Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways have offered extra flexibility for tickets issued after the start of the Iran War, which is currently paused. Qatar Airways suddenly changed the ticketing deadline earlier this week to today (April 30) for those wishing to retain fee-free flexibility.

Qatar Airways has now changed this policy again, extending the ticketing deadline to May 15, 2026. You can change tickets issued on or before May 15 for travel until October 31.

You can access Qatar Airways here.

Here’s the timeline of these changes:

This policy was in place until April 27/28. Note that there is no ticketing date requirement.

There was then, suddenly, an April 30 ticketing deadline for fee-free rebookings. This policy was in place from April 27/28.

Qatar again amended this policy on April 29, and we have confirmed with their spokesperson that the May 15 ticket issuance deadline is currently the correct one.

Here’s Qatar’s update:

Note that Qatar’s rule won’t overrule the passenger rights legislations, such as the EU/EEA’s EC 261/2004 or the UK’s UK261, that offer greater protection in case of long delays and cancellations.

Conclusion

Not sure what is happening with Qatar Airways, as they have now amended their flexible rebooking policy twice within 24 to 48 hours.

I believe it is important that passengers can be confident they can amend their travel plans if the Iran War flares up again, as there is no peace in place yet, or that the airline will honor the ticket and rebook them to their final destinations, bypassing the Gulf region altogether.

I am glad that this flexible policy has now been extended until May 15, but a longer extension would have been preferable.

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