“A friend of mine is stuck in Sydney,” writes Nell. “He checked in online for his Etihad flight to Abu Dhabi at the weekend, then went out to the airport to find the flight was cancelled. He has been rebooked for Thursday 5 March. Travel insurance doesn’t cover his stay, and neither will Etihad. He is worried they will cancel also on Thursday. I wondered what you thought about alternative routes back?”
Nell’s friend’s case is the same as that for many people who are scattered across the eastern hemisphere on the “wrong side” of the Gulf aviation shut down. While cancelled passengers in Australia, Asia and Africa are not seeing missile and drone attacks on their hotels, they are having to suffer an expensive and frustrating game of wait-and see.
An Etihad Boeing 777 is here on the ground in Sydney, and it is possible that the plane could be deployed for a nonstop flight to Abu Dhabi on Thursday. I would stay hopeful, though the probability is certainly worse than 50-50. Such is the immense pressure on flight routes that avoid the Middle East, that finding any reasonably priced alternative is tricky. The best I can offer Nell’s pal is a convoluted itinerary on United via California and either Washington DC or Newark. There are seats available for Thursday for around £1,200 one way. But it is crucial that he organises an Esta online travel permit before contemplating going via the US.
Last Saturday, Elliott was among the many thousands of people who were flying from somewhere in Asia to the Gulf when airspace was suddenly closed. His Qatar Airways flight from Thailand was diverted to Muscat – which is where he remains right now. “We've been put in a hotel and told to wait, and not been given our luggage. It is safer here than in Doha, but we feel like we’ve been forgotten about.”
In any normal week, a planeload of Europe-bound passengers stuck at Muscat would be headline news – especially if they are without their baggage or visible assistance from the authorities. Without for one moment diminishing Elliott’s difficult position, it is at least safer than being in a city where missiles and drones are raining in.
In the past hour, British Airways has announced a rescue flight from Muscat for the early hours of Thursday morning. While it is aimed mainly at BA passengers who have made their way over from the UAE to the Omani capital, it is possible that Qatar Airways customers may be allowed on board – the two are sister airlines. Elliott can at least try the flight’s special phone line: +44 203 467 3854. If that does not work, then the least expensive and problematic way to return to the UK, will be via Riyadh or Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Sophie has members of her family stranded in paradise – or at least stuck in the Maldives after their Qatar Airways flight back to the UK was cancelled. “Do they have any compensation or must they pay hotel bills until they can get out?”
The Gulf airspace shutdown has revealed just how big a gap there is between where air passenger rights rules end and normal travel insurance policies begin. They had gold plated protection on the outbound flight from Europe, but coming home it is simply down to the generosity or otherwise of the airline. I have in the past had my flight from Asia cancelled by Qatar Airways, and was offered a flight one week later with no hotel provided. I feel strongly that if holidaymakers have inadvertently been caught up in severe disruption of this nature, somebody should be picking up the bill apart from themselves.
My hunch is that the airlines of the Middle East may decide to pick up the bill for all those stranded passengers – in order to try to restore some public confidence. So they should keep all receipts, but I must stress there is no certainty that they will be reimbursed. When the dust settles, I will be working to get air passenger rights rules amended to cover return trips.
Finally returning to Australian connections, Barry contacts me about his brother and family who were due to fly back from Melbourne via Doha with Qatar Airways. “Qatar is offering a refund or a change of date to Thursday,” says Barry. “If the flight doesn’t go ahead, which it likely won’t I would say, will Qatar have to put them up in hotel? They’re really at end of their tether and reaching their credit card limits.”
As with the Gulf-based airlines here in Sydney, there are aircraft on the ground in Melbourne waiting to go. The costs for a family having to come up with alternative flights would be enormous, so it is just a matter of wait and see. Past experience suggests that the airline will not cover further hotel costs at this stage, but as mentioned, I think the policy could change.
