6

I live in Iran and I have bought this Qatar Airways flight from Tehran (Iran) to Vienna for February 29. As far as I know, to this moment the flight is not cancelled for health concerns regarding Coronavirus. Although I don't know of any way to make sure about that. So I might have to go to airport and see what is going on.

And I don't want to cancel the flight, since I should be there in Vienna for my job starting March 1.

But, in case the flight is not cancelled by the airline, I don't know what is going to happen to me at the airports. Some people say that they might put me in quarantine at Qatar airport or at Vienna airport, maybe for 14 days.

Has anyone have any view or experience regarding such conditions? I am kind of panicked and overwhelmed by thoughts and concerns.

8
  • 1
    Why do you think you might be quarrantined? Have you recently been in China? Feb 26, 2020 at 18:35
  • 5
    @DavidSupportsMonica No but Iran's number of affected is quite high too.
    – Sasan
    Feb 26, 2020 at 18:52
  • 2
    @Learner Have you contacted your employer?
    – Traveller
    Feb 26, 2020 at 18:54
  • Thnanks. I've not heard of any boarding bans or quarantine orders related to Iran. Has anyone else? Feb 26, 2020 at 18:54
  • @Traveller Not yet, as I am not sure about what is going to happen.
    – Sasan
    Feb 26, 2020 at 18:59

2 Answers 2

5

You have to transit in Doha, Qatar. According to IATA

QATAR - published 26.02.2020

Passengers who have been in China (People's Rep.), Iran, Japan, Korea (Rep.) or Singapore in the past 14 days will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days.

https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/international-travel-document-news/1580226297.htm

Although the rule doesn't specify about transit, there is a chance that you will be denied boarding. You need to contact Qatar airlines to make sure.

Austria doesn't deny entry to passengers from Iran, as of now. Although unlikely, it can change from now to your travel date.

4
  • AFAIK Timatic is not showing the coronavirus information for airside transits. Feb 27, 2020 at 7:46
  • @MichaelHampton Yes. Better to confirm. Feb 27, 2020 at 7:54
  • 2
    If Qatar Airways was denying boarding to all pax from Iran, they would have to cancel all flights to Iran. They haven't (yet), so they aren't. Feb 27, 2020 at 10:30
  • @lambshaanxy They won't usually stop completely at first. They need their citizens and residents to return if needed. For instance, there are still direct flights from china to Singapore, even though the incoming passengers (residents of SG) will be quarantined for 14 days. Feb 28, 2020 at 3:17
5

The first thing you should do is contact your new employer. They may have procedures in place for any people coming for affected zones (China, Northern Italy, Iran...) to be isolated from other staff and/or the public.

It is difficult to guess what measures will be taken by the various authorities in Iran, Qatar and Austria regarding quarantine and isolation, or even outright travel bans, as this can change by the hour.

Qatar Airways have already cancelled 2 out of 3 of the flights from Tehran to Doha these last few days, and in the upcoming days.

Even if there are no bans or quarantines, and even taking into account switching to a larger plane and cancellations/rebookings, squeezing passengers booked on 3 different flights on a single probably means severe overbooking. Be prepared to be bumped off the flight if there are Qatari citizens or residents and/or premium passengers that need a seat on that plane.

The remaining flight on Saturday has been rescheduled to over an hour earlier. Add to that there will probably be lots of additional checks before boarding, and the fact that there will be overbooking, and you should be at the airport a LOT earlier that you would normally have, probably before midnight. You want to be the first in the queue. If online/mobile check-in is possible, do it as soon as it opens. You want your boarding pass to show "SEQ 001".

I suppose the rescheduling is to account for additional checks on arrival (as well as thorough disinfection of the aircraft after the flight) in order not to have issues with short connections.

Current Qatar Airways procedures for flights from Iran:

In line with various global and local health warnings, all incoming passengers from Iran and South Korea whose final destination is Doha and are showing no symptoms of the Novel Coronavirus will be asked to stay in home isolation or a quarantine facility for 14 days.

Passengers arriving from those countries who are showing symptoms will be transferred to the Communicable Disease Centre at the Hamad Medical Corporation.

So if you do not show any symptoms and are only in transit, you should have no issue boarding the flight to Vienna, unless Austria implements bans or quarantines by then.

Good luck!

7
  • According to the link, my flight (QR499) in cancelled now. ): Thank you very much!
    – Sasan
    Feb 27, 2020 at 15:55
  • So should I take that as a fixed cancellation, or it might be updated again, or be changed to another date? -- The remaining of hope in me!
    – Sasan
    Feb 27, 2020 at 16:12
  • @Learner They have cancelled 2 out of 3 flights for several days. Even though it could still change, I think it's quite unlikely for Saturday. It's impossible to book any IKA-DOH flight until March 14th, that should give you an idea of their anticipations.
    – jcaron
    Feb 27, 2020 at 16:18
  • 1
    I just received an email saying that my flight is rescheduled. I don't know what is going on. The problem with calling them is that they don't respond. I tried that several times.
    – Sasan
    Feb 27, 2020 at 18:18
  • 1
    Received email: We would like to inform you that there has been a change to the original flight timings in your itinerary. Please go to Manage My Booking to check the revised timings and confirm the changes.
    – Sasan
    Feb 27, 2020 at 18:19

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .