In-laws stuck in Dubai

[itsamimario]

They’re a bit worried. I’m guessing they’ll be ok, just delayed coming home?

I’ve no previous experience of this kind of thing.

Dubai's a fab place for a holiday (not at the moment, obvs). In common with many, many holiday destinations around the world, it has an underbelly. I don't see that stopping people from holidaying in the Caribbean or South America or China, or Russia when it was open. These threads have brought out all the halo-polishers. Suddenly it's all cool to be against Dubai. Hopefully all the Cool PostersTM never go anywhere that has deep poverty or dodgy history or organised crime or anything else unsavoury.

Ah, sorry, I didn't realise

Whether you think Dubai is horrible and would never dream of lowering yourself to visit my is completely irrelevant, I can't believe the smugness of some posters.

The fact is this is somewhere that should have been safe to holiday in, that's the view of governments and insurers not something I've plucked out of the air. People stuck there have done nothing wrong.

I really feel for your in laws. In answer to your question, no one can tell you what will happen, it's a volatile unfolding situation and could get better or worse very quickly. But no one can say that they'll just be a bit delayed. Let's hope that's the case.

They need to sit tight and keep an eye on foreign office guidance. I am sure they will be home soon- just not as soon as they planned for.

best wishes to them- and you also OP as it is worrying.

This is a really important point. My understanding is that most people will have limited insurance coverage for a situation like this as it fails into an explicit exception.

With this in mind it might be considering what finances or financial help you may be able to give to any family you have stranded as it's going to take a while for the situation to resolve and even if the capability of Iran to launch attacks is dealt with quickly by air superiority, flights will be slow to resume, prioritised and there will be a backlog.

Being stuck for a couple of weeks is not an unrealistic prospect at all.

I hope they get away safely, OP. My daughter and son in law live in Germany and went to Jordan to be with his family for Ramadan. I’ve just had a message from her to say that they’re at the airport so they’re obviously trying to leave. Unfortunately she didn’t say where they’re flying to but I’m hopeful that she’s on a flight that has just taken off. She said there had been lots of interceptions in Amman overnight.

I think it will be over soon. UAE’s air defences are very good and will intercept most. Oman is close to Iran, has been trying to mediate, and doesn’t host any massive American/Western bases. So it shouldn’t really be a target but who knows, if the Iranians behave erratically… UAE has Minad air base, Qatar has Al Udeid and Bahrain hosts the US Navy Fifth Fleet.

Official confirmation in the last 20mins that Oman has also been hit by Iran. The US had issues a shelter in place directive for its citizens in Oman too. I'm guessing the Irans don't want it to be seen as a potential exit route.

That’s important for people to know. I must admit, I assumed I’d be covered in such a situation.

OP make sure they’re following local advice to stay safe. Keep curtains drawn, if possible tape the windows with an X. Have their phones fully charged and a grab bag with their passports and wallets in. Tell them to Know their emergency exit routes. They likely won’t be travelling anywhere anytime soon, the backlog and logistical nightmare will take a lot of fixing that’s once the air space is deemed safe for an extended period of time.

Honestly I've read this on my ts and CS before but not really computed it on what that might actually look like in practice. Someone mentioned it in passing on another thread but I think it's a point that probably needs a lot more attention as it's going to be a significant issue that will need resolving on way or another. Whether someone will cover the gap or whether people will be stung remains to be seen but it's something practical to consider and may be something that family can help with

Whilst not wishing to alarm the OP any further, the IRGC promised the most ferocious retaliation in Iran’s history at about 3.30am our time, so it being “over soon” seems pretty unlikely.

I am really surprised that this isn't top story on BBC News the thousands of UK nationals living, working, staying and transiting in the Middle East.

I hope everyone at the airports between flights has been evacuated to safety.

Nothing about BBC reporting surprises me any more.

OP have they registered their presence with the FO? If not, they should do, the link is here:

https://www.register.service.csd.fcdo.gov.uk/united-arab-emirates-20260228/tell-the-uk-government-youre-in-united-arab-emirates

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.

@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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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?!

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.

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.