[Roger]

A warning to avoid Ethiopian Airlines. They cancelled my flight into Cairo in early Feb 2011 because of the political unrest in Egypt and yet - despite being a Star Alliance member - refused to reroute me into Cairo on another airline OR to refund me my money! How they think they have the right to cancel flights and then keep the airfare is beyond me - but once they have your money, they clearly intend to keep it.

[A320FAN]

Originally Posted by Roger

A warning to avoid Ethiopian Airlines. They cancelled my flight into Cairo in early Feb 2011 because of the political unrest in Egypt and yet - despite being a Star Alliance member - refused to reroute me into Cairo on another airline OR to refund me my money! How they think they have the right to cancel flights and then keep the airfare is beyond me - but once they have your money, they clearly intend to keep it.

I seem to recall many many airlines canceling service into and out of Cairo due to the political uncertainity going on. At 1 point EgyptAir the flag carrier of Egypt suspended all operations until the political unrest subsided. Even Airlines from the USA had to temporarily suspend Cairo service or put it off until the political climate resolves itself.

[Roger]

You are absolutely right - a number of airlines did cancel flights. But others did not. And all legitimate airlines accepted the responsibility of rerouting passengers from cancelled flights onto other airlines so their passengers were not stranded. For eg, South African airways (I was in Jo'berg) told me they would have rerouted me on BA to London and then BA to Cairo (BA were still flying into Cairo). Because Ethiopian accepted no such responsibility to reroute, I had to book an expensive one way fare from Jo'berg to Cairo on Qatar (via Doha) - and still got no satisfaction from Ethiopian on the ticket refund!