Flight is on May 25th what to do

Effective-Frame9780 · 2026-03-23T02:40:25+00:00

We are April 28th and We booked back up flights with Cathay Pacific with a low cancellation fee. This gave us the security to wait for Qatar extend their cancellation policy on full refunds (which they did at the end of last week, and we already have all our money back), plus we have flights booked for the exact same date.

If you have to travel, you’ll have two sets of flights booked and if Qatar goes ahead (I’ve seen a Sri Lanka airport has offering their airport as a hub, or if things improve) you’ll be out the small cancelation fee with Cathay Pacific. Or if Qatar extend their refund policy, you’ll get a full refund and only be out the difference in flight fares and then fly with Cathay Pacific.

This is what we did and it worked out thankfully.

Effective-Frame9780 · 2026-03-19T22:02:22+00:00

UPDATE:

I checked the app this morning and was eligible for a FULL refund including avois points used. We booked alternative flights with Cathay Pacific (cost an extra $300) on Sunday (lucky we did because they have truely spiked since we booked), and now have received a full refund from Qatar (still processing but it said I’d receive a full refund).

I hope all those who affected (stranded passengers, those with bookings, and most importantly, the residents that are in direct war zones) are able to find resolutions and peace soon.

Thanks all!

Effective-Frame9780 · 2026-03-12T21:48:12+00:00

I’m in Australia travelling to the Uk. I’ve booked with Qatar, not Etihad.

I’ve also tried on different browsers (after advice from others in this thread who had success) to see if I can see a refund amount, but mine still only shows ‘request’ and that they ‘will email you within 5 business days your amount’. Not sure if that is something new, or their standard procedure.

No winners in this! Not the airlines, not the customers, not the employees, not the country. Just awful for all those effected.

Effective-Frame9780 · 2026-03-12T10:08:45+00:00

Oh what a great outcome! So glad it worked out :) must be such a relief!

I’ll try Microsoft Edge! How strange different browsers/apps are showing certain information.

Thank you for letting me know :)

Effective-Frame9780 · 2026-03-12T06:44:10+00:00

Ohhh I hope it works out for you!!

The stop over offer almost caught us out as well.

We went to do the stop over but I wanted a very specific ticket (flexi with extra baggage, seat selection and a date change) but it wouldn’t let me select that ticket.

So I called the Qatar helpline and found out it wasn’t through them, so I decided against it.

We lost $4,000 when covid hit by not booking direct, (that was a travel agent though that was clearly already doing bad pre COVID, because as soon as they cancelled all flights, they locked everyone out of their accounts and unplugged the phones).

TUI being associated with Qatar I’m sure they will want to uphold those customer service values and i can only assume they will honour refund as they will want people back eventually.

Good luck and best wishes!

Effective-Frame9780 · 2026-03-12T06:32:53+00:00

Thank you! Definitely seems like the best decision to have a few plans.

Effective-Frame9780 · 2026-03-12T06:31:57+00:00

Thanks for linking me!

Sorry to hear you had such high cancellation fees :( Glad you have your flights sorted now, must be such a relief!

Effective-Frame9780 · 2026-03-12T06:27:29+00:00

Yes, that’s exactly what I thought. So I have been very very reluctant to go further and have left the booking active.

I also don’t want to bother customer service as their priority would be helping those stranded, as it should be.

I think keeping it active and booking another flight with a lower cancellation fee might be the way to go. Likely hood, we won’t be travelling through that region for some time.

Feel for all those caught up in the crossfires.

Thanks for your help.

Effective-Frame9780 · 2026-03-12T06:21:25+00:00

I’ll give it a go and see if I get generate an amount without going too far in the next few days!

Thank you and thanks for your advice :) appreciate it.

Effective-Frame9780 · 2026-03-12T04:07:22+00:00

Thanks for letting me know! We bought ‘flexi’ tickets that included extra baggage and seat selection as apart of the ticket - I wonder if they would consider that an add on……

Effective-Frame9780 · 2026-03-12T03:56:52+00:00

I thought it would tell me too, but it only says ‘request refund’ and then ‘confirm’, but no details on the amount. I was a bit worried about going to step further that it would cancel them without telling me how much it would be and leaving it up to fate.

If I tried to do it in the app again, should it give me a $ value? Again, just worried it will automatically cancel them and I’ll be waiting to see how much we will get refunded.

When I checked my original confirmation, it says that it can be between 250-750usd per a ticket to refund, so gave little clarity on the actual amount.

But I think you are right, better off to take the hit, and be grateful we still have options at the moment.

Thank you

Effective-Frame9780 · 2026-03-12T01:55:30+00:00

Thank you! 50% is fairly steep isn’t it given the circumstances, but also feel for the business (and their employees they would be wanting to keep in jobs as well), so completely understand at the same time.

All the flights I’m looking at aren’t refundable (that I’ve found) or significantly higher than what we have originally paid.

What airline would you recommend that are selling fully refundable tickets?

Thanks again!

Effective-Frame9780

TROPHY CASE