Possible rescheduling or even cancellation?

[vya2]

I took a risk and booked a flight to Bangkok with Etihad Airlines in June since they were offering a good price. The flight includes a 2 and a half hour layover at Abu Dhabi.

Is there a chance my flight gets rescheduled or even cancelled due to the conflict in Iran and the currrent fuel shortages or do you reckon everything will recover back to normal by then?

Also any info on how good the services is with Etihad for anyone that has flown with them before?

[momo5]

2 minutes ago, vya2 said:

I took a risk and booked a flight to Bangkok with Etihad Airlines in June since they were offering a good price. The flight includes a 2 and a half hour layover at Abu Dhabi.

Is there a chance my flight gets rescheduled or even cancelled due to the conflict in Iran and the currrent fuel shortages or do you reckon everything will recover back to normal by then?

Also any info on how good the services is with Etihad for anyone that has flown with them before?

There’s always a chance.  How soon recovery in air travel due to the aforementioned circumstance, no one really knows but I would venture a guess of months to a year once the bullshit stops.  

[Dalef65]

Someone else asked a similar question on another thread yesterday so I've taken the liberty of quoting my response to the other BM in full here as it addresses some of the relevant points asked in this question.

3 hours ago, vya2 said:

 

On 04/05/2026 at 19:21, Dalef65 said:

I have been in Pattaya 10 days now,

I flew from London to Bangkok via Abu Dhabi on Etihad. I booked the ticket in January before the conflict started, and it cost me £539, (economy) so pretty cheap on the whole.

When I booked it (through an agent), my layover was 90 minutes. My flights were subsequently shunted around, presumably due to the conflict, and I ended up with a layover of 5 and a half hours. Not great but not as earth shatteringly catastrophic as it perhaps could have been.

When I was informed of the changes, I was offered cancellation and rebooking on totally different flights with a shorter layover, albeit at higher cost, and the initial take off times didn't work for me anyway, so I went with what was being offered (ie the 5 and a half hour layover).In the end it wasn't too bad anyway.

This is my experience having booked and flown the route that the OP is talking about in the current situation.

My advice would be to book the ticket now on Etihad or Qatar and just see how the cards fall. It is quite likely that the conflict will have died down by August, and in any case it isn't actually preventing flights from going through the region.

August is notable for being an expensive month to fly that route in the first place, so holding off isn't going to make it any cheaper. 

Get it booked, and cross the cancellations or delays bridge if or when you get to it, would be my advice.

 

3 hours ago, vya2 said:

Is there a chance my flight gets rescheduled or even cancelled due to the conflict in Iran and the currrent fuel shortages or do you reckon everything will recover back to normal by then?

Yes of course "there is a chance",with the way the conflict is ebbing and flowing no-one can give you a direct answer on what will or will not happen by June. My advice as above above is to book, hope for the best see what happens, and then if there are any cancellations or delays you cross that bridge when you get to it.

 

3 hours ago, vya2 said:

 

 

3 hours ago, vya2 said:

I took a risk and booked a flight to Bangkok with Etihad Airlines in June since they were offering a good price. The flight includes a 2 and a half hour layover at Abu Dhab

You don't say it specifically, but I'm assuming you mean from LONDON to Bangkok. With the nature of the question you are asking, it would have made sense to be specific about where you're flying from.

[ricktoronto]

3 hours ago, vya2 said:

 

Is there a chance my flight gets rescheduled or even cancelled due to the conflict in Iran and the currrent fuel shortages or do you reckon everything will recover back to normal by then?

Also any info on how good the services is with Etihad for anyone that has flown with them before?

There is a huge chance of course. Read the news. Service is top notch if they go.

How close is Fumirah to Abu Dhabi? They were hit with an Iranian missile 2 days ago.

Until things are settled I'd recommend a non stop flight or a flight which doesn't connect in a war zone.

How much was the savings over non stop? I'm interested to know the price elasticity of risk in this scenario.

[Kandinski]

The fuel shortage is very real, whats going on in the Gulf is unreal. Would avoid reading the news coming month and hope savings on the ticket pays off

 

 

[Joeleg]

5 hours ago, vya2 said:

I took a risk and booked a flight to Bangkok with Etihad Airlines in June since they were offering a good price. The flight includes a 2 and a half hour layover at Abu Dhabi.

Is there a chance my flight gets rescheduled or even cancelled due to the conflict in Iran and the currrent fuel shortages or do you reckon everything will recover back to normal by then?

Also any info on how good the services is with Etihad for anyone that has flown with them before?

Setting aside the Saudia, of all the Gulf airlines, Etihad is closest to the safer Southern air corridor. The UAE Govt has also stepped in to hold their prices pre war. Abu Dhabi Airport is also the newest. If when they had the 1 day out of blue skirmish, they kept on flying.  Etihad service is comparable to Qatar and Emirates. 

Then again there is always the risk. 

[vya2]

4 hours ago, ricktoronto said:

There is a huge chance of course. Read the news. Service is top notch if they go.

How close is Fumirah to Abu Dhabi? They were hit with an Iranian missile 2 days ago.

Until things are settled I'd recommend a non stop flight or a flight which doesn't connect in a war zone.

How much was the savings over non stop? I'm interested to know the price elasticity of risk in this scenario.

The direct flights from London are about £350 more than what I payed with Etihad

[vya2]

5 hours ago, Dalef65 said:

You don't say it specifically, but I'm assuming you mean from LONDON to Bangkok. With the nature of the question you are asking, it would have made sense to be specific about where you're flying from.

Yeah my bad from London

[ricktoronto]

15 minutes ago, vya2 said:

The direct flights from London are about £350 more than what I payed with Etihad

Time to do some Deliveroo or whatever. On top of schedule issues or not getting home for weeks, it seems cheap, and very cheap to avoid an Iranian missile.

[MichaelPattaya86]

At this stage you are just picking your reason for cancellation. Middle East has the risk of flight grounding due to renewed fighting. Every other airline in the world will definitely start grounding flights in June and beyond when the jet fuel runs out. There is at minimum a 6 - 10 week lead time on jet fuel coming out even if the war ended tomorrow.

By June I would say you probably have less chance of cancellation through the middle east than anywhere else.

[Jebb]

I found Etihad to be as good as any of the other airlines for service, the airport at Abu Dhabi is new and clean.

[vya2]

20 hours ago, ricktoronto said:

Time to do some Deliveroo or whatever. On top of schedule issues or not getting home for weeks, it seems cheap, and very cheap to avoid an Iranian missile.

I hear what you're but I'm notorious for being a penny pincher and tight with my money. That coupled with what just read in the news that the UAE are now lifting the airspace restriction means I'll probably stick with what I've got booked for now and hope for the best

[Yogi007]

I booked Thai Airways in June to avoid the middle east, now Thai Airways are cutting frequencies in May at least for now due to fuel costs, but June to be announced. So I still have uncertainty!  I am flying from Oslo to Bangkok on the way there and Bkk to LHR on the way back