Qatar Airways contacts customers

Qatar Airways sent a message to passengers who purchased tickets for upcoming flights.

Qatar’s flagship airline sent an email on Thursday to customers who had purchased tickets for flights three days after the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and other countries cut ties.

“Qatar Airways regrets to inform you that some of our offices have been closed and a number of our flights have been suspended in accordance with local authority directions,” the message says.

Customers were advised to visit a website displaying their available worldwide offices or to visit their travel alerts page for updates. Both links were not accessible from a UAE server.

The airline advised customers whose pre-booked flights were affected by travel bans to either refund their tickets or “decide later”.

Phone numbers were provided for the call centre available for enquiries in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. A voice message could be heard after calling the line, saying agents were busy picking up other calls.

Passengers were also advised to manage their booking online through the Facebook page or to email [e-mail]. The move from Qatar Airways comes after the UAE and Saudi Arabia closed the airline's offices in their countries.

The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority said yesterday that it had closed airspace for all air traffic to and from Doha until further notice.

Emirates Post Group also said it had suspended postal services to Qatar as of Tuesday, according to state news agency Wam.