Airports in the Persian Gulf Emirates (page 3 of 7)

Hello,

Even in cases of "extraordinary circumstances," if a flight is canceled—regardless of the reason (even war)—the airline must cover meals and accommodation (plus transportation to and from) while you wait for a rebooking flight, with no time limit. If they don’t, they’re required to reimburse you for these expenses upon presentation of receipts or proof of purchase, provided you’ve kept costs reasonable (no need to stay in a palace or dine on caviar by the spoonful). Check it out here: https://retardimportantavion.wordpress.com/2021/03/02/remboursement-frais-en-attente-du-vol-retarde-ou-de-reacheminement/

Additionally, the airline must rebook you "as soon as possible." However, this doesn’t mean they’re obligated to perform miracles—after all, no one’s expected to do the impossible. It’s clearly impossible if your departure or final destination airport is closed and no other transport options are available to reach another open airport.

With these exceptions, if the airline doesn’t offer rebooking "as soon as possible" and you find your own alternative—even with another airline—you can purchase the ticket and demand reimbursement. The main challenge will be patience.

Of course, if the closed airport is just a layover you haven’t reached yet, you can look for rebooking options that avoid that airport. What matters is your starting point and final destination, not the stopovers.

More details here: https://retardimportantavion.wordpress.com/2023/09/29/indemnisation-meme-si-circonstance-extraordinaire-droit-reacheminement-dans-les-meilleurs-delais/

Naturally, if your flight was canceled due to "extraordinary circumstances" (which war certainly qualifies as), your rights are limited to what’s outlined above. You’ll only be entitled to compensation if the airline didn’t rebook you "as soon as possible." See an example here:

https://retardimportantavion.wordpress.com/2024/01/12/reacheminement-catastrophique-droit-indemnisation-meme-circonstances-extraordinaires-2/

Best regards

Hi Elviajeroparis,

Thanks for this info—always super helpful and interesting.

Good evening, Some airlines are taking the initiative. A friend called me this morning to say that her flight to Doha via Jeddah, scheduled for March 29th, has been outright canceled. The full refund has already been issued to her account, with no explanation—though we know why. She called them, and their response was, "We’re currently unable to guarantee our flights to Gulf destinations until the end of March."

Hi there,

While Qatar seems bogged down and paralyzed, Dubai is seeing a non-stop stream of A380s and other aircraft heading its way.

Michel

An Air France flight that was supposed to land in Dubai for a repatriation flight just turned back—there’s gunfire around the airport.

Things are heating up around the airport tonight—Emirates flights that were supposed to leave are canceled again. Personally, I’d be too scared to chance it, flying between missiles, drones, and all kinds of fire. Way too risky.

Lol! Some flights are resuming from DXB, which is pretty intense, but only to several cities in India or the Indian Ocean.

Approaching, and it's busy... An A380 just arrived from Vienna, a 777 from Frankfurt, an A380 from Paris, a 777 from Budapest, a 777 from Athens, and a 777 from Düsseldorf—I guess they’re planning to land. Though I think this is just repositioning.

Michel

Lol! Some flights are resuming from DXB, which is pretty intense, but only to several cities in India or the Indian Ocean.

I took a look at Flightradar. Flights are returning from Melbourne, Auckland, New York, Hong Kong, Taipei, São Paulo... and quite a few A380s coming from Europe (Prague and Vienna x2, Manchester, Glasgow, Madrid...).

There’s some repositioning going on. But when you check the flights, you see rotations to Mauritius, San Francisco, Bangkok, HK, and of course CDG, London, etc...

Doha, on the other hand, is completely dry 😕

It’s still fragile and very risky—I wouldn’t set foot on those planes for anything in the world, given the conditions.

Yeah, that must be it, kudos to the crews who risk their lives every moment.

When you check the Emirates flight history on FR24, I think there were evacuations with empty returns or with UAE nationals or residents stuck abroad who wanted to get home.

Also, Emirates confirmed this afternoon that refunds are allowed for tickets with departures up to March 31st. That’s a sign 😕

In Doha, Bahrain, and Kuwait, no flights 😕

This whole area is super tense and anxiety-inducing 😕

Yes, several airlines that transit or have destinations in the Gulf offer refunds for flights up until the end of March.

Gulf Air and Qatar aren't there yet as of 3/31. Several updates throughout the day.

You're flying with Qatar Airways—how long have they canceled flights for?

Yes, on 21/3 with Qatar Airways.

Last update this morning.

You still have to wait, but it's not looking good for March. You can't even look elsewhere for another ticket at reasonable prices as long as Qatar isn't allowing refunds. Qatar could've at least allowed it until the end of March—it's not cool.

We’ll see 🤷‍♂️! Logically, Qatar and Gulf Air will probably do the same. I’ve got a few leads to still get to Australia or, worst case, head back to my beloved South Korea.

Qatar has set up a few evacuations from Muscat and one from Riyadh.

Patience for now!

It’s still fragile and very risky; I wouldn’t set foot on those planes for anything in the world given the conditions.

I checked this morning—quite a few inbound flights to DXB are circling in the sky... probably waiting for clearance between two missile volleys 😅