Long haul flights through Middle East.

[CostaBrew]

Myself and family due to fly to Bangkok on 27th for a 2 week holiday in Thailand. Stop over is Muscat with Oman Air. Should we cancel? DH says it will be fine, I'm feeling anxious.

For info. whilst Muscat/Oman is technically in the conflict area the airport is reportedly about the only one in the region that seems to have operated fairly normally over the last two weeks - some of that might be down to local politics, some down to geography.

Geography also mean flights in/ out don't need to go anywhere near the conflict hotspots.

Just looked at one of the tracking sites and by chance it looks like one of Oman Air's MCT-BKK has just got airborne, not too far adrift of schedule.

That's good to know, I've been tracking flights too. The whole situation seems so uncertain. Thanks

I’d go but only if we were all onboard.

I think you need to wait to see if your forthcoming flight is cancelled by the airline itself.

True, as a general case it's definitely better to let the airline cancel (because they pay) rather than cancelling yourself (because you probably won't get a refund if you do that).

In this case, and in the interests of managing the OPs expectations, it's probably fair to point out that in recent days Oman Air appear to have been operating fairly normally into/out of Muscat to multiple destinations such as London..

Unless the situation there deteriorates over the next week and a half I'd be expecting the flights to operate.

Would anyone consider booking with Oman Air (or Emirates and Etihad) at the moment?
And if so how far in the future?
We were planning a trip for July but hadn't booked the flights when the conflict started. We could go with a direct carrier at much greater cost, or book with a middle eastern one with a plan B of staying in Europe if the flight was cancelled.
Your thoughts would be appreciated!

Based on a few decades of flying commercially, but now retired l'd be fairly happy to consider via Muscat now.

I wouldn't consider touching anywhere else in the Gulf, including Dubai, with a bargepole until the major european carriers (so AF, KLM, BA etc) resume services.

When that will happen - no idea.

And BTW though rare these days a "direct" can involve an enroute stop, nonstop is the safe term.

Just over a week ago, we came back from our holiday in India via Muscat with Oman airlines. We were originally due to come back via Doha with Qatar airlines. Muscat airport seemed fine. The flight was an extra hour long as it diverted southwards over Saudi Arabia instead of flying over Iran. We were just pleased to get back.

It's difficult to know what to do, I know of a few friends/family who've been stuck in Dubai and Bangkok trying to get home. It all feels so uncertain atm. I wouldn't want to knowingly put us in a difficult situation.

@notimagain thank you, I appreciate your take on it - non-stop with Singapore airlines was one of the options. I'll look in to options with Oman Air. Flew with them a few years back and thought they were great.

I wouldn't book anything via DXB or AUH right now. There are limited flights arriving and departing and they are subject to disruption and delay. Look at other routes instead. Oman is subject to missile attacks but on a much smaller scale. Unless you need to travel in the next few weeks, it's not the time to be making plans that involve transit through the middle east.

We've decided to not go because of me.

AIBU?