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!

If they offer a refund get on the phone or chat and decline it, requesting they re-route. They cannot leave you stranded but you may have a delay. They also owe you “duty of care” which means accommodation and meals during the delay. If it happens keep your expenses reasonable and keep receipts. Expect to pay for alcohol yourself but they should cover all food and accommodation.

Oh it does say change of route, and will have to pay the fare difference!

I would check the small print of the booking. If there is communication from the airline try to get it in writing/screengrab chats.

Sorry for jumping on your thread.
My daughter & partner are stuck in Malaysia, they were supposed to be home today. They flew with Etihad. They cancelled their flight 2 days ago.
Kuala Lumpur>Abu Dhabi>London. They are unable to get in contact with Etihad, they have had no updates or offers of alternatives etc. It looks like their insurance won't pay up either as it's war! It's a nightmare, I know things could be worse. They are safe.

Not if the flight is cancelled. That’s if you choose to change now. Entirely up to you what you choose when that’s offered. I assume it’s not been offered as far out 13th yet.

ETA. Thats in reply to OP’s most recent

They will reroute you. Or Qatar will. They have to.

It’s tricky for them to give you rerouting options right now as they have so many aircraft that need repositioning.

Im
so sorry, that sounds so stressful
we can’t get through to anyone on the phone, just online chat, but that’s awful if their flight is cancelled and no one has been in contact

did Etihad cancel the flight or your DD?

For all people stuck in this mess, can I suggest a really good forum called Flyertalk. Look at the sub forum for your airline and you will see what frequent flyers are finding “on the ground”. There is generally some very good advice.

@Franpie

Etihad cancelled.

I'd not worry about it and try and enjoy your holiday.

We had our return flight cancelled a few hours after flying out when monarch went bust. Instead of scrabbling around trying to sort out alternatives we enjoyed our holiday and by the date of return flight it had been sorted out with no action on our part.

On the insurance point, i've had an email from the insurance company that I have a yearly policy with explaining what they will cover and offering additional support to people stranded so it's very much not a blanket 'no coverage' situation.

Good source of advice and info here…

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/iran-uk-travel-rights-simon-calder-flights-refund-rights-stranded-b2930832.html#

Remember, though not sure if it is relevant but I'll chuck it in anyway, that whilst BA own problem since as I understand it the OP booked with them Qatar are the airline with aircraft out of position...

.

I find it hard to believe they say you have to pay the fare difference.
If your flight is cancelled, they still have a legal obligation to get you home. DO NOT accept a refund as due to demand, the cost of other flights is rocketing and you will have to pay the over inflated price. You should not have to pay any fare difference if they re-route you. You seriously need to get online and read about your rights before you walk blindly into this. You are being given good advice on here yet for some reason are choosing to ignore it.

@Automagical yeah I’m not worried and having a great holiday!
I think the difference here is that there will be tens of thousands of flights being cancelled and disrupted, so it may be difficult to get a space.

Yes, good point, the article I’ve posted above includes this exact issue, where you’ve booked with BA but are flying on Qatar metal.

I think it’s Qatar that has to get you home.

@WheresMyHatGone im
not ignoring it at all
i I am not going to cancel my flight or accept a refund
my flight hasn’t been cancelled yet
but flights back via all routes are selling out

The monarch repatriation was the biggest ever peacetime repatriation and involved returning 110,000 people to the UK. It was a fairly large scale thing.

Ah okay, that’s significant!
theres 200,000 people just in the ME apparently needing rerouting

Can you book a flexible ticket? It’s likely yours will be cancelled but the off chance it isn’t, you could get your money back. Not sure how much more it is

@Overthemoun yes will try to
flights have all sold out in economy from most Indian airports though, currently around £4k to get to London! And another £800 to add flexi

Double check how much refund you get too. I was in the same boat years ago when rebels took over Bangkok airport. The airline said they could get us home 3 weeks later than planned so we took the refund and booked new v expensive flights.
insurance excluded civil unrest so we knew we’d lose out but then when the refund came it was only about 20% of the total cost of our original flights as it was just the return portion.

Sorry to hear about your flight home - this sounds stressful and not what you need on holiday. As some other posters have said BA will have a responsibility to get you home if they cancel the flight. They can use other carriers (they’ll likely look at one world carriers first but if no availability they can and will get you on another flight with a different carrier). You won’t have to pay any fare difference if you do things this way. But if you take the refund and book yourself you will.

We flew with BA to Bangkok and our flight home was cancelled - we were given the choice of Qatar or Cathay (both oneworld). They also paid for our food during and a day room in a hotel (we were delayed 12 hours so not ideal but could have been worse). They should also refund any seat reservation costs etc. but you need to fill in a form to claim this. Thankfully my husband was a travel agent at the time so we knew our rights.

Thanks all that’s really helpful.
i think the refund is for unused flights only.