@jthiel: having to stay additional days in MLE must be hard.... I would not wish that on anybody

Wow, they have been sending EK235 on a polar route? Am I seeing this right?

Don’t think so, FlightRadar24 shows it approaching Medina, KSA

Yes, half of A F lounge was open Thursday night

AFAIK there are no attacks from bases in UAE, UAE never agreed to use it as point of attacks

Useful datapoint for you. Friend of mine had an open-jaw booking for 11MAR BRU DXB SIN // EK and then 03APR BKK DXB BRU.
In the panic they booked a non-refundable replacement BA ticket for BRU LHR SIN. Little did they know, and you should too, they could have had EK reroute them for free.
Anyway that outbound flight was now useless, so I called EK and after some trouble getting through they rebooked them on a one-way for only the inbound flights. Basically removing the outbound sectors from the ticket.
Very helpful agent said they were still eligble for the unused value of their ticket. Claimable after travel completes.

Please keep this on topic and go to OMNI to discuss politics
 

Calling for mods to step in - can you please make sure that this thread stays on topic and doesn't deteriorate to OMNI style discussion of politic?

near the perimeter you say? I'd encourage everyone to watch the video from this morning. Looks like the drone today hit the ground just missing the T3 terminal structure, and about 1 plane distance away from an EK A380 that may well have been fueled and loaded with passengers.

some talk on airliners.net that Emirates cancelling the entire schedule then reinstating an hour later may have been influenced by the country wanting to maintain image?

The Emirates pilots were ordered to hold 2-3 hours before diverting for fuel. Foreign carriers such as Virgin Atlantic and the French rescue flight quickly went back to Europe.

EK 235 used to polar route on the 5th and 6th. Today, overflew Saudi Arabia. I know... I am on the flight. Good for me. Shortens the long flight by a bit. First Lounge had both sections open during the day and then went to just one half in the evening.

Would you know if the EK235 the 'Game Changer' flight with 6 seats in F? I wonder if they kept the same aircraft for the route during this conflict.

For ....'s sake, are you serious???

Absolutely amazing first ever post!

Thank you, that is a helpful data point. I am aware of the possibility to ask for rebooking on another airline and (providing I can get through to an agent) will try that option.

What's wrong with the question? Just because there's a bigger stuff going on doesn't mean people can't be curious about the product, especially if they plan to take a flight with EK anytime soon.

No indication of his/her intent to take flight soon... Just question rather irrelevant in this current situation.

I've booked a rtn trip to NZ and am due to travel from London STN - AKL in F at the end of the month. I've been told by an adviser to ring back 5 days before I'm due to fly out. To be honest I don't see the situation improving between now and then, so I'm considering my options. (Also the UK Govt has advised against travelling to the UAE, unless it's for essential travel. If I ignored that, it would invalidate my travel insurance.) If I contact them sooner rather than nearer the time it's been suggested and I come up with airlines and flight times in an F cabin, having done the research, will I be allocated those flights? Or, will they choose their own?

I see that currently the advice on Emirates site isWhen it says "another flight" does it mean another Emirates flight? Or have they started offering flights on other airlines? Previously I think it just said you could make date changes. My booking is EK flight numbers but booked with QF. They are still wanting to charge fare difference to change to another airline. I understand that normally it is a voluntary change until such time as they cancel the flight (if they do).

According to a different forum they are also rebooking an this airlines (but not on all fair classes)

LH/LX/OS/SN/AF/KL/AI/AY/AZ/CX/DE/ET/FZ/JL/KE/LO/MK/NH/OZ/QF/UL/VN/W

3U/A3/AC/AR/AS/AT/BG/BI/BR/BT/CI/CZ/EI/FI/FJ/GA/GF/HA/HM/HX/IB/JQ/KC/KM/KU/KQ/LA/LG/ME/MH/NZ/OU/PG/PK/QS/RO/SA/SK/TK/TN/TP/UA/UX/VS

I am amused by your reaction.

It doesn't change the fact that I'm genuinely curious about EK's decision-making during crisis. So I won't apologize for asking data point from someone who had already taken the flight in recent days.

It was A6-EQL, so yes to game changer.

To answer my own question. At midday today (Sun 8th Mar). The B lounges, both First and Business were closed.

I went to the First lounge at C gates and it was so packed I couldn't even get a seat. (they have the row of tables/seats beside the window blocked off for safety which reduces the capacity significantly)
So as I had plenty of time I went to the First lounge at A gates which was open on both sides and very quiet. Full menu and full service.

Im onboard now, and service is as normal. Crew are doing a great job.

I believe the damage from the debris at gate B12 significantly compromised the entire area (from last Saturday) which I believe is where the Moet Chandon bar is, a NOTAM went out mid-week notifying that there would be a crane at the airport reaching a height of 210m being at the airport:

Embassy rescue flights
 

I find it somewhat amusing that you find now on social media Western embassies one after another congratulating themselves on organizing rescue flights for their citizens.

At the same time, we find Emirates operating an ever fuller schedule of flights.

I've noticed that, since there's been a bit of an improvement with arrivals and departures, EK448 to AKL has departed DXB just once. As there's just one flight a day what's the reason for the others being cancelled?
Also what arrangements are being made afterwards for those passengers?

Yes there was definitely some pre existing construction work going on around that area you mention B12, which was heavily masked off with bill boards at the departures level. It may explain the decision to close off the B lounges entirely. The airport was busier than I expected. I would say about 50-60% of the usual PAX flow for that mid day departure block.

The best First Class lounge is the A lounge - in my opinion…

Good to be talking about lounges again :-)

I don’t have any inside knowledge but they appear to be directing NZ traffic DXB to SYD to CHC - if you try and buy a DXB to NZ flight in short term that is what is being offered. I imagine it’s a combination of demand vs repatriations. I note 448 is schedules to fly Monday - time will tell.

Thank you for that information. Does that mean CHC is replacing AKL? If so, what arrangements are being made to get passengers to AKL?
Last May I made the booking in F, for a return trip from London STN to AKL and am due to fly out in three weeks' time.
I have a choice of either getting a refund or re-routing. However, if I go for the latter I believe that I'll have to pay the difference in F with another airline. From what I've seen, it'll add more to the cost.
What concerns me is that I'll be flown from London to DXB only to find that the flight to AKL has been cancelled.

Looking for some advice...

I booked a ticket GDN-WAW-DXB-TNR-DXB-WAW-GDN with EK. There are feeder flights with LO to WAW, and onwards with EK (including one night stopover at DXB due to a 10 hour layover).

1) is it safe to be flying via DXB? It doesn't take much to regret it...
2) should I proactively book some alternative flights via TK or LH?
3) My ticket requires a 300 euro penalty to cancel... Should I plead with EK to refund for free?

I think that western embassies are both arranging rescue flights (e.g. AF) and getting block of seats on EK. AT least that the info from French embassy.

It may help greatly if you include the date you booked the tickets and the date of at least the WAW-DXB segment.

I have an India → DXB → BOS booking for the end of the month. I asked them for rebooking on an alternate airline for the same dates. The response was a stock - "we plan to operate this flight, check back in closer to travel date"
The schedule doesn't show any active flights to BOS yet. I'll HUCA in a few days on the Whatsapp chat to see if they have any options on other airlines. FWIW its a J booking.

Sharing a data point if it helps anyone out there.

Public Service Announcement
The website does not seem to have full availability that call centre agents see -- I was trying to book a flight DXB-MXP in the next week, and EF showed availability in economy:
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...14137a6f24.png

But, the website did not:

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b0ea76a32a.png

Speaking on the whatsapp chat, they were able to book me onto this flight in Eco, therefore some seats are being held back from web interface. If you are dead set on flying on a specific route / day, have a check with the call centre.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ca47d0c7a4.png

I see the schedule being almost fully loaded into the system in EF from 15 March onwards (Sunday), including EK 237 on every day except Wednesday and Saturday, although I see business being full on many days.

that certainly does not apply imho to the US; their response has involved copying and pasting an email day after day telling us that Trump cares nothing more than for our safety, and then telling us we are on our own. Pathetic.

This does not align with the communication my travel agent received?
Is this policy no longer applicable, or did legionnaire just have a bad agent?

Early May. I realize it is far out, but, realistically, things are going to get a lot worse in the region before they get better, and I don't have a desire putting my life out there...

Emirates is only allowing refunds/changes for flights through the end of the month. I actually think that is pretty fair at this point. Your flight is 2 months from now so while I completely understand not wanting to transit the region, they will charge you the fees to change or cancel at this point. If things are still not back to normal in a month, then you will likely be able to cancel and refund for no fee, but their stated policies will not let you do that now and I would not expect flexibility on that.

Los Angeles
 

Please correct me if I’m wrong. The flight from Dubai to Los Angeles is now showing on the 15th of March, which is this Sunday. This is available to book on the website.
After speaking to the gold desk she said to me that the flights are not showing in her system.

Does anyone know if this is flying? It’s showing available for the 15th of March daily.

On ExpertFlyer it (EK215) shows as daily from 15 March. F4A0 on the 15th, otherwise fully open in all classes

There are a lot of flights showing up like that. I imagine they’re looking at things week-by-week. EK201 is another that shows up again next week.

Whether or not this sticks, I don’t know.