Passengers booked to fly out of Kathmandu on Qatar Airways have spent thousands of pounds on alternative tickets after the airline cancelled their flights from the Nepali capital.
In common with other airlines, Qatar Airways has been hit by the short-notice closure of Kathmandu airport at night for improvement work. As The Independent has reported, carriers were ordered to reduce their operations for several months.
Many airlines that cancel flights will automatically rebook passengers on alternative dates or other carriers. But Qatar Airways instead sent out emails telling travellers: “You can choose to receive a refund or ask us about alternative flight change options.”
Trekkers who were off-grid in the Himalayas when the cancellation emails were sent discovered they were stranded only when they reached a location with internet access.
Two such British travellers were Laura Murphy, 40, and Ry Webb, 39. The couple had been trekking for a month across the mountains of eastern Nepal on part of the Great Himalayan Trail.
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When they reached the town of Tumlingtar and got back online on 11 November, they tried to check in for their Kathmandu-Doha-London Heathrow flight the following day.
But they were told: “Your flight has been cancelled.”
A subsequent “live chat” with the airline revealed no prospect of a seat on a Qatar Airways plane from Kathmandu for at least a week.
“I said ‘Are there no other options?’ and it came back saying ‘Laura, there are no other flights available’.”
Ms Murphy spoke to The Independent as the couple were seeking alternative flights out of Nepal.
“We need to find more accommodation in Kathmandu while we’re trying to find flights out,” she said.
“It seems like getting out of Kathmandu is the difficult part so we’re struggling. We’ve tried looking via India, China, Bangkok…
“Prices of flights are going up incredibly fast so now it’s looking like £2,000 to £3,000 each to get back to London.”
The couple even considered travelling overland to India in order to find an available flight from a different airport, but found that an Indian e-visa requires a minimum of five days between application and entry.
The couple eventually spent $1,300 (£1,026) each on a…
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