db07mufan

I attempted to do the same thing in January.

CGK was able to check my bags through to DOH, but however I was struck with a 2 hour delay for the CMB-AUH sector. Understandably QR will not rebook me for free, at the end I bought my own ticket on the 0545 flight. It was a very dreadful overnight at AUH.

Jamier45

I’m pretty relaxed about connection times but wouldn’t risk that on separate tickets, if for any reason you can’t check in or you’re delayed then you’re screwed.

Jamier45

Didn’t want to post after my last experience of UL (and potentially jinx myself) but flight left CGK about 50 minutes late.

We arrived about 15 minutes late into CMB and I’m currently onboard the flight to AUH, we should have an on time departure with a flight time to AUH of about 4:40.

I really hope UL continue as this is a nice way to travel with great TP for not a huge amount of money. Even the wife has talked about wanting to join me on a future trip although that will probably include a few days in Jakarta/surrounding area rather than a flight back the next day.

Crew, service, food and drinks have been brilliant as is usual on UL.

qraec777

Wouldn't recommend doing that, the UL flights are extremely unpredictable in terms of delays. Russian roulette has better odds than on-time UL flights.

IAN-UK

A short wait is preferable to a long wait, sure: even though five hours in the AUH lounge isn't an end of the world outcome. But aiming for a sub-2H connection anywhere is risky, and where Sri Lankan is in the equation it gets to be reckless. last minute fares is the region can be silly-money.

If you are booking long enough in advance you might minimise the £-risk by buying a one-way out of AUH for the next day. If you do this and want QR it can sometimes be worth looking at AUH-DOH -XXX, where XXX is a regional destination,

BUT note that the CMB AUH flight getting wiped out/cancelled - isn't exactly unheard of. In such a case the 05:30 AUK DOH flight would be useful if UL put you on their CMB DXB service: budget two hours and £50+ for the surface connection between DXB and AUH. The handy alternative might be being put on the CMB DOH service, but this can run foul of UL's access to business (A/F) seats between DOH and AUH. Even though you might not be interested in that final sector, it has to be ticketed.

rbhout

Looks like for the moment we're good:From: https://www.newswire.lk/2024/03/05/s...ovt-decisions/

GeneralTalker1030

Quick DP: AUH to CMB leg cancelled. Contacted AUH ticketing office and requested to reroute via DOH, agent proposed DXB-CMB as there’s no F/J space on AUH-DOH. UL to arrange transport from AUH to DXB. Station manager’s contact info provided and it seems they’re able to pick me up from my hotel.

Will gladly take this — the A330 hard product out of DXB is vastly superior. My hotel c/o is at 4, and I’m happy to leave a bit early.

remymartin

That was lucky. I had to pay for my own transportation in January, as did an offline friend of mine end of last year.

IanWorthington

Frequency of Sales Events

For those, like me, newcomers to this route, wondering how often the sales are. Going back through this forum I find:

29 Dec 2018

1 Sep 2019
19 Sep 2019
9 Oct 2019
29 Nov 2019
18 Dec 2019

16 Jan 2020
19 Feb 2020

(Covid: Jan 2020 - May 2023)

31 Aug 2023
24 Nov 2023

31 Jan 2024

So when's the next one? Aug/Sept seems a fair bet for one with not enough data points from March until then to form the basis for a guess. Google suggests peak travel season is June - August, Ramadan is March - April this year.

captainarabiia

Keeping an eye on this as well.

Hopefully something comes up for EOY travel.

pythonisman

Agree. I'm holiding out hope for something that straddles the new year ideally!

E14 26C

Does anyone have an up to date contact to be able to make the one free change to the booking, I’ve tried some of the numbers on the booking confirmation via Skype but can’t seem to actually connect

dvs7310

There's an email address somewhere WAY upthread for the AUH sales office. They seem to be the most useful to make changes from what I've gathered following this thread.

Edit: Found it: [email protected]

rbhout

It looks like the wiki has disappeared?

IAN-UK

It's certainly there now.

Maybe there was a glitch, or maybe there's a minimum level of posts required before you get full acess