Airports in the Persian Gulf Emirates (page 5 of 7)

Hello and thanks for bringing up this super important point: "If the airline only refunds the ticket, even though the passenger didn’t request it, without offering re-routing, it must refund the price difference with the ticket the passenger had to rebook themselves."

Similarly, if the airline offers to cancel and refund proactively while the flight isn’t yet canceled, it’s a carrier trick to void the contract at little cost. The customer might seem to benefit since they’ll get their money back, but this usually doesn’t allow them to find an equivalent solution at the same price.

Tourists stranded in the Emirates are also living a nightmare since they’re caught up in the war and bombings too.

Unlike Iranians, they don’t even have the hope that this war will lead to a better world for them.

What I don’t get is why buses aren’t taking them to Jeddah so they can return to where they came from?

Hello and thank you for bringing up this super important point: "If the airline only refunds the ticket, even though the passenger didn’t ask for it, without offering re-routing, it must refund the price difference with the ticket the passenger had to rebook themselves."

Similarly, if the airline offers cancellation and a refund on its own while the flight isn’t yet canceled, it’s a trick to get out of its contract cheaply. The customer might seem to benefit by getting their money back, but it usually doesn’t allow them to find an equivalent solution at the same cost.

Hello,

Yes, that’s exactly the issue—especially since it leaves passengers facing difficulties they never even imagined.

Important clarification: everything below applies to: 1. All flights departing from the E.U., whether the airline is European or not; 2. All flights from a non-E.U. country to the E.U., but only if the "actual air carrier" (or one of them, in the case of connecting flights) is headquartered in the E.U.

If the passenger requests a refund for a canceled ticket: 1. The refund will likely have to go through the company they bought the ticket from. This can be a real nightmare. See here: https://retardimportantavion.wordpress.com/2023/05/03/vol-annule-droit-indiscutable-au-remboursement-si-pas-reachemine-voucher-uniquement-si-accord-du-passager/ 2. If it’s a round-trip ticket, how do you split the price of the outbound flight from the return? Except for low-cost airlines, the price of a round-trip ticket isn’t just the sum of two one-way fares. Some airlines, if the return flight is canceled, recalculate the price by converting (for example) the round-trip fare into the price of a one-way flight that was actually taken, then determine the refund for the return by difference.

Now, unless it’s a low-cost airline, it’s not uncommon for a one-way ticket to cost almost as much as a round-trip—or even more.

3. If the flight ticket is part of a package bought from a tour operator (flight + hotel + transfers), it becomes impossible to determine the price of the flight, let alone just the return leg.

4. If it’s just a flight ticket (not a package), the only legal text that allows splitting the price of the outbound from the return is a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union. But this ruling only applies to cases where a passenger was downgraded to a lower class than the one they paid for.

https://retardimportantavion.wordpress.com/2023/05/25/vous-avez-achete-un-billet-business-class-mais-vous-avez-ete-declasse-en-classe-eco-droit-remboursement/

The simplest way to avoid all of the above is to **NOT** request a refund for the canceled ticket. If the airline doesn’t offer re-routing "as soon as possible" (and you’ve found a re-routing yourself that gets you there at least 1 day earlier), buy that new ticket (even if it’s with another airline) and then demand a refund for it. It’s worth noting that, in this case, the refund is the responsibility of the "actual air carrier" and doesn’t have to go through the company you bought the ticket from, which makes things much simpler.

Additionally, if the flight was canceled less than 14 days before departure and you weren’t re-routed "as soon as possible" (which the ticket you had to rebook proves), you’re also entitled to the compensation provided under Article 7 of Regulation 261/2004.

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

And an example of the procedure: https://retardimportantavion.wordpress.com/2024/01/12/reacheminement-catastrophique-droit-indemnisation-meme-circonstances-extraordinaires-2/

Finally, just because an airline *should* refund you doesn’t mean it’ll happen quickly. See here (even with a certain court ruling in advance, legal action was needed): https://retardimportantavion.wordpress.com/2024/10/23/lufthansa-championne-du-refus-des-droits-des-passagers/

Best regards,

Tourists stranded in the Emirates are also living a nightmare since they too are affected by the war and the bombings.

Unlike the Iranians, they don’t even have the hope that this war will lead to a better world for them.

Regarding the "nightmare" of tourists, it’s not their homes being bombed, their lives blown apart, or their families massacred.

So far, no tourists have been killed, while dozens of Iranian and Lebanese children have been killed and have been living under the hell of bombs for a week, left without homes or parents.

Comparing the situation of stranded tourists in the Emirates to that of Iranian and Lebanese civilians is cynical, to say the least.

I don’t quite understand the second sentence: should stranded tourists hope for a better world for themselves? In what sense? Economic, ecological?

As for the future of Iranians, no one knows—after Western interventions in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, etc., are the people living better?

I hope you’re not naive enough to believe that Trump, the Great Benefactor of Humanity, is acting for the good of Iranians?

Tourists stranded in the Emirates are also living a nightmare since they’re caught up in the war and bombings.

I totally agree with that. And I don’t see a favorable outcome to this crisis after 8 days of intense conflict :(

I hope you're not naive enough to think that Trump, the Great Benefactor of Humanity, is acting for the good of Iranians?

The person mentioned risks sinking the U.S. economy if this continues. If a financial crisis hits, it’s going to hurt badly. Either way, for the government in question, it’s an open bar, and they don’t care if the budget deficit keeps growing... One day of war costs the U.S. defense nearly a billion dollars.

Trump only acts for what he thinks is good for himself. But the repercussions of what he thinks is good for him could end up benefiting Iranians.

The French also suffered from American bombs—some villages were razed, cities were largely destroyed, and funeral businesses thrived. It wasn’t for our pretty eyes.

But thanks to that, we were rid of Hitler.

Peace is a beautiful concept. A concept that shatters when faced with reality.

My comment about peace also applies to the texts and other regulations...

Trump only acts for what he thinks is good for himself.

The French also suffered from American bombs, But thanks to that, we were rid of Hitler.

Trump acts in his own interests, and that’s why he’s bombing Iran, just like he previously detained Nicolás Maduro and launched missiles on Caracas. Now he’s threatening to launch missiles on the countries of drug cartels—that is, Mexico and Colombia, two countries whose leaders aren’t under the thumb of the U.S.

Trump violates international law; it’s the law of the jungle. If that’s the case, why shouldn’t other countries have the right to do the same? Why shouldn’t Putin have the right to bomb Ukraine if he believes there’s a threat to Russia? Besides, didn’t Trump call Zelensky a "dictator"? Dictators need to be dealt with...

Other powers shouldn’t hesitate to do what they think is best for them—there’s no reason Trump should be the only one allowed to violate international law.

The comparison to Hitler and Europe is surprising—the situation in the Middle East is different and very complex, and we often see dictators replaced by other dictators or chaos.

The West intervened in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya—has life improved for people since those interventions?

Hi Sinforosa, what you're writing is really relevant. You’ll probably retort that I’m the kind of person who says "do as I say, not as I do." 😉 Still, be careful not to stray too far from the main topic either 🙂 Because the said topic might end up being permanently closed.

Iranians are not Arabs.

And it’s not just foreign interventions that have failed to bring peace and democracy to North Africa and the Middle East. The internal revolutions of the Arab Spring didn’t lead to freedom either.

Why is the 1000 € question?

A bit like Russia, which only gets rid of one dictator (the tsar, the communists, Putin...) to replace him with another.

Latin America, on the other hand, has experienced real democratic periods and has known—or knows how—to remove presidents with totalitarian tendencies. Except in Venezuela and Cuba, where emigration has replaced internal revolution. The drug trafficking problem, however, remains unresolved.

I'd like to know before this thread closes why the evacuation of those who want to leave isn't happening via Jeddah?

A 2,000-kilometer bus ride, sure, but at least that airport isn't being targeted.

This war seems to be reshuffling the deck considerably when it comes to the future of travel to the East. Between the closure of Russian airspace and that of the Persian Gulf, the options for getting to the Orient are shrinking.

The desire to travel there too—most travelers prioritize safety above all.

Fewer travelers to the East, more to the West?

Prices are also going to be affected. Fewer airlines, less competition. Especially since the ones that were offering lower fares are now grounded.

Not to mention the soaring oil prices...

Once the war is over, though, we should expect another kind of return. A commercial one this time. Qatar, Emirates, and the like will want to reclaim their slice of the pie...

Hello,

Les iraniens ne sont pas des arabes

Oh, you're absolutely right there. And what do you conclude from that? The Iranians, Persians if you prefer, are a very ancient people, highly organized for a long time, sharing a common trait with France and Turkey: the state preceded the nation there. Shia Muslims, they await the twelfth imam—that is, a messiah—an interesting point in common with, well, you know who. They lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians during the war against Iraq in the 1980s. So, imagining a quick resolution is to misunderstand what peoples are. You have a Rousseauist idea of freedom—universal and collective, very French—which doesn’t align with either the United States’ worldview or that of the Iranians. The latter are very strict in public but quite liberal in private.

Michel

I’m not drawing any conclusions. I’m just observing.

Fewer travelers in the east, more in the west?

Where in the west? Yesterday, Trump threatened to launch missiles at certain Latin American countries—we’ll see if he follows through on his threats.

Well, we’ll stay home then. Not great for the carbon footprint!

I’ve noticed that some countries are allowed to violate all the rules of international law under the pretext of security, yet we’re outraged when others—like Russia, for example—do the same. Why the double standard?

If it’s the law of the jungle, then it should be the law of the jungle for everyone. If one country believes another is threatening its security, it should follow Trump’s example and drop bombs—and we shouldn’t be outraged since we accept it from the United States.

Well, we’ll stay home then.

Back to travel—I think as long as Trump is in power, we haven’t seen the last of the surprises and upheavals.

The safest bet will be to travel in Europe.

Ukraine isn't under a dictatorship. That’s the big difference compared to Iran, Venezuela, or Gaza.

But we’re way off topic now. 🙂

Trump and others...

It was ultimately easier to travel in the 1970s in certain parts of the world, even if reaching those countries took time or money.

No one would have ever been stranded in Dubai or the Emirates back then!

And the number of travelers needing repatriation across the Middle East or Africa would have been significantly lower...