Pakistan air space closure
Mar 10, 2019, 11:06 pm
#31
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Platinum, TK Elite, BT VIP, AA, BA, SK, DL, NT, WB + hotels
Posts: 8,749
It seems that Thailand flights now avoid Pakistani airspace by flying over the Arabian Sea and via Iran. No Russia-China route anymore.
These flight times must be a whole lot longer than scheduled. I’ll be flying SGN-HEL on Thursday. Could anyone estimate what the odds are that we need to make a fuel stop? The flight will probably be at least an hour late inbound anyway, and since they’re unable to make up for it during ground time, I’m assuming arrival in HEL will be delayed by at least two hours without extra stops.
These flight times must be a whole lot longer than scheduled. I’ll be flying SGN-HEL on Thursday. Could anyone estimate what the odds are that we need to make a fuel stop? The flight will probably be at least an hour late inbound anyway, and since they’re unable to make up for it during ground time, I’m assuming arrival in HEL will be delayed by at least two hours without extra stops.
Mar 10, 2019, 11:58 pm
#32
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Switzerland
Programs: AY+ Platinum, SK Gold, BAEC Silver, airbaltic VIP, Radisson VIP
Posts: 6,530
It seems that Thailand flights now avoid Pakistani airspace by flying over the Arabian Sea and via Iran. No Russia-China route anymore.
These flight times must be a whole lot longer than scheduled. I’ll be flying SGN-HEL on Thursday. Could anyone estimate what the odds are that we need to make a fuel stop? The flight will probably be at least an hour late inbound anyway, and since they’re unable to make up for it during ground time, I’m assuming arrival in HEL will be delayed by at least two hours without extra stops.
These flight times must be a whole lot longer than scheduled. I’ll be flying SGN-HEL on Thursday. Could anyone estimate what the odds are that we need to make a fuel stop? The flight will probably be at least an hour late inbound anyway, and since they’re unable to make up for it during ground time, I’m assuming arrival in HEL will be delayed by at least two hours without extra stops.
Mar 11, 2019, 12:22 am
#33
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Platinum, TK Elite, BT VIP, AA, BA, SK, DL, NT, WB + hotels
Posts: 8,749
That's what I had in mind, too. It's a looong flight, and I wonder what the odds are that a fuel stop is necessary. A350-900 should have a range of 15 000 km and SGN-DWC-HEL, which imitates the route pretty well, is only 10206 km. Should be fine, I guess.
Mar 11, 2019, 7:13 am
#34
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Tallinn / Isle of Man
Programs: Finnair Platinum; Intercontinental Ambassador
Posts: 578
Hello. I am actually in a sticky situation with Finnair right now. I was on the DEL-HEL on 28th Feb. Due to very last minute change I had to fly straight from HEL to MAD and bought a oneway HEL-MAD ticket on Finnair. Of course as I landed the gate was closed. Went to gate 31 customer service desk, where they told me, sorry there is nothing we can do for you today, but we can put you on a flight tomorrow, which was not good enough as I really needed to make it to Madrid that night. Then the polite lady told me, OK ... we will issue you a full refund and I bought a oneway ticket for KLM that was leaving shortly.
Only to be told last week by Finnair. Sorry you cancelled your flight after departure, no refund will be given. I complained again to the web form, but so far no anwser. It was not a cheapest ticket of them all, so refund would be widely appreciated.
Only to be told last week by Finnair. Sorry you cancelled your flight after departure, no refund will be given. I complained again to the web form, but so far no anwser. It was not a cheapest ticket of them all, so refund would be widely appreciated.
Mar 11, 2019, 8:55 am
#35
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 29
Watching this thread closely as I will be attempting a 50min connection fm AY142 (BKK-HEL) to AY1365 (HEL-MAN) in early April.
1365 is the last flight to MAN for the day. Given recent punctuality of AY142, I am not optimistic of making this connection.
Anything I can or should do whilst awaiting the inevitable ?
1365 is the last flight to MAN for the day. Given recent punctuality of AY142, I am not optimistic of making this connection.
Anything I can or should do whilst awaiting the inevitable ?
Mar 11, 2019, 9:05 am
#36
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: try to stay home
Programs: AY, M&M, BAEC ...and don t care of status anymore
Posts: 2,042
Not really in my experience AY only acts if the problem is already there. Once I flew out of PRG to HEL onwards to BKK, the in bound flight to PRG was about 3 hours late, I called them and ask them if they can reroute me on another airline, they declined. I flow to HEL, got my connection missed message, was booked into the Hilton and flew on the next day (lucky me I got the compensation since it was technical).
Are there any other flights to MAN on that day (with other airlines), then they may rebook you. Also they possible wait if too many pax are missing the connection.
Are there any other flights to MAN on that day (with other airlines), then they may rebook you. Also they possible wait if too many pax are missing the connection.
Mar 11, 2019, 9:44 am
#37
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Platinum, TK Elite, BT VIP, AA, BA, SK, DL, NT, WB + hotels
Posts: 8,749
We don't know what the situation will be like in early April, and if you contact AY now, they'll most likely do nothing and ask you to wait.
If the problem persists, you could try to call them a few days prior to your flights, and have a suggestion ready, suggesting alternative AY flights. I don't believe they are willing to proactively move you to another carrier. There is a BKK-LHR flight on BA that would take you to LHR at 18:30, in time for the 20:30 to MAN, but I'd be amazed if AY lets you do this.
So should that fail, I'd be prepared for a HEL-LHR-MAN flight the same evening (if there is such a connection; seems to me the last LHR-MAN flight on BA is at 20:30, which does not work for you) or the morning flight HEL-MAN the next day. I find it unlikely that they will present you with this solution at BKK, so you'll need to contact ground staff at HEL.
If the problem persists, you could try to call them a few days prior to your flights, and have a suggestion ready, suggesting alternative AY flights. I don't believe they are willing to proactively move you to another carrier. There is a BKK-LHR flight on BA that would take you to LHR at 18:30, in time for the 20:30 to MAN, but I'd be amazed if AY lets you do this.
So should that fail, I'd be prepared for a HEL-LHR-MAN flight the same evening (if there is such a connection; seems to me the last LHR-MAN flight on BA is at 20:30, which does not work for you) or the morning flight HEL-MAN the next day. I find it unlikely that they will present you with this solution at BKK, so you'll need to contact ground staff at HEL.
Mar 11, 2019, 11:17 am
#38
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
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Posts: 50,262
Hello. I am actually in a sticky situation with Finnair right now. I was on the DEL-HEL on 28th Feb. Due to very last minute change I had to fly straight from HEL to MAD and bought a oneway HEL-MAD ticket on Finnair. Of course as I landed the gate was closed. Went to gate 31 customer service desk, where they told me, sorry there is nothing we can do for you today, but we can put you on a flight tomorrow, which was not good enough as I really needed to make it to Madrid that night. Then the polite lady told me, OK ... we will issue you a full refund and I bought a oneway ticket for KLM that was leaving shortly.
Only to be told last week by Finnair. Sorry you cancelled your flight after departure, no refund will be given. I complained again to the web form, but so far no anwser. It was not a cheapest ticket of them all, so refund would be widely appreciated.
Only to be told last week by Finnair. Sorry you cancelled your flight after departure, no refund will be given. I complained again to the web form, but so far no anwser. It was not a cheapest ticket of them all, so refund would be widely appreciated.
The agent who advised that the ticket would be refunded likely had no authority to do so. Nonetheless, you could frame your request to AY as being a promise. If you have the individual's name, you should include that. If not, provide a description and the specific location where you interacted.
Mar 13, 2019, 4:40 pm
#40
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: BGO (Temporarily HEL)
Programs: AY+ Gold, SK EBG
Posts: 400
Given recent history of AY122 arriving around 16:30-17:30 in HEL instead of planned 14:45, my connection this Sunday to BGO at 15:50 seems highly unlikely. No other flights HEL-BGO that day. Should I contact AY proactively and ask for alternate routing? (There are evening flights to OSL with AY, SK, and D8, but then would still need SK/DY/WF ticket to get to BGO.)
Mar 13, 2019, 7:23 pm
#41
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Platinum, TK Elite, BT VIP, AA, BA, SK, DL, NT, WB + hotels
Posts: 8,749
Since they only have one flight from DEL, there’s not much you can do. They want you on their long haul, and once in HEL, will most likely offer you AY to OSL and competitor to BGO.
Mar 18, 2019, 2:47 am
#43
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: try to stay home
Programs: AY, M&M, BAEC ...and don t care of status anymore
Posts: 2,042
Does anyone knows how long this will go on? Have flights end of March and need to arrange the trip. As of now I understand that AY 143 is about one hour late if not using Pakistan airspace - is that correct? Also I will loose about one hour on the way back - so I booked a later connection already. So any news on this?
Mar 18, 2019, 3:51 am
#44
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Platinum, TK Elite, BT VIP, AA, BA, SK, DL, NT, WB + hotels
Posts: 8,749
I guess there is no news, but end of March is less than two weeks away, so I would certainly not count on Pakistan airspace opening up.
AY sometimes flies via the Arabian Sea, sometimes Russia-China. The latter route should have flying times equal to those of the Pakistan route, but since we can’t know in advance which routing they will take, I’d plan additional buffer time at HEL.
AY sometimes flies via the Arabian Sea, sometimes Russia-China. The latter route should have flying times equal to those of the Pakistan route, but since we can’t know in advance which routing they will take, I’d plan additional buffer time at HEL.
Mar 18, 2019, 9:57 am
#45
Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: MUC
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 48,171
PK is refusing any entry from the Indian FIR for now. This is expected to continue till the Indian elections in May. The fact that with additional fuel, careful planning and a rather bumpy ride at lower altitudes over Muscat FIR the operation is still going on shows that this is not going to change in the near future.