A packed United Emirates Airlines Flight 203 touched down at John F. Kennedy Airport late Thursday morning.
What You Need To Know
A packed United Emirates Airlines Flight 203 touched down at John F. Kennedy Airport late Thursday morning
Airline passengers stuck in Dubai since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran say they’re relieved
The passengers were stranded for days due to canceled flights following missile attacks from Iran
Airline passengers stuck in Dubai since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran say they’re relieved.
“I’m just thankful to be home,” said one woman who asked not to reveal her name. “Thank you to the U.A.E for keeping my husband and [me] safe.”
“It’s just good to be home,” Sweta Patel said.
The passengers were stranded for days due to canceled flights following missile attacks from Iran.
“We didn’t know when we were going to be back, and so being back home feels really good,” Sweta said. “We were traveling with a 6-month-old, so it was really stressful.”
Her husband, Anush Patel, said his family’s safety was a top concern.
“We could see the U.S. Consulate in Dubai from our window, and for three days I’m looking at it and I’m like, ‘OK, it’s right there. That’s kind of cool,’” Anush said. “We ended up checking out that morning, and that same night there was a drone attack on it.”
Charles Lowe said getting on a flight back to the U.S. took days.
“All the flights were basically canceled,” he said. “Showed up scheduled and ready to go. Finally, we got a car and drove over to Iman. And finally, was able to get a flight from there to Istanbul and then come back home.”
Lowe said he captured this video of an interceptor stopping a missile headed to Abu Dhabi.
“It was freaky, he said. “I learned how to walk [really] fast.”
David Cisneros said he and his father, originally from Mexico, became stranded in Dubai during a layover. He says it was his father’s high blood pressure that allowed them to take a chartered flight to New York.
“We got a doctor,” Cisneros said. “The doctor came in, provided a prescription [for] whatever he needed. And that’s the story that got us out, I need to say.”
College students in Connecticut and Massachusetts were stranded in Dubai during a Model United Nations conference.
“We were chairing a conference, judging a conference of mainly high schoolers and college students as well,” Evan Rhault, who attends the University of Connecticut, said.
“We reached out to a lot of Senate and Representatives’ offices as well,” Rhault’s friend Ryan Rivera Cabrera said. “It seems organizationally there just wasn’t a plan.”
They said students were forced to hide from incoming missiles in a makeshift bomb shelter under their hotel.
Renault says the experience makes him more motivated to pursue his studies in diplomacy.
“Now that we were just in an active war zone, a lot of people have failed in their task of trying to solve things with peace, trying to solve things with talks, and they just go straight into war,” Rhault said.
According to the UAE, limited flights are departing from Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) after service was suspended due to the regional conflict. While operations are resuming, they are not back to full capacity.