DUBAI RAIN

JD56

My wife and I booked 2 return flights Glasgow - Dubai - Colombo via Netflights.  A few hours before the return flight we received an email advising that the Colombo to Dubai return flight was cancelled due to adverse weather in Dubai - the aircraft had not even made the Dubai - Colombo flight.

Emirates reports were that the airport in Dubai was closed with no estimation of a reopening time.

I called the Emirates emergency number and was told that there was no possibility of getting out of Colombo in the immediate future either by Emirates or any of their affiliated airlines. I offered to fly to Manchester or London rather than Glasgow if it made a difference; the answer was no.

Other airlines were operating out of Colombo and I was able to get 2 seats on a Qatar Airways flight to Edinburgh via Doha.  2 expensive seats!

Since then I have been contacted by Netflights and they told me that I would be reimbursed a portion of my initial costs but could not tell me the percentage.  My question is:

Am I within my rights to ask Emirates to pay for the alternative flights?

If that is the case, how do I contact Emirates?  Live Chat is down. Phone lines permanently engaged/out of order. 

Alan_Bowen

You are not protected by EU/UK261 and Emirates flights are full back to the UK, the average wait time in Dubai for those affected appears to be around 4 days. I don't think you have any legal right to be re imbursed by the airline but there is no harm in trying but they are not known for their generosity. You can contact them at their London office which used to be at Gloucester Road but check in case they have moved since I used to visit them, email would be best but with hundreds of thousands affected it may be some time before they respond.

eskbanker

JD56 said:

Am I within my rights to ask Emirates to pay for the alternative flights?

You can ask, but they're not obliged to reimburse you under the flight delay/cancellation regulations that apply specifically to UK/EU airlines, so you're reliant solely on the airline Ts & Cs plus anything the UAE aviation regulator specifies, or perhaps its Sri Lankan equivalent.

You should be entitled to a refund of the return leg component of the original Emirates ticket though - it ought to be possible to derive the figure from the Netflights terms if your itinerary included a fare breakdown.

Ganga

Can you not claim off your travel insurance.

JD56

Ganga said:

Can you not claim off your travel insurance.

I have an enquiry away to them; have a notion that they will ask if I have exhausted all other possibilities.