To ask WWYD - flight home cancelled

Hanoi fly to London and its generally a cheap flight between Hanoi and Sri Lanka. You no longer need a visa for Vietnam and Vietnamese Airlines is pretty good.

You need to hold out for the cancellation though unless your prepared to lose the money.

I would wait and see. I have friends who have been in Dubai on holiday and flew back home last night with Emirates. Flights are resuming again.

I would say to hold on as long as you can before you pay for any new flights yourself. If BA cancel your flight, they have a duty to get you on a new flight back. It's too early for them to cancel it yet because nobody knows what will be happening this Friday, let alone next Friday, so best case your flight goes ahead as planned (and if you're not on it you won't get a refund), worst case, BA will have to find a way to get you home. The fact you're with BA and not Emirates etc I think is a bonus as they are governed by EU rules. This page might be useful: holidayexpert.com/your-travel-rights-if-your-holiday-has-been-affected-by-the-middle-east-conflict/

via Kenya or SA if you get really stuck.

I would not want to be flying over the Middle East at this time. Who knows what/where Iran will strike next.

I’d wait. A lot can change in ten days. Unless you are happy enough to take the hit of paying more for the other flights. In which case I’d wait until flights are cancelled and book the more expensive flights via Singapore then.

But I’m a tight arse so I’d find a cheap beach bungalow in Sri Lanka and wait for my original carrier to get me back at no extra expense and tell work sorry, can’t get back.

Depends how understanding work are likely to be. When it was the ash cloud I knew quite a few colleagues who couldn’t get back and work were ok about it.

Good luck...

For background one issue with KUL, SIN and BKK is they are going to the obvious options for people coming up from Oz and NZ looking to reroute (bet right now BA are regretting reducing capacity on that route)....

India routes to the UK tend to attract less long haul connecting traffic but can be pretty busy in their own right.

Hope it gets sorted.

Hi Op, you could fly to Bangkok and then a direct flight to London, but I'd wait and speak to BA first as they have an obligation under English law to get you home.

check visa requirements for India, particularly if there is anything apart from a quick transit within the airport.

We have flights with Emirates via Dubai to Sri Lanka for a few weeks time. What are your cancellation charges like? Ours are around £1,000 for us including seat reservations and if they don't cancel that's what we will have to pay or take the risk on flight.

Emirates have started flying but only repatriation flights and freight, BBC has an article on todays. Emirates says flights are cancelled until 4th end but its subject to constant review. Conflict is due to last 4 weeks or more and US people have been advised to leave immediately. Its difficult as other routes are getting booked out - Sri Lankan has a direct flight, Turkish has a flight via Istanbul. The official advice which is based on finance only is don't cancel as then they have to provide you with a flight back or refund if you prefer. Flights go up massively in price too. Our cancellation fee is the same up until an hour before departure so we are holding on until then hoping they cancel. Hope you can get back safely.

You can fly to Chennai from Sri Lanka and then BA do a direct flight to LHR from there if that was an option you wanted to look at. It's very fluid with the flights and BA have cancelled all cargo flights out of Dubai until the 5th March to try and transfer that space to repatriation instead, with other carriers who transit through the Middle East doing similar so they are trying not to cancel any further ahead than they need to do. Qatari airspace is closed so nothing moving from there but they're also looking at what they can do to repatriate asap and clear any backlog as soon as that space opens.

I work in Logistics and Supply Chain so if you want me to message you with any updates that we get from the carriers I can do. It might help you decide what to do but for now I think I would hold tight on any changes and see what BA say in a couple of days.

My friends DS and her DIL are stuck in Dubsi. Were meant to be getting a flight to Manchester tomorrow which has now been cancelled. I'd suggest they sup up the cost and get out of there PDQ.

If your flight hasn’t yet been cancelled you’ll need to hold tight.
If/when it is cancelled you will then be rerouted, your best options are likely via India as the only direct Sri Lanka-UK flights are with Sri Lankan Airlines and likely at capacity. Going via SE Asia is daft as there will be plenty of people with Middle East connection flights stranded there already.

BA and most other airlines are flat out trying to sort out people who are already stuck so at best you’ll end up in a very long queue. Your return flight is 10 days away. Focus on your holiday and have options for if your flight is cancelled.

This and get it in writing.

I saw yesterday that Malaysia Airlines are still flying to and from KL, if you can get there? BA do a service to KL as well, actually. You might be able to push them to give you a seat on that?

Get a flight back asap even if it costs you more.The issue you have is its unlikely to get any cheaper as thats going to be the prefered route for the forseeable and any route via Dubai is going to be full within your timeframe.

Whatever you decide, are there any options via an airport in India for you?

You can ask ba to reroute you, you will have some protection under our strict laws, ideally onto the direct flight to Heathrow from Colombo. I would also keep an eye on the fcdo site as they are updating information for people like you. Flights may (I stress may) get up and running quickly if they have as DT is claiming knocked out their airforce

Call BA back and quote UK/EU261 regulations. They have to get you home even if it is with another airline or a different route. DO NOT let them refund you as that pushes the onus on you to get yourself home. Tell them you want them to book you on the Singapore flight and be firm about it.
Having been extremely lucky to return from Dubai just before this all kicked off there is no way I would be transiting through Doha any time soon.

Wait for your original flight. If it get cancelled, you will be rerouted automatically.

DH is flying to Beijing today, originally through Dubai. The Dubai flight was cancelled last night, and DH got an email to say he was now going via Bangkok on a different airline. No stress at all.

I'd agree with probably waiting but as far as rerouting goes I'm not following the logic of doubling back to SIN to be honest.

I haven't checked in detail but AFAIK BA are still operating to places like Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai etc etc, so if I was looking for an effcient reroute I'd be looking at those options initially, and/or leaning on BA to do the same if they appear reluctant.

You have to wait until your flight is officially cancelled anyway. I wouldn't pay until it's confirmed you'll get a refund for your original flight.
But as soon as this happen then yes I'd book new flights.

Or via nairobi or south africa