Originally Posted by
Aston100
Hello,
got a message that QR970 to Saigon will be departing an hour earlier next year. 01:30 instead of 02:30.
I'm coming in on QR8 (departing LHR at 16:00) which is supposed to get to Doha at 00:45.
Flightradar suggests both flights tend to not to be delayed much.
So this means a 45 minute connection time. I am not confident.
Booked as one ticket, but the next flight to SGN is at 20:00 so I have no desire to be hanging around at Doha for 16+ hours.
Is attempting to get them to rebook onto QR4 (departing LHR at 15:05 and arriving into Doha at 23:50) the best option? QR4 is an a380 so doesn't have Qsuites (which is fairly important to me).
Or do you think 45 minutes is somehow achievable (bearing in mind the next flight is 16+ hours later if I miss this)?
Or is there some other option I haven't thought of?
This is in May 2024 by the way so I appreciate there may be further changes. If I 'do nothing' do I forfeit my ability to request a change of flights later?
Thanks in advance.
If you do nothing to confirm the schedule change you still have an unresolved involuntatary change, albeit with only 1 hour of schedule change not one that offers you anything to make further changes - with QR you need a schedule change of 2 hours or more to benefit from the invol change rebooking guidelines. Unless you feel the need to do not confirm the change.
With a 45 min connection time your scheduled flights as they stand are valid, and assuming no other issues on the day you should make your connection. I would suggest you would be wasting your time and testing your patience trying to ask for an earlier flight now.
But for a flight in May 24 I really would not be agonising over this, there are a lot of opportunities for another schedule change to come along, not least a bunch of rescheduling that usually takes place late Feb or March to make adjustments ahead of the summer schedule which kicks in end of March 24.
As for worst case scenario if you did miss the connection and you need to get to SGN as soon as possible what other OneWorld options exist for QR to potentially put you on to eliminate a 16 hour transit. Whilst most agents in Doha will not be well versed with the detail of EU/UK261, having come from the UK and being in scope of the regulation, being able to recite that you have the right to rerouting on any carrier at the earliest possible opportunity and here are the details of the MH flight that can get me there. MH via KUL is the most likely a possibility, less likely would be CX and JL just because of the excess journey time, so have a look at flight options between DOH and SGN leaving about 2 hours after you were due to arrive and have their details in your back pocket with a decent backstory of why you need to be in SGN in the next XX hours, a wedding is usually a good one.
But do you need to get to SGN on time with another carrier, or in style on QR.... you mention QSuites are important to you.... in which case making the best of a bad job and sucking up the 16 hour delay, spend a little time in downtown Doha and asking for a hotel room might be a better option - and maybe ask to ajust your return to be a day later?
Another EU/UK261 nuclear option (use carefully) would be to claim that failure to get you to SGN by XX time would render the entire "trip in vain" (because you miss the "wedding") and you wish to abandon, be returned to London, and have a full refund as per your rights. Whether it would be easy to convince Qatar to comply with this assertion is another question.