Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Anyone else in Dubai on holiday? AIBU to be panicking with all the flights cancelled?

996 replies

tiantian1005 · 28/02/2026 17:12

Not sure when we can go home..anyone has managed to for example drive to nearby countries and fly from there?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
34
notimagain · 01/03/2026 13:24

SomethingUniqueThisTime · 01/03/2026 13:20

Yes RAF, they are often busier here with training flights at the weekend.

If it's Brize you may be onto something, anywhere else TBH I'd not be sure.

I spent a few happy years at RAF stations wearing the light blue uniform and sometimes the local population would definitely misread what was or wasn't going on inside the wire.

justasking111 · 01/03/2026 13:23

Ohyeahitsme · 01/03/2026 12:34

That's entirely different and you know it. You're being deliberately obtuse.

As a child we lived near an airbase in the north and we were used to hearing jets on manoeuvres but just before the second gulf war they ramped up significantly, at times they didn't normally fly at, far more of them and more frequently. It WAS worrying and unsettling as it was a clear indicator that they were preparing for trouble.

We live near an airbase in Wales. See and hear a lot. The other week was day and night. Locals are proud of our base. Those pilots and crew risk their lives just training.

CreamolaFoam26 · 01/03/2026 13:20

.

SomethingUniqueThisTime · 01/03/2026 13:20

notimagain · 01/03/2026 13:09

RAF base...?

Don't forget it's a weekend.....

Yes RAF, they are often busier here with training flights at the weekend.

LakieLady · 01/03/2026 13:20

notimagain · 01/03/2026 12:56

For info in the last week quite a few people in the UK living nowhere near airports reported hearing some F-22s going overhead at medium/high level..they are noisy and make quite a distinctive sound.

Edited

That's interesting. I'm in the SE and nowhere near a flight path or an air base, but I heard some noisy planes last one day week.

I just thought it was a bit early to be practising for the annual air show that happens a few miles away...

SomethingUniqueThisTime · 01/03/2026 13:18

I think it’s worth stating again to those people stuck in the region that local media (and also local social media) cannot be relied upon to give honest and accurate information on what is happening.
Use UK Govt sources such as the Foreign Office, UK TV channels (BBC, Channel 4) as your reference points.
Dubai/UAE media is very heavily censored. It’s already apparent - with inaccurate reports about debris rather missiles hitting buildings, number of casualties at the airports. They are keen to show the world that their security defences are fully in control.

walllaw · 01/03/2026 13:16

CorporealCarrot · 01/03/2026 12:44

There's a nasty little subset of mumsnet posters who love to sneer at anyone who expresses perfectly legitimate concern and worry. If I was in dubai right now I'd be keeping my children calm and telling them we just need to stay put and safe until the planes are up and running again. I'd be prepping bags and making plans. And then privately I'd be losing my shit, terrified, obsessively consuming news and feeling a bubble of panic every time I heard a noise. Because that's a human reaction to unusual and scary events. But according to mumsnet that is sneer-worthy. I remember the same type of posters sneering at anyone who expressed a bit of concern about covid in the very early days of the pandemic. It's so condesending and mean spirited (and sometimes wrong).

That's pretty much what we did, living in lower Manhattan, on 9/11. Trying to reassure the kids while figuring out what was happening and next steps. The fighter jets overhead were terrifying. It's amazing how many armchair commenters know with certainty exactly how brave they'd be.

My heart goes out to anyone stuck in the midst of the this situation. Wishing you all home and safe as soon as possible.

sabababa · 01/03/2026 13:16

usedtobeaylis · 01/03/2026 10:00

I wonder who else has been financing terror groups for decades.

Oh yeah, that's right.

No idea what you mean but irans proxies have destroyed Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and iraq

Cluckingchicken · 01/03/2026 13:09

Anyone stuck and having accommodation issues, Danube properties announced they might help on their instagram. Some others might follow suit so it's worth to watch

notimagain · 01/03/2026 13:09

SomethingUniqueThisTime · 01/03/2026 13:07

Interestedly, I live very near a major UK military airbase which is in contrast use with training flights. It is unusually very quiet at the moment, presumably non-essential flights are cancelled in readiness for military, repatriation or evacuation support.

RAF base...?

Don't forget it's a weekend.....

Roaminginthegloaming · 01/03/2026 13:08

@tiantian1005 and @MissAdvantage

My Aussie friends were en-route from Sydney-Singapore-Doha-London last July when they were caught up in the incident where the US military bases in the UAE were attacked and airspace closed.

She actually called me (whilst I was at the RA Summer art exhibition) in a panic as they couldn’t find any information online and couldn’t get through to the airline on the phone.

I suggested that they download the X App (formerly Twitter) and searching for their airline (Qatar) as it was showing the very latest information. Fortunately for her and her family Qatar Airlines had just updated a comment that airspace was now open and to check in as normal, so she was very relieved.

I would recommend anyone flying into and out of the Middle East to look up their airline on X (Twitter) or perhaps Blue Sky. Also search for posts from the Independent’s travel expert Simon Calder as he always seems to get travel information before almost anyone else!

Good Luck!

SomethingUniqueThisTime · 01/03/2026 13:07

Interestedly, I live very near a major UK military airbase which is in contrast use with training flights. It is unusually very quiet at the moment, presumably non-essential flights are cancelled in readiness for military, repatriation or evacuation support.

LochKatrine · 01/03/2026 12:59

RedToothBrush · 01/03/2026 12:55

I think it's a difference between Western and Iranian thinking due to asymmetric military capability and different values towards the regard to life of your own citizens.

The UK government wouldn't make a decision to shoot thousands of its own civilians peacefully protesting.

Given the Iranians have, I don't think it's a stretch to suggest they might locate strategic military targets under schools.

Absolutely. We know that their proxies do.

notimagain · 01/03/2026 12:56

1dayatatime · 01/03/2026 12:31

If you find the sound of aircraft overhead unsettling then I suggest you don't live near an airport.

For info in the last week quite a few people in the UK living nowhere near airports reported hearing some F-22s going overhead at medium/high level..they are noisy and make quite a distinctive sound.

RedToothBrush · 01/03/2026 12:55

OneFunBrickNewt · 01/03/2026 11:44

There are primary schools in Central London next to sensitive military targets.
I'm no expert on Tehran city planning but it could just be that's where things ended up?

I think it's a difference between Western and Iranian thinking due to asymmetric military capability and different values towards the regard to life of your own citizens.

The UK government wouldn't make a decision to shoot thousands of its own civilians peacefully protesting.

Given the Iranians have, I don't think it's a stretch to suggest they might locate strategic military targets under schools.

PrincessofWells · 01/03/2026 12:50

@1dayatatime are you just ignorant or being deliberately obtuse? Because actually you are being pretty offensive.

CorporealCarrot · 01/03/2026 12:44

1dayatatime · 01/03/2026 12:31

If you find the sound of aircraft overhead unsettling then I suggest you don't live near an airport.

There's a nasty little subset of mumsnet posters who love to sneer at anyone who expresses perfectly legitimate concern and worry. If I was in dubai right now I'd be keeping my children calm and telling them we just need to stay put and safe until the planes are up and running again. I'd be prepping bags and making plans. And then privately I'd be losing my shit, terrified, obsessively consuming news and feeling a bubble of panic every time I heard a noise. Because that's a human reaction to unusual and scary events. But according to mumsnet that is sneer-worthy. I remember the same type of posters sneering at anyone who expressed a bit of concern about covid in the very early days of the pandemic. It's so condesending and mean spirited (and sometimes wrong).

FarAwayFuneral · 01/03/2026 12:37

Looks like somebody left the hatch open on the Deliberately Provocative Edgelord tank too.

TheWeeDonkeyFella · 01/03/2026 12:36

1dayatatime · 01/03/2026 12:31

If you find the sound of aircraft overhead unsettling then I suggest you don't live near an airport.

I live nowhere near an airport and not unsettled by normal aircraft noise either.

Ohyeahitsme · 01/03/2026 12:34

1dayatatime · 01/03/2026 12:31

If you find the sound of aircraft overhead unsettling then I suggest you don't live near an airport.

That's entirely different and you know it. You're being deliberately obtuse.

As a child we lived near an airbase in the north and we were used to hearing jets on manoeuvres but just before the second gulf war they ramped up significantly, at times they didn't normally fly at, far more of them and more frequently. It WAS worrying and unsettling as it was a clear indicator that they were preparing for trouble.

LochKatrine · 01/03/2026 12:32

1dayatatime · 01/03/2026 12:31

If you find the sound of aircraft overhead unsettling then I suggest you don't live near an airport.

I think you know what she means.

CanISeeYourLicence · 01/03/2026 12:32

1dayatatime · 01/03/2026 12:31

If you find the sound of aircraft overhead unsettling then I suggest you don't live near an airport.

Don't be so obtuse

1dayatatime · 01/03/2026 12:31

TheWeeDonkeyFella · 01/03/2026 12:20

Something is amiss if you can't understand that people living or visiting a country or simply transiting an airport where missiles might now hit may be terrified.

We had American F22s and Stratotankers flying overhead a couple of nights earlier this week and it was quite unsettling just hearing the engine roars in the dark skies and we were in no danger whatsoever, so to hear that noise or explosions under real threat must be, yes indeed terrifying.

If you find the sound of aircraft overhead unsettling then I suggest you don't live near an airport.

LochKatrine · 01/03/2026 12:30

Heyhihobye · 01/03/2026 12:25

Absolutely they are gruesome but Netanyahu and Trump are no better. They all swim in the same murky water and eat on the same bloodied tables. Equally as evil.

No. Have a look at what goes on in an Islamist regime. What would your rights be as a woman? Both the USA and Israel are democracies with civil rights laws. Are they perfect? No, but it would be about a million times better to live there than a theocratic Iran.

Jhha · 01/03/2026 12:29

Angelic999 · 01/03/2026 12:11

Does that include the citizen who died yesterday as a result of the strikes?

I trust the UAE to do it's best. I'm sorry that that man passed away.

Swipe left for the next trending thread