(Bloomberg) — Tens of thousands of passengers remain stranded weeks after conflict with Iran began, while mass cancellations at Gulf hubs have overwhelmed airlines and left travelers scrambling to find ways to get home.
Retired photographer Bernard Kuhn and his wife were stranded in Sri Lanka after Qatar Airways canceled their flight to London. After days of failed attempts to contact the airline — with dropped calls and no return calls — they gave up, flew to Bangkok and waited 10 days before purchasing new tickets. The diversion cost £5,000, which forced the couple to cancel next year’s holiday.
“Airlines are overwhelmed and don’t communicate, so you’re completely in the blind,” Kuhn said. “No one emails, no one calls. You really have to figure it all out yourself.”
The Kuhns’ experience reflects a broader collapse: More than 50,000 flights were canceled, affecting one of the world’s busiest transit corridors. Many travelers say companies have failed to rebook them quickly — or at all — leaving passengers on their own to deal with few alternatives and skyrocketing fares.
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The complaints come as Gulf airlines face a rare level of disruption: airspace closures trigger sudden cancellations on one of the busiest long-haul flight networks on the planet. About a third of Europe–Asia flights pass through hubs in the Gulf, so even short disruptions spread globally. With crews and aircraft out of position, resumption is slower and passenger assistance is limited.
Some passengers with tickets on Gulf airlines report waiting hours to speak to customer service, repeated cancellations without much explanation and automatic refunds without the option to rebook. Others say companies continue to sell seats at high prices on the few available flights, while stranded customers struggle to get those seats.
While some travelers in the Gulf or the European Union are entitled to assistance and care, many others — especially on Asia–Europe routes — have little recourse when companies fail to rebook or delay alternatives, forcing them to pay hotel and other expenses out of pocket. Travel insurance offers little relief, as most policies exclude interruptions linked to war.
“There are no unified global protections for passengers,” said Steven Berger, a lawyer at the European Consumer Organization.
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‘Abandoned’
Even so, the companies’ social media channels remain flooded with rescheduling requests, including from elderly people and people with medical needs. Users report receiving refunds instead of alternative flights, forcing them to purchase new tickets at exorbitant prices.
On X, user Bruno Lopes posted that he and his wife were stuck in Bali after their flight back to Brazil was canceled and that they were unable to reschedule, despite there still being seats for sale.
“Stop pushing refunds just to sell the same ticket for more than double the price,” he wrote. “Prioritize rebooking us over profiting from the crisis! We need a flight home now.”
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Diane Clement said she saw this up close after Etihad canceled her flight back to Atlanta after a vacation in Phuket, Thailand. When she tried to rebook, she found seats on the same route selling for more than US$4,000 (R$21,000) — almost four times the amount she had originally paid.
“I felt like they were cheating us; it’s really unfair,” Clement said. Unable to get a rebooking, she borrowed money to buy a new US$3,700 (R$19,400) ticket on Delta.
On some popular routes between Southeast Asia, Australia and Europe in March, fares rose two to five times compared to February, according to consultancy Alton Aviation. Tickets for June are about 40% to 110% more expensive than a year ago, and prices for October are rising 15% to 30%, the company said.
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Sky-high rates | Flight prices on Asia–Europe routes soar with war in Iran
While some European and Asian airlines have added direct flights to bypass the Middle East, the extra capacity has not been enough to absorb all the displaced passengers.
“Additional capacity has not yet filled the entire void,” said Bryan Terry, managing director of Alton. “The demand continues to be there, which is why flights are so expensive on some of these routes.”
The disruption, coupled with the rising cost of kerosene, is expected to weigh on the summer travel season, especially on long-haul flights. Summer bookings from Europe to the US fell 15% year-on-year, while Asia–Europe bookings — highly dependent on Middle Eastern hubs — fell 4.4%, according to analytics firm Cirium.
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“For anyone planning to travel in the summer of 2026, the message is clear: expect higher fares and fewer cheap connections via the Gulf,” Terry said.
Around 90,000 passengers a day typically connect at Gulf hubs on Emirates, Qatar and Etihad flights, according to Cirium. Much of the current pressure is focused on routes that rely on these hubs, where supply has been cut following increased security risks, including a recent drone incident near Dubai International Airport. Airlines including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. have also suspended key routes, further reducing capacity.
British travel agent Kate Moore said she was forced to buy £2,500 tickets via Hong Kong after her Etihad Airways flight home from Thailand was canceled and refunded. With little communication from the companies, she started publishing travel updates on Instagram and has already heard reports from more than 400 passengers with similar problems — many unable to pay the new fares. Some have had flights canceled up to five times and feel abandoned, he said.
“People have lost a lot of trust in the airlines,” Moore said, adding that many still stranded have asked her for help in relocating to alternative routes that avoid the Gulf. “They received very poor care and can’t get help from anyone.”
© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.
