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:

Quote:

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:

Go to Refund requests;
They can approach their nearest Qatar Airways Office; or
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

Contact their nearest Qatar Airways Office; or
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.

Quote:

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.

Quote:

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

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

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Sep 20, 2017, 7:48 am

#1441

Dr. HFH

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Jan 2007

Location: BOS/UTH

Programs: AA LT PLT; QR GLD; Bonvoy LT TIT

Posts: 12,755

Quote:

Originally Posted by aktchi

I feel sorry for the employees, but there is obviously not much for them to do in those stations. Yeah, looks like dragging out longer than most of us originally hoped.

As I have posted in other QR threads, my guess is that the Gang of Five (as I like to call them) has figured out that the current approach hasn't worked and won't in the future; and they're not sure what to do now. They certainly don't want to just cancel the boycott because of the loss of face involved; but Qatar (both the airline and the nation) has shown that it has no interest in capitulating and can survive the boycott. Indeed, one could legitimately argue that the boycott has strengthened both the nation and airline because of the remedial and alternative measures they had to put in place.

aktchi likes this.

Sep 20, 2017, 1:22 pm

#1442

aktchi

Join Date: May 2007

Location: ORD, DEL

Programs: AA (Plt Pro; 1.5 MM)

Posts: 6,185

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. HFH

You are right. Loss of face is a big deal in many cultures including the Middle East. However, these cultures also lack true sincerity and commitment to very much, which is especially true of this "gang".

So I am hoping that Trump, or someone else, can engineer an exception for air travel as a "goodwill gesture", would help if "the benevolent spirit of Islam" was referenced, and the rest of the boycott can be sorted out slowly.

Just daydreaming here.

Sep 24, 2017, 10:27 am

#1443

PinkFish

Join Date: Nov 2016

Posts: 23

Qatar seem to have shot their bullet with their neighbours - cant see this ending any time soon. i was hoping to see some improvement in customer service and flight prices as a result. i suspect it will end with Qatar losing the world cup which cast say they don't deserve

Sep 24, 2017, 11:29 pm

#1444

SullyofDoha

Join Date: Oct 2013

Location: Doha, Qatar

Programs: Qatar Airways Privilege Club Platinum; Accor Le Club Platinum

Posts: 1,077

Flights originating from Qatar are now seasonally higher than they were a year ago. No competition from Emirates, Etihad, UAE low cost carriers. Plus, no more flights with KLM and Lufthansa is pulling out this year too. Add to the fact that partial ownership in BA has encouraged the speculation of price collusion and there you have a great recipe to grind the Qatar consumer :/

Sep 25, 2017, 4:50 am

#1445

NoY

Join Date: Nov 2004

Location: Phuket

Programs: SQ *Gold, BA, QR, EY, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, Marriott Gold, Amex Platinum

Posts: 5,269

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. HFH

As I have posted in other QR threads, my guess is that the Gang of Five (as I like to call them) has figured out that the current approach hasn't worked and won't in the future; and they're not sure what to do now. They certainly don't want to just cancel the boycott because of the loss of face involved; but Qatar (both the airline and the nation) has shown that it has no interest in capitulating and can survive the boycott. Indeed, one could legitimately argue that the boycott has strengthened both the nation and airline because of the remedial and alternative measures they had to put in place.

Mmmm....actually there is not a bottomless (sand) pit of cash/reserves. The dispute will get resolved just not quickly (whatever that means) & all will eventually get resolved

Sep 25, 2017, 5:04 am

#1446

GUWonder

Suspended

Join Date: Jul 2001

Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory

Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting

Posts: 102,095

I'm using QR more for my US-South Asia and EU-South Asia trips than would have been the case prior to this Saudi-Emirati-drive against Qatar.

For those in economy class, has the food in QR gotten worse? I'm hearing that QR's food is rather disappointing as of late for economy class food -- but that's not saying a whole lot given how lousy economy class food has become on many carriers.

Sep 25, 2017, 12:22 pm

#1447

nldogbert

Join Date: Feb 2004

Location: Netherlands

Posts: 4,287

I am just wondering, what happened to the employees of QR at these stations of the 'gang of 5'? Are they still being paid or made redundant?
I guess they would still want to keep them when the ban is lifted to avoid retraining a whole new team.

Cheers!

Sep 25, 2017, 2:42 pm

#1448

Happy

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Jul 2003

Location: Florida

Posts: 29,762

Quote:

Originally Posted by GUWonder

Our recent MIA-DOH and DOH-JNB in J food offerings were MARKEDLY worse than those we had on different flights in January 2017 and Sept 2016. Only the soups seemed to still maintain the quality but the portion was ridiculously small. The main courses were surprisingly bad as they bordered to inedible. (a lamb and a beef dish).

So the deterioration of quality is not just in economy. but in business class as well. After all, they have to cut costs further to make up the extra fuel costs incurred and the loss of customers during the ongoing embargo.

Sep 25, 2017, 7:32 pm

#1449

Dr. HFH

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Jan 2007

Location: BOS/UTH

Programs: AA LT PLT; QR GLD; Bonvoy LT TIT

Posts: 12,755

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy

I usually try to avoid making generalizations from a small sample. Your sample of two flights, while I don't doubt what you say about your food, is not statistically significant. I just flew CMB-DOH-LAX-DOH-SIN in J; and, IMO, the food was as good (or not, depending on one's perspective) as it's always been.

Sep 25, 2017, 11:08 pm

#1450

Amame

Join Date: Jul 2017

Posts: 57

Quote:

Originally Posted by GUWonder

For those in economy class, has the food in QR gotten worse? I'm hearing that QR's food is rather disappointing as of late for economy class food -- but that's not saying a whole lot given how lousy economy class food has become on many carriers.

As per my Expat friends in Qatar, the food are getting more expensive and less quality due to many of food items are flew in from South Africa especially fruits and vegetables. Meat are also tasteless, not sure they are from where. I believe if it effect the whole country, it will more or less effect the airline with no doubt.

Sep 26, 2017, 1:10 am

#1451

MKE-MR

Join Date: Mar 2003

Location: Here today gone tomorrow

Programs: *G, ow Saph

Posts: 2,865

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. HFH

Agreed. I had 4 flights. The dinners were same as always, the lamb perhaps a tad overseasoned but I'd blame the kitchen ex-ORD for that--and that's probably not related to the blockade in any way. The meals out of DOH equivalent quality to previously. And I generally order the same things so it's an apples to apples comparison.

I do wonder, however, if the previous assertion about the Y meals would be more likely. If I were QR management, I'd try my hardest to keep J quality high since that's where the real money comes from. So if I had to cut 5% from my catering budget, I'd take it all out of Y rather than risk losing the really important J travelers who may already be at risk due to the situation. I'm hoping not to have to check the quality of Y meals any time soon

but I do have 8 Y segments scheduled on QR in the next two months.

Sep 26, 2017, 1:36 am

#1452

Phil the Flyer

Join Date: Dec 2004

Location: Manila, Philippines (MNL)

Programs: BAEC Gold [>20k Lifetime TPs] | Hilton Honors Lifetime Diamond [as is Mrs PtF] | Various Others

Posts: 6,156

Quote:

Originally Posted by nldogbert

Wonder no more. Scroll up 15 posts (to post # 1432) from your own and you will find the information you are seeking (see also post # 1428).

Sep 27, 2017, 10:43 am

#1453

tortellini

Join Date: Sep 2011

Posts: 239

My experience until now. I have a flight CAI-DOH-MIA mid of October. It included an overnight in DOH, which we always prefer to do before heading to MIA.

The callcenter in the US and CANADA (I did quite a few HUTA) were just able to offer me ridiulous flights.

CAI-IST/BEY-DOH ... but leaving CAI in the afternoon, having to sleep in the lounge, arriving in DOH a few hours before our flight to MIA departs.

I tried many times to ask for a flight leaving CAI in the moring, arriving at DOH in the late afternoon, but they insist there is no availabilty. I will try more HUTAS.

A refund is not an option.

Sep 28, 2017, 10:33 am

#1454

jouhka

Join Date: Oct 2014

Location: HEL

Programs: BA G; AY Basic; HHonors G; Marriott S

Posts: 141

End- November HEL-DOH-AUH-DOH-HEL changed today to HEL-DOH-KWI-DXB-KWI-DOH-HEL with KWI legs on KU. Timings are not super great but somewhat acceptable. KU sectors in Econom(Y). Other J/A as previously.

The call center agent said that there is no more any option to fly to AUH at all. Any experience on that?

At least we get to the region, that is the main point. Also option to cancel and refund if we find something else (TK option is not tempting at all).

-j

Sep 29, 2017, 10:52 am

#1455

iMeMoz

Join Date: Sep 2017

Posts: 3

Quote:

Originally Posted by jouhka

I also have HEL-DOH-DXB flights in two weeks. I have called tree times but they are just giving me HEL-DOH-KWI-DXB, that has a really bad timing. They have said to my that they are only giving flights via Kuwait with kuwait airways. I think i need to accept it... I wonder how the transit works at Kuwait. Do i have to pick up my luggage etc..