Do you think we are going to get our money back / get a solution from Qatar airways?

[Florally]

I’m at my wits end. At first all I was looking for was a solution, but after this week now I’m worried we’re not even going to get anything back.

We’ve been planning a trip to Asia for ten years (honestly, ten years of watching YouTube, making itineraries with the kids and thinking about this trip.)

We used our BA points we had saved up and we booked our flight with Qatar airways with a stopover in Doha… and obviously Trump happened.

I know this is a first world problem.

we’ve spent the last two weeks trying to call the airline, tweeting (X’ing?) them and have spent at times over 12 hours on hold and been cut off.

Last Thursday my husband got through to someone and they said we would be able to get in touch early this week and they would re route us through another One World partner (finnair, JAL, BA etc)

This felt like such good news and we went from thinking this was over to having hope that process would work.

We tried all week to get through to someone and tonight I did, they said that as our flight is still scheduled, there’s nothing they can do. I said that UK advice says not to travel to Qatar unless essential and that travel insurance would be invalid. They said this was news to them and to give them the website address and they would speak to their supervisor (I imagine this was just lip service.)

They concluded the call in saying that unless our flight was actually cancelled, it would depart as scheduled. (And that they would phone us back - again, I imagine lip service.)

So now I’m thinking, are they going to say that if we don’t take the scheduled flight we don’t even get a refund / our points back?

Im not going to travel through Qatar, its not safe, its not advised, its not insured.

I’ve said we’ll travel via anywhere else, have multiple stops, long stopovers, whatever flexibility we need to be transferred. But this isn’t getting me anywhere.

On top of this, a lot of what we’ve booked at our destination (and even our dog sitting here) are non refundable. We’re going to lose thousands of pounds.

Does anyone think this is going to be okay and we might get a solution or a refund?

I know no one can tell me this for sure, but I am so full of anxiety I need to ask someone other than ChatGPT.

thanks in advance x

When is the flight?

When is your flight? A colleague was due to fly Qatar to the far east tomorrow and they rerouted them via Istanbul (One World partner) but I think it only got sorted in the last 4-5 days.

Next Sunday

When are you supposed to be going?

Maybe I’m just asking too early…

Our flight to Australia was with Qatar - we fly next Tuesday, the cancelled it on Monday this week and we have been able to be re-routed. If it's not safe to fly via Qatar they will cancel the flight but will probably be another few days and then you can ask for re-route. They won't give you a refund if flight isn't cancelled - but flights will only not be cancelled if the airspace has been opened up in which case it would be safe enough to fly. I know it's frustrating but it's just a waiting game.

Was it still thousands of ££ if you used points?
If it was points matybe just cut losses cancel and book new flights elsewhere

It’s still a couple of thousand in the taxes we had to pay. (Points don’t cover the whole flight…) And seat bookings.

It’s also thousands in trains, hotels, attraction tickets at our destination. We tried to book as much as we could refundable but some of that stuff just isn’t. And it’s all stuff you have to book in advance.

Also, the cost of another flight right now is insane, I think the cheapest one we’ve found is 15k.

Next Sunday, as in the 28th?

Sorry, but you are just going to need to sit tight. They are dealing with flights much sooner than that currently - they can only work a few days in advance because of the constantly changing situation.

I totally get you want to know, but there are no answers right now.

Also, the points took us so many years to save… they didn’t come easy. We’ve had this target for a long time. If we can’t go, I don’t want to lose them.

You’ve basically wasted hours of your time OP. They will re-route you a few days beforehand, like they’ve been re-routing everyone else since this thing started.

I guess that’s what I’m asking… do I just put my faith in the system that we’re going to be re routed.

I appreciate that a week away seems a long time, but it doesn’t to us with so much uncertainty and how much we’ve put into this and waited for it.

I’m sorry, I hope you get a solution soon too!

It says on Qatar site they are offering full refunds for up to 28 March.

Why would anyone fly via Doha when you can fly direct to Singapore or Hong Kong or Delhi? Lets hope they just put you on a direct flight.

Well we flew via Doha when we selected these flights almost a year ago because they were available and in our points budget. Also, we thought our daughter might cope better on a flight with a stop to reset.

@Florally
we have just arrived home from Sri Lanka, delayed by five days.
our original flights were via Doha with Qatar but booked through BA. We also wanted a short break in the flights, having just flown direct from Singapore I think a short break is so much better than direct.

anyway - BA kept offering us flights via Doha then almost immediately cancelling. Qatar were shite, they didn’t offer to reroute and were so hard to communicate with so really glad we went through BA.

we booked our own back up flight home via Singapore with Singapore Airways with a low cancellation fee whilst we waited for BA/Qatar to reroute us.
if we had waited it out we would still be there - the most recent date offered was 31st May!
Qatar and BA are not partnered with any airline flying out of Singapore or Hong Long so IME they won’t offer you a flight on that route.

we were advised on here and other places to wait it out for the reroute. It would have been a disaster.
if you can, get a refund and rebook.

I feel your pain. You just have to wait, however until they either reroute or cancel. We have a booking with them for July, and I can’t imagine it will get much better in the interim. I’ve looked at one of the other airlines we originally tried to book with but they were marginally more expensive than Qatar. now they’re double the price.