Western Pennsylvania couple stranded in Dubai amid canceled flights
WITH JONATHAN AND ELAINE FROM WIGGIN, FROM BETHEL PARK, THEY SAY THEY’VE BEEN TRYING TO REMAIN POSITIVE THROUGHOUT THIS ENTIRE SITUATION IN HOPES OF TRYING TO FIND A FLIGHT HOME. THEY HAD A TENTATIVE FLIGHT FOR SUNDAY, WHICH HAS NOW BEEN CANCELED, BUT EVEN IN THE TIME THEY HAVE BEEN IN DUBAI, THEY’VE WATCHED THIS WAR REALLY UNFOLD AROUND THEM. AGAIN, WE’RE NOT TERRIBLY CONCERNED, BUT YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW, AND WE LIKE IT HERE. IT’S A NICE PLACE, BUT WE REALLY LIKE TO GET HOME. I WAS TOLD BY I WAS TOLD THE COUPLE THAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO COME HOME TOMORROW, BUT BRITISH AIRWAYS ENDED UP CANCELING THEIR FLIGHT. THEY ENDED UP WORKING WITH THE AIRLINES TO SCHEDULE A FLIGHT FOR SUNDAY, WHICH IN THE LAST 15 MINUTES THEY WERE JUST TOLD THAT HAS NOW BEEN CANCELED, WHICH SAYS THEY HAVE BEEN TRYING TO CONTACT THE STATE DEPARTMENT, REALLY HAVEN’T REALLY SEEN RECEIVED ANY GUIDANCE FROM THEM AT THIS POINT, EVEN HAVE BEEN TOLD OF HORROR STORIES OR DIFFICULT SITUATIONS FROM FOLKS TRYING TO GET AHOLD OF THEM OVER THE PHONE FOR THE FIRST SEVERAL DAYS. APPARENTLY, WHEN YOU PUNCH YOUR WAY THROUGH AND FINALLY GOT YOUR WAY THROUGH THE PUSH, PUSH, PUSH TO PUSH ONE, PUSH TWO KIND OF THING, THERE WAS NO HELP. BASICALLY, AT THE END OF AT THE END OF THE TRAIL. SO IT WAS A LITTLE, LITTLE FRUSTRATING. I ASKED THEM, JUST BY HAPPENSTANCE, IF THEIR SECOND FLIGHT HAPPENED TO BE CANCELED, WHAT WOULD BE THE NEXT COURSE OF ACTION? THEY SAID THEY WOULD MOVE ON TO PLAN C. I ASKED, WHAT IS PLAN C? AND THEY TOLD ME THEY DON’
Western Pennsylvania couple stranded in Dubai amid canceled flights
Updated: 8:16 AM EST Mar 5, 2026
Americans and diplomats have been advised to leave the Middle East, but getting home has been a challenge with canceled flights.Jonathan and Elaine Widich, of Bethel Park, Allegheny County, are stranded in Dubai.”We’re not terribly concerned, and we like it here; it’s a nice place, but we would really like to get out,” Jonathan Widich told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 reporter Carlos Flores on Thursday morning.The Widiches were set to return home Friday, but their British Airways flight was canceled. They managed to book a tentative flight for Sunday, but that flight, too, has now been canceled.Jonathan Widich said they attempted to contact the State Department for guidance but have not had any success. They are hearing stories of others facing similar issues trying to reach someone by phone.”For the first several days, apparently, when you punched your way through and finally got your way through the ‘push 1, push 2’ kind of thing, there was no help, basically, at the end of the trail, so it was a little frustrating,” he said.Widich said they are keeping their fingers crossed and will move to “Plan C” if necessary, although they are not yet sure what that would be.
Americans and diplomats have been advised to leave the Middle East, but getting home has been a challenge with canceled flights.
Jonathan and Elaine Widich, of Bethel Park, Allegheny County, are stranded in Dubai.
“We’re not terribly concerned, and we like it here; it’s a nice place, but we would really like to get out,” Jonathan Widich told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 reporter Carlos Flores on Thursday morning.
The Widiches were set to return home Friday, but their British Airways flight was canceled. They managed to book a tentative flight for Sunday, but that flight, too, has now been canceled.
Jonathan Widich said they attempted to contact the State Department for guidance but have not had any success. They are hearing stories of others facing similar issues trying to reach someone by phone.
“For the first several days, apparently, when you punched your way through and finally got your way through the ‘push 1, push 2’ kind of thing, there was no help, basically, at the end of the trail, so it was a little frustrating,” he said.
Widich said they are keeping their fingers crossed and will move to “Plan C” if necessary, although they are not yet sure what that would be.