A Dallas woman who usually uses her social media accounts to feature videos of the different dogs she walks, is now using her platform to help others also stranded in Qatar following the weekend attack on Iran by U.S. and Israeli military forces.
Over two weeks ago, Sarah Gaither, 27, departed Dallas for an African safari vacation. She decided to visit Doha, then catch a flight back home to Dallas.
Her flight with Qatar Airways took off around 8 a.m. Saturday and had only been in the air about an hour before things went awry..
“I noticed that right over Saudi Arabia, it was like a crazy turn,” Gaither said. “If you saw the flight map, a turn like this just wouldn’t happen in the middle of the air and a few moments later, a friend of mine texted me, ‘Hey, you need to get out of Doha. The U.S. and Israel just bombed Iran.’”
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Saturday morning, the United States and Israel led a joint aerial strike on areas of Iran in an attempt to destroy the country’s development of nuclear weapons and to cripple the country’s hard-line regime.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the missile strikes, Iranian state media reported early Sunday.
Iran would launch counterattacks against U.S. military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, according to The Associated Press.
As Gaither was already on her way back to Dallas, she thought she was in the clear. She texted her friend and let them know she was already on her plane and safe.
Less than 30 minutes later, she said the pilot came on the intercom and announced that due to the unsafe airspace, they were told to return to Doha.
The plane circled in the air for hours and did not land until around noon, she said.
“They just said, ‘There’s no information at this time, so just please wait,’” she said.
Back at the Hamad airport, hundreds of people were now stranded. The air strikes forced airlines to scrap flights after Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain closed their airspace.
Gaither waited for hours in long lines as the situation grew more uncertain. There wasn’t a lot of information on what they could do or go, Gaither said.
People were unable to leave the airport, she said. Those who had returned from planes that had already departed couldn’t leave without rebuying a new ticket, she said.
After six hours of standing around and waiting, she said they were finally offered hotel vouchers from Qatar Airways. The number of people needing vouchers spawned another problem.
“People waited in line for up to an hour just to give them their information,” she said. “You hand over your boarding pass and your passport and then the people to the right of the counter, they said they had been waiting for their voucher for over three hours.”
The hotel vouchers were for a night. It was unclear how long they’d be in Doha. Gaither said she waited about an hour for a voucher before deciding to pay for a hotel herself.
“I had already been at the airport for over 12 hours, like showing up for the flight, flying, coming back down. I was like, ‘I cannot be here another four hours for a hotel,’” she said.
Leaving the airport and getting a hotel herself was something others did not have option to do, she said. While waiting, she met a man who arrived at the airport during a layover for a 14-hour flight. He had nowhere to go, she said.
“He had been flying for hours and hours and he’s stuck,” she said. “Then all these people had to apply for visas and they couldn’t get their luggage because the luggage was on the airplane. Some people still don’t have their luggage. It’s crazy.”
By the time Gaither arrived at her hotel Saturday night, Doha was under a shelter-in-place order. About two buildings over from her, she said she started to see the missiles. The small balls of light moved through the sky near her hotel before blasting into a cloud of orange.
“It sounds like when a firework initially kicks off and you can hear it launching through the sky before it explodes,” she said.
She couldn’t keep track of how many missiles soared through the air during the night, but said they were all intercepted.
By Sunday morning, she said, smoke filled the air and debris fell from the sky. The constant air strikes are now making people more anxious, she said.
“We’ve had a very quiet day compared to our neighboring countries and so people are worried if our turn will be tonight, ”she said.
Gaither doesn’t know when she’ll return to Dallas. Even if missiles stop flying over Qatar, it’s unknown when air travel will be safe.
“I met someone yesterday that said they bought a new flight to Paris just to get out of the Middle East but the problem is it doesn’t matter where you want to go, nothing is leaving the air right now,” she said.
Her hotel has limited its outside accommodations. The hotel has also set up space for guests to sleep in the basement to feel safe. Gaither said the conversations with fellow hotel guests remind her of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s a lot of, what’s your situation, how long have you been here, where are you trying to go, did you try and fly out,” she said. “Panic is in the air for sure.”
The day before the airstrike on Iran, Gaither said the streets of Doha were filled with life as many went out in the evening to celebrate Ramadan.
“Now it’s, it’s just like a ghost town,” she said.
Sarah Gaither, 27, visited Doha, Qatar while on vacation. Her flight home to Dallas was sent back to Hamad International airport due to the unsafe airspace traffic as the United U.S., Israel and Iran launched deadly missile strikes in the Middle East on Saturday, March. 1, 2026.
Sarah Gaither / Sarah Gaither
Since the moment her plane was turned around, Gaither posted updates on social media. She shared TikToks of lines inside the airport and missiles in the sky near her hotel.
Her page usually spotlights the dogs she cares for and takes on walks in Dallas.
Sharing updates and discussing what she’s seeing is her way of helping people during this uneasy time.
“I just started making videos and a lot of people have started following along because they have a loved one stuck here or they have an upcoming flight and they don’t know what to do,” she said. “I’m just trying to help people.”