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. Read more: Air passenger compensation – what are your rights when a flight goes wrong? 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 sa.