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UAE residents stranded abroad faced a third day of travel chaos on Monday, as a temporary airspace closure in the region left flights grounded and inbound passengers in limbo far from home.

Across airports from Baku to Almaty, travellers clutched boarding passes, refreshed airline apps frantically, and scrambled to rebook hotels and flights, as departure boards flashed “cancelled”.

For some, the disruption turned short holidays and work trips into days of uncertainty, and long waits. For others, the delay is not just inconvenient — it threatens access to life-saving medicines, highlighting how quickly regional conflict can impact individual lives overnight.

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Running up costs

At airports across the world, frustration mounted for UAE-bound passengers as they exhausted options to get home.

“My airline has offered zero information. On Saturday, we were at Baku airport for over 11 hours. There were no airline representatives available. All airport officials that we spoke to simply said they couldn’t help because they had no information either. We tried reaching out to the airline call centre, emailing, sending messages to AI agents — radio silence,” said Annie Fernandez, who ended up checking into an Airbnb at 2am.

The expat, who is keen to return to work, said she and her husband had to extend their stay to Wednesday — five extra days than originally planned —after discovering direct flights to India were booked out. "Prices have shot up to more than double," she said. "What we saw for Dh750 earlier is going for over Dh1,600 per person now.”

The couple is now considering waiting things out in Baku itself. "Thankfully, Airbnb rates here seem reasonable and there are good spots available for about Dh150 a night. But costs are adding up, so we're really hoping flights to UAE open up sooner than later.”

Harpreet Singh, who has called the UAE home for the past 11 years, is currently stranded in Almaty, Kazakhstan, after what was meant to be a brief holiday with friends.

“We arrived here last Wednesday and were scheduled to fly back to Dubai early Sunday morning. As soon as we received a notification from the airline confirming the cancellation, we extended our hotel stay. They’re charging us Dh300 per couple for the room, so there are added expenses. Food is easily available, but the real issue is the uncertainty.”

Singh explained he is in touch with the airline, and all flights to Dubai have been cancelled until March 8.

“We’re exploring other options, though ideally we all want to return to the UAE. There are only a few flights from here to India, and ticket prices have shot up to Dh1,000-1,500. One of my friends is Indian origin but has a Portuguese passport. This makes things even more complicated if she has to travel to India. We all just want to get back to Dubai but things at the moment are quite unclear.”

Dealing with uncertainty

UAE resident Sam Proctor was in Armenia on a work trip when his return flight was cancelled.

“I was supposed to return on Saturday, but am now working remotely while waiting for the airspace to reopen. I am not getting any information currently because they (airlines) themselves aren’t sure… They're just saying 'suspended until further notice',” said the British expat.

While Proctor has been able to continue working remotely and his company is covering his stay, others say the uncertainty is taking an emotional toll.

For some, the situation is a little more serious. Fifty-year-old Pooja Joshi, a cancer patient, is stranded in Kinshasa, Congo. She had travelled there to spend a week with her husband, who had taken up a project in the country. What was meant to be a short visit has now turned into an anxious wait.

Though her accommodation is not a concern, her medication is. “I take 12 medicines a day. It’s tough fighting a disease. I cannot afford to miss a single tablet. My medicines will be over before the last week of March. If I can’t travel back to Dubai, I’ll go to my hometown in Delhi, India. That’s the only option I am left with.”

Mr and Mrs Panigrahi

‘We escaped by the skin of our teeth’

Dubai resident Priyadarshee Panigrahi and his wife had made it home from India just a few hours before the airspace closure.

“We left from India on Feb 27 because a relative had passed away. My wife and I took a Jharsuguda (Orissa) - Kolkata flight. We spent a few hours at Kolkata and took an Etihad flight from Kolkata to Abu Dhabi. It landed at around 0700 hours. We reached Dubai around 0845,” he said.

The relief was short-lived as troubling updates began to surface. “The news started flowing in around 12pm and soon after, we heard loud noises of missile interceptions over Dubai skies. After that, the airspace over Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports was closed and all flights were cancelled.”

Panigrahi said the timing could not have been tighter. “We escaped by the skin of our teeth. We shudder to imagine what we would have done if our flights were scheduled for later arrivals. We would have been stuck in Kolkata while our nine- and 15-year old daughters and my 87-year-old father-in-law who is battling serious health issues, were left alone here in Dubai.”

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