DS supposed to be going to Australia in 9 days!

[DeepAmberBee]

Currently a lot of stress in our household. Our DS is supposed to be going to Australia in 9 days with my mum. The layover is in Dubai. He has quit his job and moved home for this but looking uncertain now. DH thinks all will be fine and a major airport won’t be closed that long and flights will resume. I’m not so sure. He’s supposed to be going for 6 weeks so i’ve told him even if he misses a week that’s still plenty of time but all internal flights are paid for and not sure if they’re refundable. My other worry is him potentially getting stuck. What do you all think? DH has a point that surely Dubai brings major connecting city won’t be closed for that long but massive stress all around.

What? This can’t be real

Can they change their flights to a different lay over?

i expect the airline will re-route the flight to avoid Dubai if it's still not safe to fly from there when your ds goes to Australia.

Can’t you just change the flight so his layover is not in the Middle East?! Loads of flights to Oz stopover in Singapore

As I understand it, airlines are rerouting flights wherever possible. I think it’s too early to be worrying (I know it’s hard not to) and definitely too soon to be cancelling/changing anything. The airline will keep him posted, I’m sure.

Surely the airline will just change the layover to a safer place. I wouldn’t think they would cancel the flight it would just be rerouted to be safe.

Same thoughts as @Yuja can the flights be changed? - we've flown to Australia via Singapore and Hong Kong before, but I guess it depends who the flights are with and which city he's flying into

Both Dubai and Abu Dubai airports have reportedly sustained damage from attacks. They won’t be operational whilst bombing continues. Why not fly via LA or Hong Kong?

Nothing he can do for now unless changes to flights can be made - can he change the layover city? Or are the flights not amendable?

Insurance won't pay out until it's known for certain whether the flights are happening or not.

So the choice is leave it for now and keep an eye on things or see what it would cost to re-route and he pays out of his own pocket

Hold tight and let this play out for a few more days

I didn’t think they’d automatically change them! The only direct flight from our airport to that region is Dubai via emirates but suppose they could do London to another airport to Sydney. That has put my mind at ease - thanks everyone.

Nobody can tell you for sure what situation will be in 9 days. As he's only going for 6 weeks change flights to fly via Singapore. If non-refundable flights then you'll just have to wait it out.

*“surely Dubai brings major connecting city won’t be closed for that long”

“DH thinks all will be fine and a major airport won’t be closed that long and flights will resume.”*

This is bonkers. Do you really think the Iranians (or Trump for that matter) are going to stop sending drones and missiles because it’s disturbing international aviation?! Actual warfare involving regime change in a neighbouring nation doesn’t pause because it’s a bit inconvenient for your holiday.

Flights won’t happen until it’s safe, and for obvious reasons it’s not safe right now. Might open in a week. Might be a few months. No one knows. Suggest you look at alternative flights - personally I’d be trying to get a refund from Emirates and booking onto an airline going via the far East.

You want to call the airline and travel insurance to ask their advice. But Emirates and Etihad (and everyone else in the middle east) will be diverting or cancelling. They obviously won't be flying into an active warzone, and Dubai will certainly be doing all they can to reopen as quickly as possible. So fingers crossed all this is over by the time you leave, but if not or if Dubai can't reopen in time, Emirates will divert the flight or refund, and if there's any issue getting replacements, insurance will cover it.

Do London to Perth ( Aus) direct; and then Perth to wherever he was going, Sydney etc.
Or, I agree with pp's most airlines will just change to a Singapore stopover.

If they're flying emirates at the momwnt you have the choice to cancel and refund or reschedule if your flights in the next 5 days. If this continues i expect this will be extended so keep a close eye on the emirates website.
Perhaps scope out alternative flights so you know what you'll do if that offer extends. You could as you say fly to london and then on to sydney via se asia stop. But also can do the same via europe. Which may be cheaper. If you can find a fully refundable flight alternative it may be worth buying and having it as a backup as flight demand will increase the longer they cancel flights.

He should re book via Singapore Hong King or Kuala Lumpur. If Emirates only give him the option to rebook - use it for another trip another time.
Its a bit of a gamble, but the prices via other routes will only increase as demand will outstrip availability the longer this does on.

DS is supposed to be going travelling on Wednesday and transferring in Doha. If he had booked his flight direct with Qatar he could get a refund but he got it through a 3rd party and he currently just has to wait as he was number 600 in a live chat queue and despite checking his phone regularly the idiot missed his place and now he can’t start another live chat. He has an alternative flight planned but not booked yet.

We are flying to Melbourne in March (though later than you) via Doha so I've been looking into this. From what I can understand in essence if his flight is cancelled he will either be offered a refund or re-routing and that is typically within 1-3 days of the original flight. My understanding is that legally they have to offer you re-routing either with themselves or another airline - as soon as possible /next available flight including on alternative carrier.

This is really helpful and reassuring thank you!

Not they won't. Most international airports are at or close to full capacity with their regularly scheduled flights. There's no way Singapore will or can suddenly start accepting a whole lot of Emirates flights as well.

@DeepAmberBee - I've been knee deep in googling and AI this weekend - from what I've read in similar escalations it's very rare for airspaces to stay closed for more than a few days and if that is the case then the backlog should be cleared or almost cleared by time he flies.

OP I really feel for your son . I flew to Melbourne recently with Emirates and was thinking today how stressed I would be if my flight was imminent.
They have a few days to figure it out with flying a different route but fully understand the concerns you all have. I hope your son and Mum get to Australia ok and have a fabulous time .X

Individual airlines can't usually just change where they en-route stop/connect/transit if they need to do so...as @mjf981 has said there's the whole issue of airport capacity, political/diplomatic clearances, and a little thing called Freedoms of the Air which governs amongst other things where you can and cannot pick up/drop off passengers.

Certainly the likes of Emirates/Qatar/Etihad could very quickly run into major problems both logistically and in terms of crewing if they couldn't rotate flights through their main bases in the Gulf....

This.
They are likely to redirect to another airport. Away from all the bombing.