16 April 2010

DISRUPTION TO EMIRATES SERVICES TO UK/EUROPE DUE VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS IN ICELAND



UPDATE : 09:00am, 16 APRIL 2010



Like many other airlines Emirates services between Dubai and destinations in Europe have been severely affected by the closure of airspace across the UK and Europe as a result of the ash in the atmosphere from the eruption of the fimmvorduhals Volcano in Iceland.



1. Disruptions to flights on Friday 16th April



Further to the earlier release this morning Emirates wishes to update the Australian Travel Trade on the current flight disruptions to the UK and Europe.




*Passengers whose final destination in Europe is LHR/LGW/BHX/MAN/GLA/NCL/CDG/HAM/DUS/FRA/DME

will NOT be accepted for flights departing SYD/MEL/BNE/PER

16th or 17th April 2010.



Emirates will NOT be accepting any passengers from across its network whose final destination is in UK, France (except Nice), Germany (except Munich) and Russia (Moscow) at this stage until after 1100 GMT (2100 AUST) 17 April 2010. (Subject to change). Due to no hotel rooms now being available in Dubai to accommodate further disrupted passengers, Emirates is therefore unable to accept any passengers to these destinations until such time as flight operations recommence.



Passengers bound for other Emirates destinations in Europe will be accepted for their flights as normal at this stage.



How does this affect passengers departing from Australia to UK/EUROPE in the next few days?



Any passengers departing SYD/MEL/BNE/PER on 16 or 17 April 2010 to any of the affected destinations are strongly advised not to come to the airport as we will not be able to accept them for travel until further notice. Affected passengers are asked to contact their Travel Agent or Emirates reservations for assistance or to refer to emirates.com for information.



Emirates will provide the Australian Travel Trade with regular updates and advice on this situation throughout the day so that Agents can continue update and assist any affected customers.





2. Rebooking and Cancellation Policy



The following options are available to passengers who will be affected by any cancellation of EK services to UK, Europe and Russia due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland:



Rebooking; re-issue and cancellation charges shall be waived.
Rebooking should be made onto an available flight to the same destination or to another EK destination in the same country within a 14 day period after the scheduled departure time of the original flight in the same booking class. However, if the same booking class is not available, then the next lowest class available may be booked within the same cabin. This will be at no additional cost to the passenger and if required, the validity of the ticket may be extended.
Passengers who wish to cancel their trips to/from the UK; Europe or Russia may have their remaining coupons exchanged for a MCO for future travel on EK or fully refunded. MCOs for future travel on EK will be valid for one year from date of issue (Not applicable to other airline pax).
Ticket endorsements to other airlines (OAL) or involuntary rerouting involving OAL is NOT permitted.
Emirates requests assistance from the Australian Travel Trade to refrain from calling the Emirates call centre where possible today for non-urgent matters, to avoid overloading of this service. Emirates sales teams will be available to assist the Travel Trade by phone and updates such as this will be provided to the Travel Trade as soon as new information becomes available.



Emirates thanks its trade partners and customers for their assistance and understanding during this period of unprecedented flight disruption.



Emirates Sales Team.