realgaga

With that, call them to get a refund (don't wait for the email if it hasn't already arrived)

Cedar Jet

Ah the joys of QR ground operations....clear as mud as usual.

roberino

You might not like it but QR are doing the right thing for their business/shareholders by leaving a cancellation decision until the last minute. If they cancel now then they have to refund every single traveller. If they delay there’s a chance the flight may operate, and also that some passengers will cancel for a penalty.

DYKWIA

You booked the flight knowing that there would be the possibility (probability?) that it wouldn't run.

Now you're complaining that it's not running.

The world is changing on a daily basis. Would you have been annoyed if QR had cancelled your trip 2 weeks ago, but then re-instated the flights when (hypothetically) the rules changed from 1st August?

cesc

I dont think you even get my concern. I am not complaining that they aren't running/operating those flights. The part of my post you have highlighted in bold actually shows clearly that I am admitting that I booked these flight knowing there is a chance that they wouldn't operate.

My issue is that despite QR knowing for at least 2 weeks that they arent going to operate these flights, they still didn't cancel this booking or make me aware till the very last day. The rules didnt change on Aug 1. They havent been marketing any flights to India for travel dates till 15th August for at least 2 weeks now. So no, the world didnt change for them overnight.

I called them 36 hours before departure and they still insisted they will operate those flights. Their cancellation came with less than 24 hours to go. They just wanted to hold on to my money for as long as they could and potentially retain it by pushing me towards cancelling voluntarily.

I very much want to travel and, in fact, was hoping that Qatar would operate these flights. Have booked these tickets for the third time with United again for next week.

roberino

You don’t actually know that the flight is cancelled, just that they aren’t selling new tickets. Not the same.

cesc

Agree that those two are different things. However in this case the airline isn’t selling tickets AND the destination country isn’t allowing flights from the airline and yet they want their passengers to think that they would be somehow operating those flights.

Kleinnaf

I'm scheduled to depart 8/11 DOH-JFK QR703
Flight shows rescheduled but doesn't say to when
​​​​​​QR is still selling the flight online

Flight aware isn't pulling up QTR 703

How can I know if the flight is operating or not?
Can't call QR at the moment
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ISTFlyer

Probably a FlightAware glitch.
QR 703 on 11 August seems that it would operate.

cesc

2 weeks after the flight cancellation by QR, I am still waiting even for an intimation of a refund. Not sure how long the actual refund will take.

Meanwhile, they have now stopped selling US-India tickets for August and moved the date out to September. It seems every 2 weeks they shift their booking dates out by 2 weeks. Which is fine as long as they be upfront about their own cancellations and be prompt in providing refunds instead of sitting on people’s money for months.

plunet

The two weeks kinda makes sense as that would be the cut-off for when Qatar would have libaility for cancellation compensation under EU261.
So if the sector to be cancelled has any potential passengers flying from the EU via DOH to that destination on a single ticket then they would be lookinig to cancel with at least two weeks of notice to avoid potential compensation liabilities.
Not all sectors are liable to be so proactively affected - there are typically no through fares from western Europe to the Americas, but a few of their Eastern European cities might have some through fares filed.

Waiting to see if an ex-EU to CPT I have in early September gets canned, the DOH-CPT route is currently cancelled until 3rd September...

Johnnieboy

Not according to a still live reservation I have a couple of days before that... Although I fully expect that to be cancelled in due course. SA won't be opening any time soon.

And surely no airlines are paying out EC261 compensation for flights cancelled due to border closures? Hard to see how that is in any way under the airline's control. They all have flexible rebooking policies at the moment to look after us, because we aren't due any compensation.

I think QR probably really want to try to operate their network, they are a business and need cash after all, and are applying rolling cancellations a week or two or three in advance once it becomes clear they definitely can't fly to a particular destination. It probably smooths out the load on their contact centres too.

In the end we all know it's a lottery booking flights for the foreseeable future so we all need to stay nimble. The airlines don't want their fleets grounded but it's mostly not their choice currently. If we don't like only being given a couple of weeks notice of cancellation under the current circumstances we all have the choice not to book further than that in advance. In fact, unless we are taking a punt on a very cheap fare, living week by week for international travel seems eminently sensible at the moment.


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ft101

You'r right - no compensation is due for cancellations due to Covid responses.

Often1

To be clear EC Guidance issued in March makes it clear that the pandemic is an "extraordinary circumstance" and that the pandemic itself is the circumstance rather than an per flight determination of why it was cancelled. Thus, no compensation for cancellations or delays.

However, the same Guidance makes it equally clear that Section 8 rebooking refunds remain due and that a duty of care still applies should it arise.

plunet

Well, for my ex-EU to Cape Town in September, precisely two weeks ahead of their first available for sale seats on DOH to CPT on 3rd September, another two weeks of flights have been pulled from sale pushing the first available date of sale back into mid September.

​​​​​However my DOH to CPT sector a few days into to latest not available for sale block of dates remains confirmed, echoing the observation of the OP.

Fortunately one of my ex-EU sectors has been retimed by 8hrs so I can now hopefully request and obtain a refund on an invol schedule change and not have to wait out on the South Africa border being closed (as QR have not extended their policy guidance recently) or for the flight to be cancelled.

​​​​​​Very sad that I won't be able to go and explore South Africa - it would have been my first trip there, but with their tourism industry on its knees as well as have been hit hard by the virus, it's probably all for the best. I suspect that international travel is going to be very restrictive for quite some time to come.
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