Would you travel to Australia at the moment?

[Unsuretraveller]

That’s the quickest way to type my dilemma I’m afraid, but I am going to Australia in three weeks. I am travelling alone and then staying with family when I arrive I am travelling on a direct flight with no stops. Coming home, I would be going via Dubai but not until almost the end of April

It is the trip of a lifetime for me and add into this that I got amazing prices on my flights (business - I’m a Ryanair gal usually…!)

At this stage, would you just hang fire? Stick to your plans and wait and see what happens?

That is the stand I would like to take, but literally everybody that knows I’m going keeps asking me and it’s making me a little bit nervous!!

I’d wait but prep yourself with knowledge of what to do if anythinv changes (eg don’t accept the refund if you’re stranded)

Yes I would. Life is for living, and you have time to plan ahead and work out some strategies if you need to change your schedule.

Yes.

direct flight no problems.

way back - could you go via Singapore instead?

If it was already arranged, yes, I would.

I have a sort of similar situation in that I am due to fly direct to Malaysia with BA on 26 March. I am supposed to be meeting friends there for a 2 weeks holiday, then our return flight was with Emirates via Dubai.

My friends were travelling to Dubai for 10 days holiday there first. They then planned to catch a flight out of Dubai on 25th March to meet me in Malaysia. I personally would have paid more and booked more direct flights with better flight times, but I am old and now prefer to pay more for a better flight experience. I compromised though as they wanted to save money so I agreed to come back with them on 8 April with a one night stop in Dubai as the flights were a lot cheaper than other less inconvenient options

Anyway their flight out to Dubai is due to leave this Friday. If it leaves they will be catching it, despite the lack of valid travel insurance as a result of the foreign office advice. They are planning to have their holiday in Dubai regardless apparantly!

Since I don't qualify for any refund of anything, unless Emirates cancel the return flight (which I doubt they will) and since I also really need to be back by 10 April and don't want to go against the foreign office travel advice anyway I have made the decision to book a flight back via Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific on my departure date of 8th April, one that is flexible and can be cancelled at any time for a £50 fee.

I won't cancel the Emirates flight. If the Emirates flight leaves (quite likely at the moment), and if by some miracle the foreign office advice has also changed by then, I will cancel the Cathay flight and only forfeit £50, otherwise I will come back on Cathay. My friends plan to come back via Dubai regardless to save money. Their back up plan is having family/friends to stay with in Dubai and Malaysia if they have to extend their sta in either place due to cancelled flights. they have no plan for the lack of travel insurance.

The Cathay flight was the cheapest I could find that was around the date I need to be back by and that met my criteria of no Middle East stopovers, and less than 30 hrs travel time total, but it still cost a fortune and prices are going up all the time. So it is basically the most expensive holiday I have ever booked but hey ho , first world problems I suppose!

Now I just have to hope that the flight from Dubai to Malaysia for my friends is not cancelled as I have no real desire to spend two weeks in Malaysia on my own. That was never the plan and I would have booked something different if it had been

Go - I did the same late last year and had a truly fab time. You’ll find a way back if your flight home is disrupted.

Out should be fine, back would be looking into alternatives. Difficult as prices are skyrocketing but if you can potentially finance a different route back for a worst case scenario then I would go. Our alternative flights went from £1k to nearly £4k in a couple of weeks.

If your direct flight is to Perth, you may now need to stop for refuelling as avoiding certain airspace is going to make the flight longer.

Good point,

That's certainly, most definitely the case on the northbound ATM. That flight now transits SIN and Qantas have even formally changed the flight number to reflect the change.

It's not clear (to me at least) what the situation is on the southbound - going that way is slightly less critical (prevailing winds).

Thanks everyone! I will stick to my plans and keep an eye out. The excruciating costs of alternative flights is painful!
@hellsbells99yes the flight leaving before mine is refuelling in Singapore but not word on mine….yet!

@Unsuretraveller

For info according to the likes of Flightaware the last few day's QF10s look to have done LHR-PER as planned non-stop...no guarantees that'll continue but fingers crossed.

TBH for several reasons it would be hard to run that sort of very ultra Longhaul service everyday on a "are we stopping today or not" basis which is probably why QF have made the decision to transit stop the probably more fuel critical northbound QF9 TFN.

Hope it all works out OK.

My son is booked to fly on the 23rd March to Melbourne, 3 hour stopover at dubai, his app says the flight is still going just an extra 40 minutes, I won't lie im absolutely terrified, I admit im a very anxious person so im imagining all horrors at 3.00 in the morning.

i am also in a similar boat. Me and my family are visiting family in Perth in 3 weeks- non stop flight both ways.
Was nervous about the flight as it was and things not helping at all.
Have no idea if we will be stopping in Singapore

My crystal ball is no better than anyone elses but as an ex- Longhaul pilot TBH looking at this as it stands today I wouldn't be concerned about the flights themselves.

Qantas are pretty conservative, they won't push things and are currently using much the same routing as all the more risk averse airlines are doing ATM, and giving the conflict area area a good avoiding (even though it has cost them the ability to do the northbound nonstop).

My son is flying Emirates? I dont understand how it works if the area is unpredictable, what about if a drone hits an aircraft. As I say im very anxious and my son is blasé but hes only 22 and at that age you think your invincible i guess.

We fly to Australia next week on Turkish so via Istanbul & Singapore. I’m expecting the IST-SIN leg to take longer than planned but if worse case scenario is arriving a few hours later in Australia, I’ll take that.
We’re returning from Bali direct to Istanbul & have around 6/7 hours wait for our connection back to the UK so again, no real worries if the flight takes longer.

The direct Perth flight is currently running via Singapore, double check your details

Kind of tough to comment on Emirates...

I think it's possibly stating the obvious to suspect their whole risk v benefit analysis may be influenced by the fact they have to use Dubai.

Unsurprisingly there's not much coming out of UAE about how the risk side of things is being managed, but there's some talk doing the rounds that they have at least some protocols in place to reduce passenger exposure to attacks..

@notimagainthank you it’s qf10 I’m on. Refueling in Singapore makes little difference to me really- I’m staying with family so thy can keep an eye on the flight times.

i’m more concerned that flying back with a couple of hours to change in Dubai I might not get back. But if I don’t, I don’t.

There is no way I will find business class flights the same as I paid for them. It was pure fluke and a lucky day to look I’m guessing So I’m gonna wait for them to tell me🤣🤦🏼‍♀️

@tutugogoso far only QF9 is diverting to Singapore I think

So is QF10 still going non stop both ways currently?

Thank you for this! Although it’s absolutely typical. Got a person with us who really struggles with take off and landing hence going with a non stop. Now it looks like landing anyway to refuel. Better than not going at all I guess

@PalePinkPeonyaccording to the Qantas app only QF9 refueling. But I’d keep an eye yourself

QF10 doesn't go both ways.

DD was due back next week and it’s been cancelled. She was on Qatar who haven’t started any flights yet really except a handful. I wouldn’t want to go over there in case things escalate more and you get stuck.

Pre conflict it was the QF 9 northbound, which turned at LHR to become the QF10 going southbound.

FWIW much the same flight number change happens at all airlines...i.e. the flight number changes at the far end of the route from base).

As I understand things the QF 9 is now the QF209 doing a fuelling stop in SIN then on to LHR.

Again AFAIK the 209 then turns at LHR, becomes the QF10 and operates LHR-PER nonstop.