In-laws stuck in Dubai

Hello OP did your in laws manage to leave Dubai yet?

Have they managed to get out yet? If not, hopefully not too long.

I don't really understand what you mean by "active missile zone" TBH...

I've got a bit of background in this stuff, both from the mil side (misspent youth) and civil side (grew up..) and on that basis I'd speculate that the authorities are now confident enough that the mil can give them enough warning of inbound drones or missiles to allow them to squeeze a limited number of flights in/out using routes agreed with the military....

Inbound traffic will probably be arriving with a heck of a lot of excess fuel to allow holding if things kick off whilst they are on the approach.

BTW flightradar gets lots of love in situations like this but never forget it doesn't provide a complete picture, it doesn't tell you if aircraft are carrying passengers and ATM at times it's badly compromised by what looks like GPS jamming and other related issues.

How much is it going to cost in insurance / lost income to the airlines and insurers not to fly versus insurance risk costs to fly limited numbers under heavy military escort.

Thats your calculation.

@itsamimario Any news OP , how are they doing?

There already have been limited flights out. No idea how they've gained approvals considering it's an active missile zone!

I've just seen they'll be sending limited flights out of Dubai to get people out. I'm not sure how safe I'd feel on one right now.

This is good news.

They can threaten but they have to launch missiles and drones.

Israel reports that Iran only had capability of launching 2 or 3 missiles per wave last night. Guess what they will be targeting today? Launch sites. Iran have little to no air defense. They can not defend themselves launch sites.

Drones are more easy to launch as they aren't as reliant on launch sites. But they need to stored on the ground somewhere. Guess what is being targeted today.

Of course Iran was going to threaten. However it's also got a problem with limited defence affecting its offensive capability.

This post is massively over egging Iran's ability to respond. It's just not reflective of the situation.

The attack on the Burj al Arab was anticipated. It has been evacuated. It's targeting also speaks volumes for Iranian capabilities. It is focusing on high profile and propaganda targets to attract western attention and put internal pressure on Western and Gulf governments. It's gone for Dubai airport for most disruption. However in reality these are actions of a country that doesn't have a lot of capacity. It's looking for a quick resolution by piling as much diplomatic and influential pressure as possible.

Because it knows it hasn't got the capability of taking on the US bases directly other than by a couple of disruptive missiles. If it had the ability it would focus on the source of attacks on it. It doesn't.

Some people I despair

UAE Government will cover costs. This has been announced on state media. They know the cost of not doing so will be far greater.

Yes, War is usually excluded so additional costs of eg accommodation probably don’t be covered, unless the government decides to act as guarantor for insurers which seems unlikely. This will be a huge issue for the thousands stuck in Dubai and other airports, a large proportion of whom will have been in transit from destinations further East

See my post above. The situation is worse. But if people start panicking as they can't leave the country, it would turn into a scene from a zombie apocalypse film. The Governments know this and media is well trained to only give snippets and "everything is fine" [inshallah].

It is. The local news are not putting out much in terms of images to keep people calmer.
That's more on local sm groups with many in trying to filter out ai videos.
These are the times when ai is wayyyy to annoying

I agree. Even in the Times, the infographic said “several” missiles were shot down over Qatar yesterday. Official sources say 66 and my friends who live there counted 20-30 in a single wave so don’t see how that can be true. It’s been going for 24 hours with periods of calm in between waves but way more than reported! Qatar isn’t even mentioned in the majority of the news stories yet thousands of British people live there.

UAE are massively downplaying the situation because they don't want mass panic as that would cause far more chaos in a country where people and goods are essentially trapped.

Flight radar is incorrect. Airspace is closed. Reason why - there are missiles in the air. Look at a map- Dubai is on the other side of the Arabian/Persian gulf ie in the firing line. Sorry but you really want your in laws to be in the air right now with hundreds of missiles and drones flying around?!

Yes, it must have been the spoof video I saw because it was definitely the Burj Khalifa. I’d also seen the Burj al Arab burning in a video that seemed so disproportionate to the UAE’s own reports of that incident that I wondered if that was a spoof too. It’s difficult to get unbiased and timely reporting.

The top story is the death of the Ayatollah, there is no headline regarding strikes on the hotels and airports.

Unless you closely follow social media, you would not know there is a serious issue relating to UK citizens and click into the other headlines for information.

Having flown through both Qatar and Dubai multiple times, my heart is with anyone living, holidaying or transiting through the ME right now.

The people of Dubai in my experience are some of the friendliest, most helpful and generous people I have met.

I really hope things return to some sort of normality soon.

It’s not really an underbelly though is it? Rather more accurate to say that there is an extremely thin veneer on Dubai - you don’t have to scratch much of the surface to see why it’s an awful place

Burj Al Arab. The burj khlifa video was spoof.

People considered going to Hatta last night but there was information floating about border closure. Not sure if that was true

@Velvianits the first story on the bbc website, in the live news section. The situation is fast moving, they use the live section as it’s constantly updated. The foreign office advice for those in the Middle East is to take local advice as it will vary depending on where they precisely are. Muscat (Omen) and the Saudi airports are open if people can get to them and get a flight as an alternative to waiting.

The Iranian channels watched by DH indicate that a drone was shot down just before it hit the Burj Khalifa yesterday. It might well be untrue, because there’s obviously an agenda for them, but if it were my family I think “stay put and do exactly what the travel company says” is the only option.

If traveling independently, I might consider hiring a car, driving to Muscat, sitting it out in the Chedi and getting a flight back to London whenever the airspace reopens. Oman has been hit, but it’s a particular port - presumably with US interests - rather than tourism.

Same (biased, unconfirmed, Iranian) sources are now reporting a strike on Doha airport, so they might be waiting a while OP.