To ask WWYD - flight home cancelled

[Twoshoesnewshoes]

Posting for traffic - we are in Sri Lanka and due to fly home on Friday 13th with Qatar airlines, via Doha, to London Heathrow.
we booked through BA -
both BA and Qatar are saying that flights up to 8th March can get a refund.
we think we can fly to Singapore then direct to London- there are not many flights available, and it would cost around £1400 each (double our original flight).

WWYD - should we wait and see if airspace clears over Middle East?
or book another flight while they’re available and hope our original flight remains cancelled?
we can afford it but that will be savings cleared out.
please help
YABU - hold tight, air space may clear
YANBU - book another flight now!

We had flights returning from Thailand with Qatar airlines for 7th March via Doha. They initially gave us the option of rebook or cancel which we ignored. We guessed that the flight was going to be cancelled so we booked our own flights home before we got the official cancellation notice. We flew Bangkok to Hong Kong on 9th March, where we stopped for 2 nights. We then did a marathon trek on 11th March from Hong Kong to San Francisco and San Francisco to Heathrow with Cathay Pacific/BA. The extra flights and hotels cost us £2700 in total and we should get a refund from Qatar airlines of approx £1000.
We're absolutely exhausted but it was the cheapest and quickest way of getting home that we could find.

The same as other insurers. Not covered.

@SkiTurtle
That sounds awful, no wonder you are exhausted after that trek!
Plus all the extra expense too.

My daughter and partner paid £3000 for one flight, for it to be cancelled 30 minutes later, yet they have been told it could be weeks before they get that back! Then they had to pay a further £2600 for another flight home. Their initial all round trip to Malaysia was only £600 each (flights only) So I doubt they will get more than £200/£300 each back, for the return part of their journey. Plus like you they had to pay for extra nights at their hotel etc.

@SkiTurtle that sounds exhausting! Glad you’re home safe though.
@KatieA12B3C yes the costs for lots of people are going to be huge.
we are lucky in that our hotel costs should be covered by BA.
our flights home won’t be though - an extra £1600 we hadn’t accounted for, though we were really lucky we booked them early as they are now four times that!

We’re home!
met a few people at the airport who had been stranded, and a women on the plane whose DP was staying on in Vietnam as there was only one seat on the flight! They gave no idea when he will get home!

The issue with Colombo is that it’s at capacity so unless ba was given a slot by Qatar they wouldn’t be able to run a flight. From the autumn BA will be running a direct flight anyway, far better. For anyone still stuck there’s capacity via Delhi, for anyone further east consider travelling via the USA or even via Helsinki over the Pole (a good option from Japan. The Middle East has become a default option in my people’s minds but there’s other ways. I even met a person who has come back from Australia via Rio.

Re CMB and

From the autumn BA will be running a direct flight anyway, far better.

Yep, better still unlike times of old it looks like it's a non-stopper (sorry to bring that up but the whole direct v non-stop label is my pet peeve but it's a bit relevant ATM.)..anyhow ex Gatwick, 3 a week.

Of course (pot half empty time...) a lot the winter's plans could fall apart or change radically if the economy falls apart and oil prices keep escalating.

Just coming back to this thread- wondering if anyone is still stuck out in Asia or in Middle East?