ALERT: Qatar- Middle East Countries Cut Ties and Close Air Space (June 6, 2017)

June 6, 2017

Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen have cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, because of accusations it supports the Muslim Brotherhood – an Islamist group considered a terrorist organization by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain first cut ties on Monday morning. Egypt, Yemen, Libya’s interim government, and UAE, encouraged by Saudi authorities to do the same, quickly followed suit. They are preparing to expel diplomats, close off borders, and institute a travel ban on flights to and from the country. Kuwait and Oman are the only Gulf Cooperation Council members retaining ties.

The five major Gulf airlines have issued statements and travel waiver policies: Gulf Air, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, and Saudia.

From Travel Leaders Group’s Airline Relations team:

Because of the recent political events, customers may feel uncomfortable flying QR to connecting points beyond Qatar. If that’s the case, please follow QR’s policy on refunds and rebook them on EK as the first option and EY as the second to any point beyond, not to Qatar. If they want a connection to DOH look at LH.

Qatar Airways flights will need to alter flight times to allow for different flight paths. Flights to/from the US will now go over Turkey and Iran.

According to BBC News:

Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authorities have banned Qatari planes from landing or stopping at its airports, as well as crossing Saudi airspace.

Egypt has also closed off its airspace to flights originating from Qatar, and said all flights between the two countries would be halted from 04:00 GMT on Tuesday and “continue until further notice.”

Airlines from many of the affected countries, including Bahrain’s Gulf Air, Etihad Airways and Emirates, say they plan to cancel flights to and from the Qatari capital Doha starting from Tuesday morning.

Budget carriers, such as Fly Dubai and Air Arabia, have also cancelled routes to Doha.

Qatar Airways’ has arranged for three charter flights today from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – via Muscat – to Doha, Qatar. To learn more, go here.

The refund policy for Qatar Airways’ includes:

Passengers who have purchased their tickets from Qatar Airways have the following options to refund their tickets:

• 1. For tickets booked on qatarairways.com, they can: • Go to Refund requests;
• • They can approach their nearest Qatar Airways Office; or

• • They can call the Qatar Airways contact centre at +974 4023 0072.

• • 2. For tickets booked through a Qatar Airways Office or through the Contact Centre, passengers can • Contact their nearest Qatar Airways Office; or
  • • Call Qatar Airways Contact Centre on +974 4023 0072

The refund will be made to the original form of payment and the refund will be processed within 14 – 28 days. Passengers who have purchased their Qatar Airways tickets through a Travel Agency can request their refund from the issuing Travel Agent

Please contact the PR Team if you have any questions or concerns: TravelLeadersGroupPR@TravelLeaders.com.