My flight has to Jordan been cancelled - should I rebook

[EileenW]

I had been looking forward to a trip to Jordan later this month (solo traveller), however WizzAir have very kindly (not!) informed me that my booking from Luton to Amman has been cancelled (just under 14 days notice).

In two minds what to do. Yes, I know the region is very tense at the moment however Jordan is very safe and I had been looking forward to going. I planned to get Christened at the Bethany Beyond the Jordan Site and had even made arrangements with a local Priest to do so. Gutted about the flights being cancelled doesn’t even come close.

I don’t really understand the right to rebook, and hoping that someone can explain? I paid about £80 for these Wizz flights. I’ve looked online and Ryanair, BA have all stopped their flights until the 1st December. The only carrier that is operating on my dates is Royal Jordanian (out of Heathrow, not Luton) but the fare would be £600. Legally speaking, if I did go ahead and book these flights would WizzAir refund me these costs? That is a lot of money - but I really still want to travel (FCDO does NOT advise against travel to Jordan). I would be a lot more confident in booking if I was assured that I would get the money back, as it is a lot. This is not really helped by the fact that Wizz Air don’t seem to have an accessible email address where I can email the screenshots of the £600 flights (being the cheapest) so I can get their agreement before I book them.

Can someone who understands this better than me explain my legal rights in this situation (without commenting on my travel decision - each to their own)? Does it have to be me who books the replacement flights (with a different airline) or can Wizz Air do it for me? Wizz have cancelled all of their own departures from Luton to Amman until January.

Thansk in advance.

Is this the first time you have ever travelled ? Bus companies, train companies, ferry companies and airlines can cancel when they like, just like you local cafe can decide to stay closed because the owner can't be bothered that day.
Surely you know that the middle east is very instable at the moment.

Wizzair to Abu Dhabi or Air Arabia to Sharjah, than back to Europe. Flights to GCC etc still work. Costly compared to straight flight sometime but you can get good deals

Why oh why do you want to go to an unstable region? Jordan is safe today. Who knows tomorrow. I booked to go to Petra last year. I still haven’t been and have no plans to do so in the near future.

It’ll most likely be insurance related- as mentioned by PP about crew changeover in Cyprus. Insurers won’t cover airlines having crew stay in the ME so they have to use Cyprus.

Some insurers/airlines won’t cover flights into their airspace right now- depends on their risk appetite.

FWIW Jordan is a beautiful country and worth visiting, Petra was simply stunning.

@Twilightstarbright

As you say some of it will be insurance, plus commercial (?drop off in demand) plus as a PP mentioned things like extending routing meaning crew hours and/or fuel dictate a transit stop and possibly a crew change…so the route’s economics out of places like the UK are screwed.

TBH I’m not sure the airborne environment on a daily basis, most days, into/out of Amman on the routes airlines appear to be using is in itself as risky as some think…the much bigger problem might be the consequences for a crew /aircraft on a turnround or a nightstop if a significant exchange between say Iran and Israel starts with crew and aircraft on the ground.

They can. BA cancelled a flight to Kuala Lumpur we had booked for January. We’ve had to rebook with Qatar.

I was booked on a WizzAir flight to Jordan that was also cancelled yesterday! There are still options if you go on Skyscanner, I found a (longer) flight for about 100 pounds! Fwiw I don't think they people calling the OP naive etc are very helpful, they are just looking for advice.