Here’s how to prepare.
Several countries in the Persian Gulf region briefly closed their airspace on Monday during Iran’s missile attacks on the U.S. Air Force’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. In addition to Qatar, flights bound for neighboring Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also faced rerouting around the conflict area.
Dubai-based Emirates noted that several flights in the region were rerouted, but that no flights had been diverted, while Qatar Airways and Bahrain’s Gulf Air briefly suspended flight operations before resuming regular services several hours later.
Most carriers in the region have also suspended service to airports in Iran, Iraq, and Israel, and will deny travelers boarding at their origin airport if their reservation is to a city where they have suspended service.
Iran, Israel, and the United States have agreed to a tenuous cease-fire, but what should travelers bound for the region do to prepare for the possibility of further disruptions?
How Travelers Can Prepare
Americans planning travel to or via Qatar, the UAE, including the major hub airports at Dubai and Abu Dhabi, or Bahrain should closely monitor their flight status using their airline’s website or app. While the situation is currently fluid, further escalation of tensions could result in further closures or restrictions on commercial airline traffic in the region. This means airline traffic passing through the region could also be rerouted, which could result in longer flight times or unscheduled stops. Many flights between Europe and Asia routinely pass through airspace in the Gulf Region, but closures could ultimately result in flight delays, cancellations, or longer travel times if rerouting significantly extends flight routings.
Continue Reading Article After Our Video
Recommended Fodor’s Video
Will Travel Insurance Cover Delays Caused by War or Conflict?
It’s also worthwhile to check travel insurance coverage prior to purchasing policies or filing a claim for a cancelled or delayed flight. Travel insurers typically consider armed conflict or acts of war to be outside their scope of coverage. Once conflicts have started, insurers also tend not to cover related losses on new policies because the conflicts are ongoing and thus “foreseeable” at the time the policy was purchased.
Airlines similarly rule delays and cancellations related to armed conflicts as outside their control, which means accommodations and delay amenities for disrupted passengers may be more limited than for a controllable delay like those related to aircraft maintenance or crew scheduling. Even European carriers, which generally have greater government-required responsibilities to passengers in the event of delays or cancellations, aren’t subject to many of those requirements if the delays are related to armed conflict.
What Else Travelers Need to Know Right Now
Travelers bound for the region may wish to budget some contingency funds in the event their plans cancel during travel and they need last-minute accommodations or incur meal expenses. Even travelers transiting a country briefly can add their stopover to the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive updates and alerts on the security situation in the country during the period related to their intended travel. During Iran’s attack on the Al Udeid Air Base, the British and American governments both advised their citizens in Qatar to shelter in place until receiving further information and instructions from local authorities.
Impacts on U.S. airline operations are expected to be minimal. U.S. airlines have suspended service to Israel while that country’s airspace is closed. American Airlines and United Airlines, which serve Doha, Qatar, and Dubai, UAE, either directly or via codeshare partners, have issued waivers to their change and cancellation policies through early July. Many other airlines have issued waivers for those destinations, and passengers should check with their carrier to find out what they may be eligible for.
On June 22, the U.S. State Department issued a Worldwide Caution for U.S. citizens traveling abroad, stating in part that “The conflict between Israel and Iran has resulted in disruptions to travel and periodic closure of airspace across the Middle East. There is the potential for demonstrations against U.S. citizens and interests abroad.”
U.S. citizens should, the Department says, “exercise increased caution” when traveling outside the United States, and refer to their consular information pages for more country-specific information.