jun 27, 2017, 7:14 pm
  #982  
 
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Originally Posted by nk15
The only downside to this I see is if they actually have fixed the problem by then and they insist I fly CAI-DOH on their metal, in which case I may be SOL, as I won't have tix to CAI. What do you all think? Anyone doing anything like this?
I'm in a very similar situation with a paid QR business class ticket in September, CAI-DOH-BKK-DOH-CAI. I will also be in ATH prior to this and would need a positioning flight to CAI if flights were operating from there.

Again, I see no point in purchasing a positioning ticket at the moment. I am planning to ask QR to change my booking to commence/finish in BEY/AMM (on QR metal), and once this is done I plan to purchase a positioning ticket. Hopefully this can be done more than 3 days out (as I have with another QR Egypt ticket), but if not I'll just go for the best fare I can get (maybe an award using BA/QF/UA miles).

Really not much else that I can do, short of cancelling, which I don't intend to do.
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Old Jun 27, 2017, 7:27 pm
  #983  
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Originally Posted by Grace B
I'm in a very similar situation with a paid QR business class ticket in September, CAI-DOH-BKK-DOH-CAI. I will also be in ATH prior to this and would need a positioning flight to CAI if flights were operating from there.

Again, I see no point in purchasing a positioning ticket at the moment. I am planning to ask QR to change my booking to commence/finish in BEY/AMM (on QR metal), and once this is done I plan to purchase a positioning ticket. Hopefully this can be done more than 3 days out (as I have with another QR Egypt ticket), but if not I'll just go for the best fare I can get (maybe an award using BA/QF/UA miles).

Really not much else that I can do, short of cancelling, which I don't intend to do.
If you are in ATH, you should also push to be rerouted ATH-DOH-BKK. Last minute paid tickets ATH-BEY/AMM/CAI/DOH might be quite expensive, even though July-Sept is off season for the Middle East.

However, another option I am thinking is calling to be rebooked say 5-7 days before flight time. I don't have a problem spending a few days in DOH. What are the chances that they would say that they cannot find any reroute availability CAI-DOH for a week? Although the other issue I have is that there are two of us in separate reservations, which seems like a tougher situation.
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Old Jun 27, 2017, 7:38 pm
  #984  
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Friends, don't overlook connecting through MCT on WY. I need to go BKK-CAI tomorrow. I would normally have flown QR; but that's not possible, obviously. Looked at the options, and WY appears to have a nice business class product at a pretty good price, too. So got BKK-MCT-CAI with a three hour connection at MCT, which will work out perfectly. Not too long, but sufficiently long to absorb most delays, etc.
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Old Jun 27, 2017, 10:44 pm
  #985  
 
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Originally Posted by remdk
3544quebec In reply to your comment
“I don't see how doing nothing for some customers equates to providing the best possible solution to as many customers as possible. Surely doing something for just one of the unfortunate ignoreds will provide the best possible solution to as many customers + 1.”
It is not just you but many others in the same situation. If they all were to be rerouted before the full need for re-routing was known then they would, naturally, take the earliest flights. And when 24 hours before departure the seats available was known these persons would have taken most if not all of the early flights leaving those whose need has just been made known with the later flights and misconnections.

You MAY be satisfied but the others will not! So your action is reducing the number of satisfied customers NOT increasing it!

Add to this the risk of cancellation of your flight due to a worsening of the situation and you will have a problem. You have already used the one free change per journey for affected customers and thus you will probably have to pay change fees etc. You will find that information in at least two different posts on this thread.

If you insist upon immediate rebooking against QRs policy you are removing QRs responsibility for the rerouted sectors. Thus you could end up with no flights and no refund!

Remember what NoY said in post 941
“Indeed, the sole reason QR gave me on the phone (for the rebooking time limit of 24/72 hours, even if booked directly on QR.COM) was that airlines with whom QR were rebooking - "autocancelling QR bookings by the concerned airlines". “

Since thay are aware of this it is illegal for them to reroute you onto flights that they are aware of may be cancelled. In some jurisdictions this is regarded as Fraud!

QRs hands are tied in this matter and they are trying to keep their actions legal but they are being pressured by individuals who are demanding that they break the law!

Seen in that light QR are offering the best possible service in this situation. In fact the 72 hours is in excess of what they are required to give!
Armed with the formal policy provided in the earlier post by stefg1007 my OTA has had my ex-LXR ticket rerouted to CAI-BEY-DOH - by QR outside the 72 hr window
From your post, clearly illegal and fraudulent behaviour on QR's part but se la vie.

Much of your assertions bare no resemblance to reality - if a rerouted ticket suffers a further cancellation of a flight the passenger does not lose any rights to a further reaccommodation/refund just because they have availed themselves of a previous reroute. They have the same rights as anyone ticketed on the newly cancelled flight.

What they are required to give and what is reasonable to give are 2 different things entirely. They are required to give a refund, nothing else. It is reasonable to expect them to give accurate information ie not tell their customers that they will protect them ex-LXR in less than 2 weeks but only at the 72 hour point when this does not concord with their now revealed policy and does not concord with reality in regard to other flights that actually depart LXR. Their policy and reality is that they won't protect ex-LXR, they will require the customer make their own way to another originating point. If this is your idea of QR "offering the best possible service in this situation" well we have different customer service expectations

Auto-cancelling of bookings only occurs where there has been no ticket issued and there is no ticket number associated with the booking. No-one is advocating QR make reservations to reaccommodate passengers but not ticket them. The point regarding auto-cancellation has no relevance to this discussion

Robust debate is fine but surely arguments should have some relation to reality

Last edited by 3544quebec; Jun 27, 2017 at 11:08 pm
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Old Jun 28, 2017, 12:54 am
  #986  
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My word - who'd have thought there was so much premium travel originating in Cairo

Poor old QR is getting hammered on these super-cheap F and C tickets receiving very expensive last-minute re-routings on other carriers.

You can almost understand the reluctance to establish and comply with any sensible policy which follows even vaguely their own "rules".




I'm sure Qatar (the state) would never allow Qatar (the airline) to go belly-up, any more than it would give up on al Jazeera, but even so I'm steering clear for the moment.
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Old Jun 28, 2017, 1:16 am
  #987  
 
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Originally Posted by IAN-UK

Poor old QR is getting hammered on these super-cheap F and C tickets receiving very expensive last-minute re-routings on other carriers.

You can almost understand the reluctance to establish and comply with any sensible policy which follows even vaguely their own "rules".
Even more bizarre, they are still selling cheap ex-Egypt fares after October
eg LXR-MEL $US1850 business return.

I wouldn't even argue against just offering cancellation and refund as the only remedy for ex-Egypt fares at present as being reasonable but if they are going to offer reroute make it a transparent and feasible process. If they can't get passengers on flights from LXR, tell them that early (or at least give them 2 weeks notice not 72 hrs)
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Old Jun 28, 2017, 1:20 am
  #988  
 
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Well, I'm afraid all the nonsense, worry and hassle has got the better of me, and I've cancelled my three upcoming return business class tickets ex-Egypt. I've referred to the TRF/INVOL instruction mentioned in an earlier post in my refund requests, but I'm not hopeful of receiving full refunds anytime soon (but who knows?).

I've now booked new QR J class tickets VCE-BKK-VCE, at an additional cost of approx $1,000 (quite reasonable fares of EUR 1176 all-in). Of course, I do also have comprehensive travel insurance.

However, with the increased certainty (hopefully), I can go ahead and book accommodation, connecting flights, etc, with a little more confidence. I really didn't want to be at the whim of QR, maybe stranding me in HBE or CAI or elsewhere for a little while, and not being able to use pre-booked connections or accommodation. And a few days in Venice might be nice too.

No thank you, Qatar Airways, very poor form.
Grace B is offline  
Old Jun 28, 2017, 1:58 am
  #989  
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
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Originally Posted by C17PSGR
One option is to wait and see what happens. 5/6 weeks is a long time in a situation like this.

Alternatively, how much is a new ticket compared to your QR ticket?


I bought these tickets for 600 (including a Singapore -> Heathrow one, but that one is unaffected). Now tickets are 500 for just the first 2 flights
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Old Jun 28, 2017, 2:07 am
  #990  
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For all those who are bemoaning the 72 hour re-booking policy, I wonder how you would feel if QR re-booked you, and then you realised your original routing was actually flying.

Would you want to shlep your kids and baggage to another one or two airports, when you could have just waited and flown on your original booking?

QR are a pawn in the melee, and are simply following the instructions dictated to them by the Qatari authorities.

The flight ban, is part of a much wider dispute, as has been well documented elsewhere on FT and the general media.

The ban is costing QR substantially, and so it is only good business sense to add a 72 hour policy - or a refund. Incidentally, for those who have refunded, you ought to receive the refund within 7 working days, although there is a small backlog at present so it may take an extra couple of days.

The situation is a fluid one, and discussions and negotiations at the top of the State of Qatar, are ongoing. Until then, I would encourage those who have flights well in the future, to sit tight.

For those flying in July, look at other options and propose them when you speak to QR 72 hours before. Don't call up and expect them to have thousands of options - do your own homework and save yourself the time.

I have a number of flights with QR booked for July, and have noted alternative routings which would benefit me - and, in turn, cost QR less than otherwise, as they are on QR metal opposed to another airline.

I accept the argument of 'it's QRs fault and they should make me happy', but don't complain when they offer you a poor alternative. Do the work yourself, don't winge about it, and realise that this is not something QR have brought upon themselves!

M
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