Surely the BBC announcing middle east evacuation plans is not good!

[Shmoigel]

Just read a news report about the flights leaving the UAE this evening! I know it will all be on Flight radar anyway but surely plastering it all over the news is not the best idea!

They will know anyway. There is no way to keep this secret.

Other countries/terrorist agencies intelligence services will already know one way or another. Announcing it in detail will probably make it safer

I don’t think any of this information is clandestine and there are people who need access.

Presumably if the BBC has the information its pretty easy to get hold of.

They don’t need the BBC! They’ll know anyway.

Flight plans have to be submitted. Passengers have to be informed. The whole region will know in advance when the planes are leaving. It is not something that can be kept a secret. Indeed it is safer if it is widely broadcast. Less risk of some trigger happy American mistaking a commercial dreamliner for an Iranian fighter jet.

It's safer for all if the evacuations are well publicised. Otherwise a general with anti-aircraft weaponry might get trigger happy. If everyone knows its a rescue plane, then if it goes down they can't pull an 'oops I didn't realise'.

Yes this, exactly this, it's WHY these things are shared broadly.

How are people supposed to get themselves from, say, Dubai to Muscat? Are they able to get taxis? Drive there and abandon their cars near the airport?
It a very long way to go in a dangerous situation, it sounds terrifying.

Atm it seems like a tiny number of flights compared to the number cancelled. Who/how is it decided who gets on?

Random question
do people who are evacuated pay for their flights?

Yes, but if youre taking becuase of the tax avoiders, imo thr "cost" is much more than the flights themselves. The UK is able to arrnage them because of the (taxpayer funded) organisation of the state. If it was just about paying for a flight, the expats could organise them for themselves.

Yes people have to pay. The reason Muscat is twofold, one is that it’s not as affected and two there are a lot of British transit passengers stuck there who were en route to Qatar and got rerouted Saturday. Emirates and other airlines are up and running in Dubai so that’s not a necessary, both Qatar and Bahrain are still closed to air traffic due to ongoing strikes and more cautious governments. There are far too many British expats to evacuate by air, they are concentrating on transfer passengers and tourists now unless health reasons

Thanks it was just me wondering.

Frankly I don't think it's the UKs job to evaluate anyone (with the exception of unaccompanied British minors and government employees working there).