Flooding in Dubai family stuck on plane

[Aussieland]

Wondering If anyone has any positive news- my elderly parents in law landed in Dubai 8 hours ago and are still stuck on the plane without any sign of movement. They still have another leg to go into Europe and I am seeing pretty awful footage from the airport. So frustrated at Emirates for taking off when they knew how bad things were and not diverting. Anyone got any ideas how the situation is?!

Hopeful bump

What a pain for your parents, hopefully they will get moving as soon as they can.

Are you on Twitter/X? I find companies often post updates quite frequently on there and it helps by looking at the comments underneath their posts to see what others in the same situation are posting.

For example, Emirates have posted -
Passengers arriving in Dubai and already in transit will continue to be processed for their flights. Customers can expect delays to departures and arrivals, and are advised to check the latest flight schedules on emirates.com

We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused. Emirates is working hard to restore our scheduled operations, and our teams will provide all possible support to affected customers. Please DM us if you require any assistance. (3/3)

Someone else has replied to this: Emirates, appreciate delays happen but to be sitting ready to board for nearly 8 hours with no offer of water or food and absolutely zero communication is quite frankly inhumane and shameful. Flight EK0011 Dubai to London Gatwick

Just thinking looking at twitter acounts like Emirate, Dubai airport etc might give you a sense of what is happening

Yeah they are just giving generic answers really and nothing helpful :( I feel awful for them (and cannot imagine how awful it is for the parents of small kids who have now been on board for 24 hours and I imagine are running out of food nappies and sanity)
Planes are taking off so they must be able to get people on them. I don’t understand how they can’t get people off!

Oh that's rubbish for your parents. That's a long time to be stuck on the tarmac.

A colleague in Dubai yesterday told us on a Teams call that the floodwater had reached the door handles of her SUV!

It's been really wild. I know the roads to the airport are still in bad shape and they will be pumping water as fast as they can. Are your parents on Facebook? There is a lovely group called Dubai British mums. They might be able to offer more insight into the situation at that end of town. Lots of flight staff on the group too. Folk are still stuck on roads from yesterday morning.

I've never seen a storm like it.

Now 8 hours standing in a queue to try and work out how they can leave again and get home. It looks like a disaster film in the airport. Dubai and emirates have really messed up. Imagine letting planes land in your airport when you know you cannot process them and your airport is full of thousands of people. What a shit show. Can’t sit down. Can’t charge phones. Can’t get food or drinks. No way of contacting customers services- it’s just generic responses and phones ringing out

I really hope your parents can get some rest and get home ASAP. What a nightmare for all involved and yes, baffling that Emirates landed them there!

Your poor PIL! It's a nightmare situation in Dubai atm. I've been messaging a friend all eve who was due to fly home today. She's been stuck in a queue at the airport for ten hours now and can't get anywhere near to speak to someone. Her flight was cancelled hours ago and she has no idea where her luggage is. Her sense of desperation is palpable.

Sounds similar. Poor thing. I just can’t imagine if you have kids or are disabled or ill what you are meant to do. It sounds so poorly managed. I feel very helpless

I suppose there is very little they can do in a disaster situation where people are dying. the airport is not going to function for some time. Its a nightmare, but unlikely to be life threatening. People were trapped on islands in tents in the UK last week when ferries were cancelled - they might have had food and water, but no warmth or shelter. this is going to keep on and on happening as the climate is disrupted

At least your PIL are dry!

@Aussieland

. So frustrated at Emirates for taking off when they knew how bad things were and not diverting.

Just to try and address that point TBF to the airline did Emirates know how bad things were going to get at Dubai at the time of your PILs flight’s departure from wherever?

There’s an issue with Longhaul flights , especially the very long haul sectors, in that you have to plan and depart using a forecast that can be 12 plus hours old or more by the time you get near your destination and there’s always the risk the situation might suddenly change from that in the forecast whilst you are en-route e.g. a forecast of some Thunderstorms becomes one of biblical downpours.

As I understand it there were certainly diversions of inbound flights, one or two to airfields not really set up for passenger operations, which introduced a whole other set of problems.

No idea why we are hearing stories about lack of communications but TBF the weather looked horrific and sometimes there really is very little that even the best setup airline can do to improve matters.

Finally and most importantly your PILs have now made the onward flight OK.

How are your parents now op?

My friend was advised to go to the airport because her flight would be leaving. She has been there now for 13 hours and her flight has been cancelled. Can't get any food or water, can barely find anywhere to sit down. Luckily it's just her and her husband and they're both youngish and fit and confident in asking for help and info (not that there's much of either coming right now).

We've just had the hourly text update. They can't even get their phones charged so don't want to waste battery power.

I've heard of some pretty awful conditions. I hope everyone is safe.

Place marking as DS flying to Dubai on monday.

They finally have their bags back but I think are just sleeping on the floor (in their 70s, along with thousands of others) in the airport with a promise of a flight in 2 days. I don’t even know if they have access to food- from the stories on the BBC it seems unlikely

and yes at the time they took off we found later Dubai airport was underwater and they had told staff not to come to work (we didn’t know obviously) and so they absolutely shouldn’t have been flying people in.

I can’t even imagine how awful and exhausted and hungry everyone must be or the state of the toilets…

And of course it’s an act of nature so not even any compensation

This is the frustrating thing. Why would you tell people to go to an airport with no staff, no functioning check in, no food?

@Aussieland

yes at the time they took off we found later Dubai airport was underwater and they had told staff not to come to work (we didn’t know obviously) and so they absolutely shouldn’t have been flying people in.

Putting it politely that’s bizarre.

If they were on a Long Haul flight it might just have made sense for the flight to depart with the hope the situation in Dubai would improve whilst enroute, if that didn’t happen then divert. I’ve seen that done elsewhere (due snow) it’s disruptive for all involved but if handled properly it’s not too painful.

In this case it sounds like the airline either didn’t have a plan or were more interested in not getting their aircraft and crew out of position/off roster than in exercising any duty of care to their passengers.

well, for a large number of passengers, Dubia might have been their final destination, and getting there was their only object.

Yes of course, and that’s one very valid reason why a decision to completely cancel flights and not even try to set off towards destination due to weather there is a very very big deal and rarely happens.

I think in my years of flying (not for Emirates) I diverted a few times but only once remember not even trying at all and that was down to a major weather event that was about to clobber the eastern seaboard of the United States.

I hope your parents make it back ok @Aussieland We had an absolute nightmare with Emirates over 10 years ago trying to get to Oz for Christmas and I vowed never to fly with them or change in Dubai again. Their Customer Service was diabolical and the staff couldn’t have been more unhelpful if they tried both at the airport and on the plane. I’m sorry to learn things haven’t improved.
I realise the current situation is exceptional but I found when we flew with the and were stranded for about 40 hours due to missing a connection from one Emirates flight to another (as they were running late) they were very unhelpful and Customer Service was non existent

Heard similar quite a few times but of course Emirates have done such a good job of cornering the Long Haul market out of the major non capital cities worldwide (e.g. UK, lots of Europe, Oz) that many people find them hard to avoid or are reluctant to avoid.

To be fair to Emirates, flash flooding is normal when it rains. Except usually it all dissappears as fast as it arrives. This level of standing water is unusual.

We've also only ever experienced exceptional customer service from them - and that includes missed connections, and being seamlessly moved onto the next flight, with reprinted boarding cards given to us as we walked out of the tunnel into the terminal, and the whole debacle of KSA and Qatar having a spat, and shutting borders, with everyone wanting to transit in the now harem country switching airlines from Qatar to Emirates ir Emirates to Qatar.

KLM are our nemesis airline, with canceling flights, refusing alternative possibilities (just put us on the flight with spaces to next airport along - 40km away, we'll sort the other end was apparently impossible) and more lost bags then I have fingers.

All that said, Emirates have clearly failed thr OPs parents, plus loads of other passengers right now. I hope they can get folk stuck in the airport out ASAP.