Royal Air Moroc (RAM) canceled all its additional flights leading up to the World-Cup semi-finals game yesterday due to restrictions imposed by the Qatari authorities. This last-minute cancellation led to hundreds of Moroccan football fans being left frustrated and stranded.
After Morocco qualified for the football semi-finals, Royal Air Maroc announced 30 additional flights for excited fans to reach Doha scheduled to run across Tuesday and Wednesday and would be operated by widebody aircraft. However, the flights would not be operated by the flag carrier but via a codeshare with Qatar Airways. Later Moroccan travel agency announced that the operating flights were cut down to 14 instead of the previously announced 30 flights.
RAM was able to fly seven flights on Tuesday but had to cancel all seven scheduled flights on Wednesday leaving the fans in a lurch.
Following the latest restrictions imposed by the Qatari authorities, Royal Air Maroc regrets to inform customers of the cancellation of their flights operated by Qatar Airways," the airline said in an emailed statement.
Meanwhile, Royal Air Maroc assured them that it would fully reimburse the air tickets and apologized to the affected customers. However, the refund assurance brought little relief to the irate fans who not only lost a historic match but also the money spent on match tickets and booked hotel rooms.