Passengers arriving on the first commercial Emirates flight from Dubai to San Francisco since the outbreak of the Iran war described days of fear, uncertainty and frantic efforts to escape the Middle East.
The long-haul flight landed at San Francisco International Airport on Thursday, reuniting travellers with their families after nearly a week of disrupted air travel across the region.
Many of those onboard said what began as routine work trips quickly turned into ordeals after the conflict erupted and airspace across several Middle Eastern countries shut down.
Work trips turn into warzone ordeal
Heather Doherty, a resident of Alameda in California, had been travelling to India for business when the crisis began.
Her connecting flight from Dubai was forced to turn back mid-air because of escalating violence in the region.
“I couldn’t be more relieved to be home,” Doherty said after landing, as quoted by ABC7EyewitnessNews. “It was five days of uncertainty, but I’m thrilled to be back on American soil.”
She described spending a night sheltering in her hotel room as alerts and explosions echoed nearby.
“I spent the first night huddled on the floor next to my bed, worried about the windows exploding. You hear alerts going off and explosions in the sky,” she said.
Sheltering in hotels as bombing began
Susan Daley, a Chicago resident who was on a work trip in the United Arab Emirates, said the situation escalated suddenly.
“We had a lovely lunch, then the bombing started,” she recalled. “We went back to the hotel and at that point we were sheltering in place, locked down, doing whatever they told us to do.”
Daley eventually boarded the Emirates flight from Dubai to San Francisco after several earlier bookings were cancelled as airlines struggled with widespread airspace restrictions.
Travellers said Dubai’s airport was crowded with people trying to leave the region after airlines began gradually restoring limited services.
Thousands stranded amid travel chaos
Across the Middle East, thousands of foreign nationals — including Americans — have been stranded by closed airports and cancelled flights.
Travel blogger Alyssa Ramos said she managed to evacuate from Kuwait only after a complicated 48-hour journey across four continents, arranged largely on her own.
She said repeated messages to the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait produced little assistance beyond advice to shelter in place and register with the government’s traveller programme.
“They keep going on the news saying they’re doing everything they can to get Americans out,” Ramos said after arriving in Miami. “I know for a fact they’re not.”
With official help limited, many stranded travellers turned to WhatsApp group chats and social media networks to exchange information on open routes, available flights and safe transport to airports.
Some travellers even organised shared rides across borders — including journeys to Oman and Jordan — where airports remained operational.
Airspace closures disrupt global flights
Commercial aviation across the Middle East has been severely disrupted since the war began on February 28.
Airspace over several countries — including Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Syria — remains closed or heavily restricted, forcing airlines to cancel thousands of flights.
According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, more than 29,000 flights scheduled in or out of Middle Eastern airports have been cancelled since the conflict escalated.
Despite the disruption, officials said tens of thousands of travellers have managed to leave the region using limited commercial services or alternative routes through countries such as Oman, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
For many passengers arriving in San Francisco, however, the overwhelming feeling was simply relief after days of uncertainty near a rapidly expanding warzone.
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