Foreign office advice - UAE

[Jegs99]

I know that of course no one knows & its a rapidly changing situation, but if you had to guess, how long do you think the Foreign office advice for the UAE will remain as ‘advises against all but essential travel?’

The only answer anyone will be able to give is ‘until it’s safe’. And given Trump’s capriciousness and his apparent desire to destroy Iran, anyone who has anything to do with Iran and the fact that there hasn’t been any sign of a change of attitude by the remains of the Iranian leadership, there really isn’t any way even most seasoned strategists and commentators will be able to answer with any certainty.

When missiles and drones stop being fired at them and the region calms down - we don’t know whether there will be an end game at this point or if everyone goes back into their boxes until the next flare up. From my untrained eye this feels different to the previous Israeli back USA scuffles with Iran, they haven’t lashed out at surrounding countries in this way and Trump is quite different to other politicians to put it politely.

if you haven’t got a trip booked I’d be looking elsewhere for now or reassess in a couple of months. Suspect prices to Australia via Singapore will be extortionate for a while even if everything calms down.

Remember once a tusk becomes a known risk, even the best travel insurance won’t pay out.

5-10 years

It could be week.

It could be months or even longer.

How long is a piece of string?

This is going to go on for ages. We're booked for Dubai in June but we're pretty sure we wont be going!

how can anyone guess ? It’s entirely dependent on what happens ! No one could hazard a guess

I have a relative working in the UAE - a great niece. I was one of her refrrees so my sister (who is frantic with worry for her granddaughter) asked me to speak to her. She (niece) is a lecturer at a restigious university in UAE and earns far more than she could possibly hope to in this country. She went out with the express intention of earning enough tax free to buy a house cash when she returns. She feels there is nothing for her in this country and I cannot disagree. If I were her age and still child free I would probably be out there too. She says she is staying on for the moment because the local people have to live there and put up with it. I was unable to dissuade her to return and did not try very hard.

Can’t see it being safe to travel for quite some time. I’m planning on booking flights to Australia for next year. We’re not sure what route we’ll take but I’ll avoid Dubai and Doha.

What's any of that got to do with ops question?

Nobody can say for sure but personally, I’d be surprised if any travel plans for this summer go ahead. This was has been coming for a while unfortunately and it’s not going to fixed any time soon in my opinion.

No one knows …I’d not make plans to go on holiday there.

I think it would be reasonable to expect travel advice to be erring on the side of caution for a good while even under a ceasefire.

How is this relevant to the thread?

Well that’s like asking the same question about any conflict. Ukraine is still going on. Isreal/Gaza still going on (with maybe less intensity), Venezuela which could be slightly more comparable is over but you wouldn’t want to go there right now.

I would be avoiding the Middle East like the plague. Even if airspace is open do you really want to be travelling to the Middle East as a westerner in case or targeting/terrorist attack?

With such amazing places to go in the world choose somewhere else.

Well i wouldn't imagine it will be this year.

We have booked our holiday for 7th April to Doha. I was told I won't get refund until the airline declines the flights. And won't know until literally last day or two. How do I apply for refund? I booked through a travel agent. Thanks

Would there be anything left to holiday in? and with so many countries in the world why on earth is this place so popular?

I know there’s a mumsnet snobbery about Dubai but saying ‘why go there’ about a popular holiday destination where there’s a significant expat community seems a bit redundant. Why go anywhere? It’s there and you go to see the world. Dubai is not my favourite place I’ve ever been, but i am glad I’ve been there, because it’s there.

It’s also not that simple to say ‘why go there’ when emirates are one of the biggest airlines in the world. Every single Asia, Africa and Australia trip I’ve been on has been via Dubai because I’ve flown with Emirates. I am booked to travel to Sri Lanka and the Maldives on a much awaited for holiday in a couple of weeks (am assuming it will be cancelled). If you take the Middle East out of the flight path, it becomes an absolute nightmare to get any further than that.
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If you take the Middle East out of the flight path, it becomes an absolute nightmare to get any further than that.

It's true that Emirates have made it relatively easy to fly from for example a regional UK city to some other regional destinations out east...

However even now there are still plenty of options to go south (Africa) or way out east (e.g. India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, KL, Bangkok and on to Aus and NZ) none-stop from many european major cities without flying through the conflict area...

I know the connections might be sub-optimal for some but there are options

@Allthatwegotisthispalebluedot

you can use BA, Singapore,Cathy Pacific, Sri Lankan, air India, Thai, Malaysian, ANA, Qantas … look on flight radar, they avoid the conflict area.

Yes. I know there are other carriers. That’s why I said that in my original post. They are just less convenient in many cases than using emirates to fly between London and places beyond Dubai. And I am also assuming people who are saying ‘just go with x airline!’ instead do not have holidays imminently booked and have not tried to changed their flights so do not know how much prices have increased. Good luck with that, lads!