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Speaker 1: You're listening to Amma Mia podcast.

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Speaker 2: If you've got Eurosummer book this year, you've probably wondered

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Speaker 2: whether you should hit cancel or just cross your fingers.

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Speaker 2: With war in the Middle East closing airspace, stranding thousands

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Speaker 2: of Australians and sending fares higher, how safe and how

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Speaker 2: smart is it to go overseas in twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 2: Today we'll see what the travel industry experts say, including

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Speaker 2: the alternative spots to look at for your next trip abroad.

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Speaker 2: It's the Quikie for Monday, March nine. I'm Taylor Strano

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Speaker 2: for a look at the latest news headlines, including an

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Speaker 2: update this morning from the Middle East. Here's Clare Murphy.

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Speaker 1: Thanks Taylor. The Northern Territory town of Catherine has been

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Speaker 1: hit by its worst flooding in more than three decades,

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Speaker 1: with both the Catherine and Daily Rivers threatening to reach

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Speaker 1: record breaking levels. Hundreds of people in the Daily River

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Speaker 1: community have been evacuated by helicopter to Darwin, where they're

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Speaker 1: sheltering at the showgrounds. It's the second time they've stayed

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Speaker 1: there after flooding force their evacuation in early February. The

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Speaker 1: water levels are higher this time, with damage to homes

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Speaker 1: and community services expected to be more severe. Locals are

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Speaker 1: also being warned that the flooding has pushed crocodiles out

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Speaker 1: of the river system and to be cautious. Pictures show

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Speaker 1: empty supermarket shelves as flooded highways halted deliveries, although locals

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Speaker 1: have said their told supplies were expected today. A number

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Speaker 1: of schools have had to close. Many are also being

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Speaker 1: used as temporary evacuation centers, and Catherine Hospitals had to

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Speaker 1: close its doors with all patients evacuated to Darwin. A

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Speaker 1: monsoon is expected to drop more rain on the region

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Speaker 1: this week, with Northern Australia now tracking towards one of

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Speaker 1: its wettest seasons on record. Federal and territory governments have

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Speaker 1: announced support payments for residents whose houses are flooded. They

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Speaker 1: range from immediate relief payments capped at fifteen hundred and

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Speaker 1: thirty seven dollars per family, to funds to help replace

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Speaker 1: essential household items, including white goods and furniture. Foreign Minister

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Speaker 1: Pennywong has confirmed the government has received requests for aid

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Speaker 1: from our liies under attack during Iranian strikes. While the

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Speaker 1: Minister says Australia will not be part of any ground

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Speaker 1: troop deployment. Other military requests are being considered. Australian forces

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Speaker 1: could be used to provide support and getting oil through

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Speaker 1: the Strait of Hormers, where one fifth of world supplies travel.

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Speaker 1: Iran has been blocking access to the strait following the attacks,

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Speaker 1: leading to petrol and diesel price strikes. With the latest

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Speaker 1: on the Iran conflict, Channel seven senior reporter Chris Reason

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Speaker 1: joins us from Tel Aviv. Chris, can you give us

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Speaker 1: a snapshot of what's exactly happening today? We've been hearing

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Speaker 1: Israel's focus has been on Lebanon, but it's difficult to

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Speaker 1: stay across at all with the war being fought on

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Speaker 1: so many fronts right now.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, look im at you and me both. It's

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Speaker 3: so difficult to keep up with them. I think even

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Speaker 3: experts are sort of their heads of spinning with the

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Speaker 3: speed that this story is evolving, and the situation here

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Speaker 3: is put geopolitically and geographically, it's moving at breakneck speed.

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Speaker 3: But to break it down in the headline moments of

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Speaker 3: the last twenty four hours, I think mostly capturing argalls,

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Speaker 3: certainly the reactions I've been getting back home the extraordinary

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Speaker 3: scenes we've seen now that Israel and the US have

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Speaker 3: started targeting the oil infrastructure in Iran and Tehran, especially

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Speaker 3: thirty separate oil refineries and installations have been struck by

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Speaker 3: their air firepower overnight, and we have seen extraordinary explosions,

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Speaker 3: incredible pictures of these things just bursting into flames. The

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Speaker 3: amount of environmental damage that's being inflicted right now is

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Speaker 3: really quite extraordinary. But as those refineries blew up, at

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Speaker 3: one point burning oil was leaking into the drainage system

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Speaker 3: in Tehran streets, So you had these fires bursting out

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Speaker 3: of manholes and up through the street infrastructure. And today

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Speaker 3: when they woke up, it was difficult to see daylight,

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Speaker 3: difficult to see sunrise. The air is black now. As

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Speaker 3: we know, this conflict has gone regional very quickly. From

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Speaker 3: its very early days. Run lashed out not just at

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Speaker 3: its ancient age old enemy Israel, and not just at

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Speaker 3: US bases, but surprisingly at long time former not such allies,

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Speaker 3: but at least regional partners, if you like, in around

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Speaker 3: their neighborhood, effectively hitting the UAE and Qatar and Bahrain

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Speaker 3: and Oman and Saudi Arabia and the list goes on.

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Speaker 3: There's this thrashing, dying state was just lashing out at everything,

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Speaker 3: and we've seen in the last twenty four hours again

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Speaker 3: more hits at the UAE and Australians. I think we're

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Speaker 3: really concerned. And we ran this as lead story last

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Speaker 3: night when and again another incident, another drone attack was

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Speaker 3: thrown into Dubai Airport. Now that airport we have all

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Speaker 3: gone through. There's nobody in Australia. I don't think that

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Speaker 3: wouldn't have traveled that route. It's a major transit lane

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Speaker 3: for Australians going into Europe and around to the Middle

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Speaker 3: East and beyond, and there are always thousands of people

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Speaker 3: there and there's some one hundred and fifteen thousand Australians

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Speaker 3: registered in that area, not just in Dubai obviously, but

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Speaker 3: around that area. Just use that airport a lot, and

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Speaker 3: there are hundreds Australians in the terminal at the time

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Speaker 3: when that was struck, So frightening seems for them. Nobody injured,

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Speaker 3: nobody caught up in it. And the planes that Emirates

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Speaker 3: had last night took off and those people got back

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Speaker 3: to Melbourne and one piece, but they were telling us

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Speaker 3: frightening stories about what they saw at that airport that's

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Speaker 3: on that front. And then you bring up Lebanon. Lebanon

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Speaker 3: is a critical development in this war. It's a sidebar conflict,

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Speaker 3: but it's a really important one. And it's Lebanon, immediately

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Speaker 3: north of Israel, home to Hesbella, the terrorist organization the

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Speaker 3: list of terrorist organization in Australia and certainly you considered

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Speaker 3: terrorists here in Israel. Israel has seen the opportunity now

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Speaker 3: to attack Hesbela and really try and inflict them damage.

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Speaker 3: They want to get rid of and wipe out that

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Speaker 3: terrorist organization. And what they've done is throw airplanes, fighter

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Speaker 3: jets across southern Israel all the way out to the

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Speaker 3: capitol Beirut and striker what they call Hesbela targets. But

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Speaker 3: what we've seen entire buildings brought down, multi story, medium

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Speaker 3: density high rise just collapsing under the way of this

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Speaker 3: extraordinary ordinance that the Israeli fighter jets are dropping. And

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Speaker 3: then on top of that, we were up there yesterday

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Speaker 3: watching this happen as tanks and artillery and mobile artillery

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Speaker 3: in northern Israel were firing up shells from the south

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Speaker 3: into Lebanon as well, and this is their opportunity they

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Speaker 3: see to really once in for all, try and get

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Speaker 3: rid of Hesbela, create some sort of buffer zone between

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Speaker 3: their two countries so that they feel some sort of safety,

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Speaker 3: some sort of distance between any potential for that organization

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Speaker 3: to strike again. And for the audience that might not

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Speaker 3: know Israel and most of the Western world, consider that

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Speaker 3: Hesbela is completely funded by It's what we call a proxy,

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Speaker 3: a partner state, a partner organization that Iran has been

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Speaker 3: feeding and fueling for years with weapons and money, and

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Speaker 3: so for Israel it's a two front war Iran and

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Speaker 3: Hezbollah in Lebanon, one.

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Speaker 1: Of the UK's most notorious child killers, Ian Huntley, has

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Speaker 1: died days after he was attacked by a fellow inmate

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Speaker 1: in the workshop of a maximum security prison. The fifty

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Speaker 1: two year old former school caretaker was convicted in two

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Speaker 1: thousand and three for the murder of Holly Wells and

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Speaker 1: Jessica Chapman, two ten year old girls who vanished on

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Speaker 1: August four, two thousand and two, after leaving a barbecue

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Speaker 1: to buy sweets. A group of hikers discovered the girl's

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Speaker 1: remains beside a dirt path and awarded area a few

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Speaker 1: miles from their village. Thirteen days later, a photo of

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Speaker 1: the girls wearing matching red Manchester United football shirts, taken

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Speaker 1: just before they disappeared, became a fixture of front pages

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Speaker 1: and news broadcasts. The family's grief further impacted years later

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Speaker 1: after it was revealed the girl's phones were caught up

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Speaker 1: in the news of the world hacking scale, where journalists

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Speaker 1: access their voicemails. Huntley denied murdering the two girls, but

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Speaker 1: was convicted and sentenced to serve at least forty years

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Speaker 1: behind bars. While in prison, he survived repeated attempts on

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Speaker 1: his life and was kept under close protection along with

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Speaker 1: other notorious killers. UK media has reported that murderer and

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Speaker 1: rapist Anthony Russell was responsible for the attack that ultimately

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Speaker 1: led to Huntley's death. He'd been on life support after

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Speaker 1: being hit repeatedly over the head with a metal bar.

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Speaker 1: A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has

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Speaker 1: confirmed that the former royal couple will be heading to

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Speaker 1: Australia next month. A statement released yesterday claims Harry and

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Speaker 1: Meghan will be heading down Under in mid April. To

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Speaker 1: take part in a number of private business and philanthropic engagements,

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Speaker 1: and that further details will be shared in due course.

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Speaker 1: They will reportedly be visiting Sidney and Melbourne, but it's

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Speaker 1: not yet confirmed whether their children, Archie and Lilibet will

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Speaker 1: be coming with them.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Clai. Next why you should or shouldn't cancel or

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Speaker 2: travel plans this year? Right now, Australians are court in

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Speaker 2: the middle of a geopolitical mess they have zero control over.

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Speaker 2: Of course, when we talk about holidays and flight plans,

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Speaker 2: we know that's only part of this story. There are

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Speaker 2: people in the region living through airstrikes and displacement, and

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Speaker 2: Australians caught up in it who are just trying to

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Speaker 2: get home safely. The latest round of strikes in and

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Speaker 2: around Iran has turned key Middle East hubs into Nogo

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Speaker 2: zones for days at a time, leaving travelers sleeping on

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Speaker 2: terminal floors, watching their flights get canceled and rebooked on

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Speaker 2: Loop or waiting for rare seeds out on repatriation flights.

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Speaker 2: We've started to see the first planeloads of oozzies touched

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Speaker 2: back down here, but with many more still stuck in

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Speaker 2: limbo and others unsure of their departure plans out of Australia.

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Speaker 2: We're turning to the travel industry wondering, well, what's the

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Speaker 2: future of travel for the remainder of twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 2: The big issue for US is geography. For the last

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Speaker 2: couple of decades, the quickest and cheapest way to reach

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Speaker 2: Europe has been through Middle Eastern hubs like Dubai and Doha.

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Speaker 2: So when those hubs are under threat not just their

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Speaker 2: airspace but the airports themselves, it proves a problem for

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Speaker 2: Australian travelers. Safety experts say airlines can and do reroute

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Speaker 2: around closed airspace like they have with Ukraine, but when

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Speaker 2: the stopover points are part of the problem, it gets

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Speaker 2: much messier. So what we're seeing now is a scramble

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Speaker 2: to shift roots. Quantus Virgin and their partners are leaning

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Speaker 2: more heavily on Asian hubs to get people to London

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Speaker 2: Parasol Rome, while golf carriers like Emirates and Etti Hud

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Speaker 2: scale back, then edge back in as the risk changes

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Speaker 2: day by day. While we're seeing flights from the Middle

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Speaker 2: East slowly trickle back into Australia, Foreign Minister Pennywong is

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Speaker 2: stressing they still can be canceled last minute if the

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Speaker 2: security picture shifts. All of this has a price tag.

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Speaker 2: Aviation experts are warning that if the conflict drags on,

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Speaker 2: Australians are likely to face months of high affairs, both

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Speaker 2: because of oil prices rising and because fewer flights mean

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Speaker 2: more demand for every available seat. The estimate right now

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Speaker 2: is that travelers could feel the flow on effect for

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Speaker 2: four to five months, which takes us right through to

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Speaker 2: that northern summer window when heaps of bossies have already

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Speaker 2: booked leave. The Department of Foreign Affairs aka the Aussie

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Speaker 2: government team that handles travel advice and helps out those

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Speaker 2: overseas is telling would be travelers to think very carefully

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Speaker 2: about new bookings that rely on Middle East hubs and

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Speaker 2: to keep shaking the Smart Traveler website as the situation evolves.

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Speaker 2: The message from officials is that the conflict has spread

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Speaker 2: faster and wider than anyone expected. Multiple countries across the

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Speaker 2: region suffered strikes in the first seventy two hours alone,

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Speaker 2: and that no government can guarantee a seamless exit if

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Speaker 2: things escalate again. Commercial flights are still the first and

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Speaker 2: best option, while military rescues are a last resort, not

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Speaker 2: a backup plan you can bank on. So should you

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Speaker 2: just stay put and write off twenty two twenty six

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Speaker 2: Most people in the industry are saying no, but with

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Speaker 2: some big caveats. Monique van Guelder is the global product

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Speaker 2: leader at Flight Center. Monique, for people who've got your

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Speaker 2: book this year and they're watching the new single, the updates,

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Speaker 2: what's your honest answer to this question? Should they still

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Speaker 2: be going?

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Speaker 4: So right now there is people that have got troops,

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Speaker 4: and we're saying, speak to your travel agent or the

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Speaker 4: airline wherever you've booked that trip. All airlines right now

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Speaker 4: have situational policies as to what the impact and the

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Speaker 4: changes and flexibility around that right now. So making sure

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Speaker 4: that you don't cancel. Don't be rash with that. So

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Speaker 4: make sure you're making the most of those situational policies

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Speaker 4: that are out there right now.

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Speaker 2: So we've heard don't panic cancel like you've just said there,

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Speaker 2: can you explain to us why doing that is maybe

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Speaker 2: the wrong move?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, So travel insurance doesn't come of war. Airlines and

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Speaker 4: your tour and cruise companies, they're all working through the

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Speaker 4: situational policies and providing a level of flexibility in that,

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Speaker 4: and that's probably the best to make sure that you're

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Speaker 4: using that and maximizing those policies rather than where we've

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Speaker 4: got travel insurance that won't cover you in this case.

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Speaker 2: Now, while we don't know when this conflict will necessarily end,

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Speaker 2: there's been some advice banding around that we should avoid

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Speaker 2: traveling to or through the Middle East for the next

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Speaker 2: five or so months. Is that realistic though? I mean,

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Speaker 2: how are these big carriers going to get around getting

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Speaker 2: to Europe from Australia if not through the Middle East?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, really great question. So right now, there is so

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Speaker 4: many ways that you can get to Europe, and keep

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Speaker 4: in mind that there are so many places we can

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Speaker 4: travel that don't go anywhere near the Middle East as well.

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Speaker 4: But if you are still going to the Middle East,

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Speaker 4: then there's a lot of Asian carriers all to go

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Speaker 4: to Europe. There is a lot of Asian carriers that

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Speaker 4: are going through Singapore, for instance, Singapore Airlines Cafe going

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Speaker 4: through Hong Kong and they fly outside of these conflict regions,

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Speaker 4: so they've got flight passes safe and flying outside of

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Speaker 4: those and around that area. So definitely, there is alternate

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Speaker 4: ways to get there, but there's also alternate regions, So

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Speaker 4: the US right now, so we've got from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji,

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Speaker 4: tropical Islands, so Asia, all areas that don't go anywhere

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Speaker 4: near the Middle East.

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Speaker 2: In terms of travelers who are maybe a little bit

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Speaker 2: hesitant to go overseas in case something does happen and

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Speaker 2: then they're feeling like they're stuck, are there countries that

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Speaker 2: are maybe safer for that reason? Many countries that are

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Speaker 2: closely allied with Australia or we know that the embassy

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Speaker 2: relationship is really good, is the sort of a few

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Speaker 2: there that you would call out.

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Speaker 4: Australia has really strong relationships with a lot of countries,

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Speaker 4: But again I don't have a crystal ball on any

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Speaker 4: of these however, Definitely right now, all of the South

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Speaker 4: pacifics so New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Asian countries and the US.

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Speaker 4: So definitely all those places are fantastic holiday destinations.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a big, beautiful world with lots and lots

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Speaker 2: to see. But I do just want to ask you

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Speaker 2: one more question on a potential euro summit. Comes from

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Speaker 2: one of our listeners. Katie. She's asked if flying direct

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Speaker 2: NonStop from Australia to say London or Paris Rome, I

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Speaker 2: think is the other one that we offer in Australia.

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Speaker 2: Is that still okay? Would they just change where they

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Speaker 2: fly to get there?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, they will, They'll find safe flight pass and airlines

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Speaker 4: are making sure that they're following those new flight paths

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Speaker 4: that they've been given based on safety.

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Speaker 2: Okay. As we know, when a conflict breaks out, it

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Speaker 2: has lots of flow on effects. Obviously it's devastating in

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Speaker 2: the region that it's taking place, but then further abroad

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Speaker 2: we see prices of things go up like fuel and oil.

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Speaker 2: We've also seen air prices rides too. Are there particular

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Speaker 2: routes or maybe dates that you suggest maybe avoiding to

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Speaker 2: keep those costs down.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, So definitely people are in the trend is we're

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Speaker 4: starting to see shoulder seasons rather than high seasons become

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Speaker 4: really popular. There has never been a better time than

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Speaker 4: booking your seats now because there's definitely that conversation about

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Speaker 4: oil prices going up and f is going up due

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Speaker 4: to that. So definitely securing your seats early and making

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Speaker 4: sure that you're getting those seats is really important.

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Speaker 2: And what else would you say, Monique to travelers who

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Speaker 2: are still booking for travel this year in terms of

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Speaker 2: insurance before they head on the plane, what should they

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Speaker 2: be looking for?

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Speaker 4: Definitely insurance. Travel insurance is really important because you don't

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Speaker 4: know what medical you may need or all those other

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Speaker 4: things that actually travel insurance covers, so really important to

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Speaker 4: have a conversation with your travel agent about the right

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Speaker 4: level of cover for you and making sure that you're

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Speaker 4: looking at change of mind of those things to make

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Speaker 4: sure that you are covered should you be traveling this year.

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Speaker 2: What about like fully refundable tickets. I know that at

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Speaker 2: the time of booking a lot of us go, oh,

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Speaker 2: that's an extra cost that I don't want to pay

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Speaker 2: right now. But given the current climate, would you suggest

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Speaker 2: maybe reconsidering that one hundred percent?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, looking at what is included in your aff or

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Speaker 4: your tour or cruise or holiday, and looking at where cancelation,

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Speaker 4: change and refund charges apply and what those are really

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Speaker 4: important to look at, and your travel agent can go

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Speaker 4: through all those with you to make sure that it's

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Speaker 4: the right level cover and you've got peace of mind,

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Speaker 4: because that's the most important thing.

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Speaker 2: Finally for you, Monique. For families who are tempted to

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Speaker 2: just delay the big overseas trip till next year or

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Speaker 2: when things come down, what's your advice to them? Is

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Speaker 2: it actually safer to wait or maybe just looking at

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Speaker 2: rerouting where your trip.

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Speaker 3: Is this year.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think there's plenty of options for families out there,

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Speaker 4: so I definitely recomm and still taking that holiday.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for taking some time to feed your mind with

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Speaker 2: us today. The Quickie is produced by me Taylor Strano,

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Speaker 2: Georgie Page, and Claire Murphy, with audio production by Jacob Brown.

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Speaker 1: Momma Mea acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters

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Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on