Montana woman struggles to get flight through Doha refunded amid Iran war

BOZEMAN, Mont — The war in Iran has had a significant impact on oil prices but also on travel, causing some people who were scheduled to fly through portions of the Middle East are making the decision not to continue with those plans.

Montana woman Brandi Travis was penalized from Qatar Airlines for changing her plan.

"Obviously at this point I don't comfortable taking my son or myself flying through Doha," Travis said.

Travis was planning a trip to Egypt to see friends but with the war breaking out her plans changed. She decided to continue on with her trip, but the previously booked route took her through an active no-fly zone.

"We rebooked on another airline that flew directly from the US straight to Cairo to avoid any sort of weird connections or layovers,” Travis said.

She was scheduled to fly out March 27, but the flight was with Qatar Airlines from Chicago through Doha to Cairo.

Travis made the decision to cancel their trip though because it went through Doha, Qatar and she booked an entirely new trip all together.

"When I cancel that flight on Qatar airlines, I was charged 360.00," Travis said.

She had trip insurance. We went through the insurance policy, and it wasn't specific about her situation.

The terminology on their website also says, "this insurance does not cover destinations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Cuba, Iran, Syria, Sudan, North Korea and Crimea region."

Brandi's layover destination was in Qatar, not any of the destinations listed on their site.

“It was trip insurance through Qatar Airlines, so I think if had not purchased that trip insurance I think I would’ve been out the entire amount of the flight,” Travis said.

Qatar Airlines is the state-owned airline of Qatar, and it doesn't have to comply with US regulation as its headquartered in Doha.

We reached out to the airline, and they acknowledged that there is a temporary suspension, but they didn't acknowledge Travis' situation. Instead, they shared a generic message regarding booking assistance if the travel date is between February 28 and March 10, 2026.

Travis’s departure date was March 27.

This was the airline's full response:

Thank you for reaching out to us. Please find below Qatar Airways Service Update, as of 07 March 2026.

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Update: Qatar Airways scheduled flight operations remain temporarily suspended due to the closure of Qatari airspace. Qatar Airways will resume operations once the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announces the safe full reopening of Qatari airspace by the relevant authorities. A further update will be provided on 8 March by 09:00 Doha time (06:00 UTC).

Following temporary authorisation from the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority confirming a safe operating corridor, Qatar Airways intends to operate repatriation flights on 07 March, departing from Hamad International Airport to the following airports: London (LHR), Paris (CDG), Madrid (MAD), Rome (FCO) and Frankfurt (FRA).

Priority on these flights was given to stranded passengers with families, elderly passengers, and those with urgent medical and compassionate travel needs. Each flight was pre-allocated by Qatar Airways directly to such affected passengers.

These flights do not constitute a confirmation of resumption of scheduled commercial operations.

Passengers are kindly requested not to proceed to the airport unless they have already received an official notification from Qatar Airways for these flights.

Qatar Airways has contacted affected passengers directly with their assigned flight details, travel arrangements and next steps.

We are working around the clock to organise additional relief flights where operationally possible and will share further updates as soon as they are confirmed.

Please ensure your contact details are up to date so we can reach you with flight information and instructions. Details can be updated at qatarairways.com or through the Qatar Airways mobile app.

The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew remain our highest priority during this period of disruption. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused by the current situation, which is beyond our control, and thank our passengers for their patience and understanding.

As a continuing measure, please be reminded that if you have a confirmed booking with a travel date between 28 February and 15 March 2026, you are eligible for:

Complimentary date changes of up to 14 days from the original travel date, or Refund of the unused value of your ticket.

In multiple follow up emails, a very similar version of this email was sent back. We could not get an answer clarifying the "refund fee" Travis was charged.

According to The White House, the conflict could go longer than the current dates that Qatar Airlines is quoting as eligible for refunds.

"The achievable objectives of operation 'Epic Fury,' we expect to last 4 to 6 weeks, and we are well on our way to achieving those objectives,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday from Pebble Beach.

Travis said she also reached out to the airline online and on the phone, and she said she was on hold for an hour.

“You can't get through to anyone so if you try the online chat half the time it’s not even available and if you are able to get through, it just shuts off,” Travis said.

She acknowledged what’s happening in the Middle East is a difficult situation, but she questioned the charge of a refund fee in this case – especially given airline is not currently operating in that air space seems unfair.

“The fact that I can't cancel my flight that’s going through Doha which is incredibly unsafe right now, is really frustrating,” Travis said.

Nonstop Local has made multiple attempts to communicate with media relations for Qatar Airlines and has received the same generic email back multiple times.