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Qatar Airways - UAE, KSA, Bahrain and Egypt withdraw licenses and close airspace

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Old Jun 5, 2017, 6:48 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: plunet
Wiki last updated: 21 July 2017 18:00 UTC

Summary of key traveller experiences and feedback on this forum since Mid-June
  • Policy statement (link) for the travel industry issued 15th June 2017
  • Refund is always an option, but very varied experiences of how quickly the refund is processed, from a few days to "still waiting". Some experiences of passengers being pressurised into taking refunds when this is not necessary if you can wait.
  • If you want to reroute from a closed destination to another middle east destination still served by QR, you might be able to do this as early as 30 days from 1st sector, although we have had reports of rerouting at 6 weeks out.
  • Where QR have to reroute onto other carriers, long haul reroutes typically onto BA, CX and TK seem to be quoted most often. In the Gulf region ME, KU, WY are quoted most often. Although RJ is a OneWorld carrier and should be a parter for QR, they are not accepting QR rerouted tickets.
  • Status of reservations for travel to affected destinations typically changes to "Unconfirmed" 7 days ahead of travel.
  • If your booking was via a 3rd party or agent you probably can't get Qatar to change the ticket until 72 hours before the first sector. 3rd parties and agents seem to be offering refunds rather than rerouting, although there has been some success if you can show them the QR rebooking policy document.
  • There has been a very mixed bag of reports of how QR are handling rebooking. Some people have no luck getting itineraries changed before 72 hours before departure, but others do. So some good advice is to always be polite but if you don't get what you want, then thank the agent for their time and HUACA (hang up and call again) - preferably after you have had a drink and have calmed down, and maybe calling a different office.

Some specific data points from other travellers:
(but there is a lot more valuable information if you can trawl back through the thread)

#753 CAI-LHR-DOH been offered as alternative for ex-CAI 4 days prior to 1st sector.
#772 KUL-DOH-LXR reroute to CAI and IST refused
#792 AUH-DOH-DPS by QR rebooked to DXB-HKG-DPS by CX
#794 Australia-DOH-HBE rebooked as DOH-BEY on QR on 2nd attempt.
#808 CAI>DOH>BOS>DOH>CAI rebooked to KRT and date change
#818 SYD-DOH-CAI changed to SYD-DOH-KWI-CAI, layovers optimed and +Qatar stopover
#830 and #840 Economy ICN-DOH-DXB rebooked onto CX ICN-HKG-DXB
#849 ex-CAI ininaries changed to ex-AMM but needed to HUACA a few times.
#856 CAI-DOH-BKK changed to FCO-DOH-BKK all on QR
#868 DFW-DOH-HBE changed to DFW-DOH-LCA all on QR 2 weeks out.
#906 Unable to get LXR-DOH-HKG-BNE rerouted until 72 hours prior
#927 CAI-DOH-BKK rebooked onto CAI-BAH-AMM on Gulf DOH-BKK (on QR) and return back to AMM
#966 DXB-DOH (award ticket) was changed to DXB-KWI-DOH on Kuwait+QR 48hrs in advance
#966 DOH-CAI (2 award tickets) were changed to DOH-BEY on QR 48 hours advance
#966 CAI-DOH-MUC (paid business) were changed to BEY-DOH-MUC 72 hours advance
#981 HKT-DOH-DWC (J/F tix) change to HKT-DOH-KWI all on QR 10 days out.
#985 ex-LXR ticket rerouted by OTA as CAI-BEY-DOH outside the 72 hr window
#1004 BKK-DOH-CAI in F rebooked as BKK-DOH-BEY in QR F, BEY-CAI in C on ME
#1005 HEL-DOH-DXB rebooked HEL-DOH-MCT on QR and MCT-DXB on Oman once ticket status went to unconfirmed.
#1057 MAN-DOH-DXB rebooked as MAN-LHR-DXB on BA (had to HUACA 3 times)
#1141 Multiple ex-CAI itineraries CAI-DOK-BKK return in J, CAI-DOH-LHR return in J, CAI-DOH-BKK single in F changed to all be ex-KWI. Had to HUACA 3 times.
#1157 LXR-DOH-NRT booked in January, flight changed to CAI-DOH-NRT
#1172 Rebooked CAI-(F)-DOH(J)-BKK to CAI-(C/ME)-BEY-(F)-DOH-(C)-BKK at 77hrs from departure
#1173 Rebooked at QR office HBE-DOH-DPS to HBE-IST-DOH-DPS on TK/TK/QR and improved timing on DOS-DPS segment

Offical guidance from QR website as of mid July:

Passengers who have purchased their tickets from Qatar Airways have the following options to refund their tickets:

For tickets booked on qatarairways.com, they can:
  1. Go to Refund requests;
  2. They can approach their nearest Qatar Airways Office; or
  3. They can call the Qatar Airways contact Centre at +974 4022 0072
For tickets booked through a Qatar Airways Office or through the Contact Centre, passengers can
  1. Contact their nearest Qatar Airways Office; or
  2. Call Qatar Airways Contact Centre on +974 4022 0072
The refund will be made to the original form of payment and the refund will be processed within 14 - 28 days.
Passengers who have purchased their Qatar Airways tickets through a Travel Agency can request their refund from the issuing Travel Agent.
Within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kingdom of Bahrain and Egypt please use: https://refundsapp1.blueivysync.com/...er-refund.html

This is a different web form as the Qatar website is blocked from some of these countries.
For further information and FAQs please visit: http://support.qatarairways.com/hc/e...002369667-FAQs
What Happened

On the 6th of June flights from Qatar to Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (and vice versa) were suspended.

This includes all Qatar flights between Doha and Abu Dhabi, Abha, Alexandria–Borg el Arab, Bahrain, Buraydah, Cairo, Dammam, Dubai–Al Maktoum, Dubai–International, Gassim, Hofuf, Jeddah, Luxor, Madinah, Ras Al Khaimah, Riyadh, Sharjah, Tabuk, Ta'if and Yanbu.

Adding to this at 00:00 (UTC) on the 6th of June restrictions were put in place limiting flights to Doha to one particular corridor through the airspace of Bahrain. This has since been relaxed to two specific corridors through Bahrain airspace with a second corridor up the Saudi Arabia the new addition.

All other flights to other Qatar Airways destinations including the Maldives are still operating although some have delays due to the extended time required to avoid restricted airspace.

There are a couple of routes that are having to make fuel stops in Athens or Muscat but this seems to be dependent on the type of aircraft as well.

Details on the Airspace can be found here - https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/f...ain-and-egypt/

What about my Flights to other destinations?

Flights to Europe, Asia, Pacific and Norte America are operating as per schedule with minimal delays. There is no need to contact QR regarding these services.

Flights between Doha and Souto America are facing delays due to longer times and/or need for a technical stop-over. Flights to GRU and EZE are 2hr to 5hrs longer.

Flight between Doha and Africa/Middle East have longer flights times due to the airspace restrictions. Some routes like Doha to Khartoum have felt the full force of the restrictions with the flight now taking 2hr 30 mins longer than normal.

Qatar has begun to re-time flights to ensure the network continues running smoothly. Changes have been since Monday 12 June 2017, so it is advised to check your flight status and times on the Qatar website.


What about my flight to a suspended destination?

If you are due to fly in the next few days, search for alternative routings and note them down.

24 hours before your scheduled departure time, contact your LOCAL QR office, and ask for their assistance. Advise them that you have found an alternative routing which you would be willing to accept and see if they will book it for you.

If you are due to fly more than 5 days from today, try and relax. Do not panic and please do not call QR as you are blocking the lines for those flying in the next 24 hours. At this stage, Qatar is only offering options to those who are traveling in the next 24 hours.

Currently, people in the thread have suggested that Qatar is rebooking on flights through Muscat, Kuwait, Amman, Istanbul, Mumbai, Beirut, Athens and Tunis.

You can only get a refund if your booking is to one of the destinations listed at the top! (The number of people asking QR on Twitter for a refund of other flights is amazing)

What about other airlines?

Most other carriers in and out of Doha are still operating except for Air Arabia, Air Arabia Egypt, Air Cairo, EgyptAir, Emirates, Etihad, FlyDubai, Rotana Jet and Saudia.

Most other carriers are using the new restricted routes into Doha although provided the aircraft is not registered in Qatar they are allowed to use the Saudi Arabia or Egypt Airspace.

Timeline of Events:


5 June 2017

- UAE, KSA, Bahrain and Egypt withdraw licenses and close airspace
- All MS flights between CAI and DOH was zeroed out
- All GF flights between BAH and DOH closed for sale
- All QR flights between DOH and CAI closed for sale
- All QR staff travel was canceled

6 June 2017

- Airspace Restriction came into effect at 00:00 (UTC)
- All QR flights between DOH and UAE/Bahrain/KSA closed for sale
- QR flights between DOH and MLE still bookable
- QR Charters 3 aircraft from Jeddah to Muscat

7 June 2017
- QR Charters an aircraft from Jeddah to Kuwait

8 June 2017
- Qatar Airways website blocked in the UAE
- Qatar Airways offices in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain close

11 June 2017
- Second flight corridor added along the Saudi Arabia Coast

13 June 2017
- UAE Relaxes rules allowing non Qatari registered aircraft to use their airspace to/from Qatar but they are still not allowing flights between the UAE and Qatar from any operators.
- Egypt Relaxes rules allowing non Qatari registered aircraft to use their airspace to/from Qatar. The new rules also allow for non Qatar or Egypt registered aircraft to operate flights between the two countries.

14 June 2017
- Agreement between QR and BA/A3 on reticketing passengers (link below)



Further information:
- QR Travel Alert http://support.qatarairways.com/hc/e...bile_site=true
- QR FAQs http://support.qatarairways.com/hc/e...002369667-FAQs
- QR Charter flights arranged from Jeddah KSA to Muscat Oman http://support.qatarairways.com/hc/e...Muscat-to-Doha
- QR agreement with BA & A3 to reticket their flights http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qatar...r-help-qr.html
- Political background and latest updates: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-40155829
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Qatar Airways - UAE, KSA, Bahrain and Egypt withdraw licenses and close airspace

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Old Aug 13, 2017, 3:40 am
  #1336  
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Just on phone with QR - I had a terribly complicated itinerary with only short stops at various places (CAI-DOH-KUL-TYO-CTS-TYO-KUL-DOH-CAI). With about 12 hours in CTS and a few hours in Tokyo.
Issue is I need to go to both CTS and KUL at least once to deliver some stuff, so QR is having issues trying to find suitable reroute.

My suggested re-route CAI-LHR-HKG-CTS-TYO-KUL-DOH-AMM-CAI does not meet their approval....
nufnuf77 is offline  
Old Aug 13, 2017, 5:08 am
  #1337  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
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Try the ones in Hong Kong. If you are plat or gold, they are very good. I reconfirmed mine 30 days away from flight dates and my booking was via OTA
tboons is offline  
Old Aug 13, 2017, 6:49 am
  #1338  
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
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Posts: 374
Originally Posted by nk15
US line offering LCA and AMM, but not ATH.

A word of caution: If you flights have gone unconfirmed, call asap to rebook and don't wait too long, because when the flights go unconfirmed you also loose your seats on the second, long haul leg (DOH-XXX) as well, and you may get rebooked on different flights with long layovers.
Another data point agreeing with the above .

My itinerary ,booked in January, was CAI-DOH-BKK-DOH-CAI travelling on October 31st -8th November in J with DOH-BKK-DOH upgraded to F using QCredits .As stated above when the CAI-DOH went to unconfirmed ,the seats on the long haul portion were also changed so my upgrade was also lost !

I had to be very assertive to get any action to rebook so far out.... QRPC said they could not reboook and Doha stuck to policy and would not rebook .I insisted QRPC provide some assistance and I finally received a call from India where I was offered CAI-BEY-DOH-BKK-DOH-BEY-CAI . (CAI-BEY on MEA in J )

Initially they said that DOH-BKK-DOH would now have to be in J (even though it was to be on the same flights I was originally booked on ) and that the QMiles would be refunded . I had to be quite insistent that the upgrade was made using non refundable QCredits and even if they were refunded I would have no time to use them before their expiry . They called me back after a couple of hours with the upgrade to F confirmed again on the original flights .

Heaven knows what I would have ended up with leaving things to 72hours before departure . Maybe being QR Platinum helped my case but bookings can be changed more than 72 hours out. I'm happy knowing that my booking is confirmed again ,that I have the same amount of time at my destination and most importantly I still have my First Class upgrade!
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Old Aug 13, 2017, 7:15 am
  #1339  
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Originally Posted by tboons
Try the ones in Hong Kong. If you are plat or gold, they are very good. I reconfirmed mine 30 days away from flight dates and my booking was via OTA
Will do, I called the UK number and she was utterly useless.
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Old Aug 13, 2017, 6:28 pm
  #1340  
 
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Originally Posted by tboons
Try the ones in Hong Kong. If you are plat or gold, they are very good. I reconfirmed mine 30 days away from flight dates and my booking was via OTA
Has anyone had face to face interactions with QR's BKK office? Worth the effort to go in to re-book with them? Thanks.
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Old Aug 13, 2017, 9:56 pm
  #1341  
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: PDX
Programs: BA Gold; AS MVP
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I had a booking beginning in late October LAX-DOH-JED returning in early December. When I initially telephoned the US office in Florida, my outbound flights were changed to LAX-DOH-MCT-JED but I was told that I would have to wait until early October to change the December return because of some 'policy'. I thanked the agent, hung up, and telephoned back. Got a different agent and the return in early December was booked JED-MCT-DOH-LAX with no questions asked. I think it may have been because on the return, I knew exactly the flight numbers I wanted from JED to DOH and said that I HAD to on the DOH-LAX flight on the original itinerary. The agent was very pleasant and helpful - my feeling is that agents may not all be aware of what they can and cannot do for passengers. I completely agree with others who've encouraged researching exactly what flights you want them to book - don't have expectations of free hotel rooms with long layovers, etc., etc. Qatar Airways isn't responsible for the situation in which it finds itself - my experience is that the airline is doing its best to accommodate passengers under difficult circumstances. This is my first time on QR - my intention is to give the carrier my business in future.
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Old Aug 14, 2017, 2:33 am
  #1342  
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 57
Originally Posted by UAuhoh
Has anyone had face to face interactions with QR's BKK office? Worth the effort to go in to re-book with them? Thanks.
Would you mind letting us know how it go with the BKK office? I am flying there in 3 days and was thinking of visiting them to reroute my November flight. Thank you.
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Old Aug 14, 2017, 4:10 am
  #1343  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 13
Our flights BKK C Doh F Cai were rerourted to Gulf Air BKK-BAH-Cai all in C.
of course the airport at Bahrain not comparaple to Doha and the lounge in doha is sooo much better than in Bahrain. Missed the First Class loung in Doha because of this.
I was wondering why rebooking to Gulf air? Bahrain and Qatar are not on good speaking terms i thought.
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Old Aug 14, 2017, 5:10 am
  #1344  
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Originally Posted by schlingu
Our flights BKK C Doh F Cai were rerourted to Gulf Air BKK-BAH-Cai all in C.
of course the airport at Bahrain not comparaple to Doha and the lounge in doha is sooo much better than in Bahrain. Missed the First Class loung in Doha because of this.
I was wondering why rebooking to Gulf air? Bahrain and Qatar are not on good speaking terms i thought.
Well, alternatively, you could have gotten something like BKK-DOH-MCT/BEY-CAI. I am pretty sure if you had insisted on flying through DOH there would have been a solution (albeit with two stops only)
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Old Aug 14, 2017, 10:01 am
  #1345  
 
Join Date: May 2006
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Just want to share a data point.

My original paid flight was DOH-DXB-DOH.

I called the US call centre over the weekend. The US call centre refused to change the destination despite I have previously told the HK call centre to put that option in the booking's remark. The agent repeatedly told that there were only two options as of Aug 9 policy update. 1) cancel the ticket. 2) fly to the original destination DXB via Kuwait.

At the end, I called the HK call centre again today (closed over the weekend). My flight was changed to DXB-MCT-DXB immediately with no question asked.

When in doubt, call the HK #!
l380 is offline  
Old Aug 14, 2017, 2:38 pm
  #1346  
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Thanks guys, gonna call the HK call centre tomorrow. Is it this number: +852 2868 9833?
nufnuf77 is offline  
Old Aug 14, 2017, 3:25 pm
  #1347  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 3,944
nufnuf77 https://www.qatarairways.com/en-dk/w...e-offices.html for Hong Kong says'
" Hong Kong Town Office
Unit B, 20/F, No. 9 Queen's Road Central
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Working hours: 9:00am – 5:30pm Monday to Friday:852 2868 9833 Fax:+852 2868 9081
General Reservations (Mon - Fri 9:00am - 9:00pm): +852 800 969 848"
remdk is offline  
Old Aug 14, 2017, 3:47 pm
  #1348  
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Originally Posted by remdk
nufnuf77 https://www.qatarairways.com/en-dk/w...e-offices.html for Hong Kong says'
" Hong Kong Town Office
Unit B, 20/F, No. 9 Queen's Road Central
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Working hours: 9:00am – 5:30pm Monday to Friday:852 2868 9833 Fax:+852 2868 9081
General Reservations (Mon - Fri 9:00am - 9:00pm): +852 800 969 848"
Thanks, that's exactly what I did and how I got the same number I mentioned above. I was asking more from experience of those who called whether they used this contact number .
nufnuf77 is offline  
Old Aug 14, 2017, 4:07 pm
  #1349  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
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nufnuf77 I have found that a personal visit always gets good results. The girls on the front desk are very friendly, very efficient and very service-minded. If you phone them then I think +852 2868 9833 is the best number but remember that the reservations have an 800 number.
remdk is offline  
Old Aug 14, 2017, 5:12 pm
  #1350  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Toronto
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Posts: 425
Originally Posted by nufnuf77
Thanks guys, gonna call the HK call centre tomorrow. Is it this number: +852 2868 9833?
You can also try calling the HK privilege club number. +852-82288550. I find the waiting time to be even shorter. YMMV
l380 is offline  


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