Passengers forced to pay thousands after flights cancelled during off-grid trek

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 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 four-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, followed by a 13-hour flight back to Heathrow. They also had to pay for a hotel room and meals while they waited.

Ms Murphy said she was “shocked” at the lack of support. She said: “We decided to pay more for Qatar Airways to be more secure. I believed they were quite a substantial, reputable airline, so if anything like this happened, we would get a good amount of support and communication.

“I wouldn’t really want to use them again at this point in time.”

Another passenger says he was told he could be waiting for weeks for a Qatar Airways flight out of Kathmandu.

Professor George Rodway, president of the International Society of Mountain Medicine, arrived back in Kathmandu after a trek across the Lumba Sumba pass in eastern Nepal. He was booked to fly from Kathmandu to Doha and onwards to Seattle on 14 November.

But when checking in online he discovered the flight was cancelled. He said: “They would not rebook me to home until after 2 December. So I’ve had to pay out of pocket for a Turkish Airlines flight on 17 November. And no offer to pay for accommodation.

He rebooked on Turkish Airlines via Istanbul, and finally arrived home in Oregon five days late.

“I had to pay $210 for my hotel in Kathmandu and $1,800 for the new flight, minus the $750 refund I’ll get from Qatar.” In total, Professor Rodway was $1,260 – almost £1,000 – out of pocket.

There is no suggestion that Qatar Airways has contravened any rules. European air passengers’ rights legislation does not apply to non-EU and UK airlines on flights beginning outside Europe. There is no automatic right to care or compensation if a flight is cancelled.

A spokesperson for the airline said: “Due to operational reasons, Qatar Airways has reduced its number of daily flights to Kathmandu, Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM).

“To accommodate affected passengers we started temporary daily one-stop flights from Doha to Kathmandu via Gautam Buddha Airport (BWA) in Nepal.

“The return flight from KTM to DOH is nonstop. Impacted customers are being notified directly and can contact our customer care team via call or chat at qatarairways.com/help to make alternative arrangements.

“We thank customers for their patience and understanding and we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience.”