What it’s really like to get caught up in the flight disruptions in the Middle East right now

It was set to be a flight like any other. But as this Aussie traveller experienced, 10 minutes before departure changed in an instant.

I was all buckled in my aisle seat and about to get cosy with Wicked when the pilot came over the intercom on Emirates A380 flight EK764 from Johannesburg to Dubai at around 7.10pm on June 23, about 10 minutes before we were due to depart.

The British captain of our flight explained that they had been issued a directive from the security team at Emirates HQ in Dubai that it was not safe for us to depart right now, and they would be monitoring the situation and update us shortly.

“The decision to continue the flight towards Dubai will been taken with serious consideration for your safety, which is of our utmost importance,” he stressed.

What he didn’t mention, for obvious reasons, was what had transpired in the minutes before. Having had personal ties to Dubai now for 17 years, I knew something serious had happened. I activated my roaming service and informed my sister of the delay, who has two young girls and has been based in Dubai for 17 years. The UAE had closed its airspace, she said.

Iran had bombed the US base in Qatar.

Jenny Hewett was on board an Emirates plane bound for Dubai when the Captain said it was not safe to fly. Picture: Supplied

Ms Hewett knew something serious had unfolded as she sat in her seat on board the plane. Picture: Supplied

This was unprecedented. I had lived in Dubai from 2008 to 2014, during some of the more recent unrest of the Middle East, such as the Arab Spring, and I had never seen this before. The UAE had always been considered a bubble.

The Dubai friends Whatsapp group I’m part of was blowing up; people were scared. One friend had ordered a supply of water to her house, another was directing everyone to stay indoors.

Another messaged that she naively thought the UAE would be kept out of this. It’s sentiment all of us shared.

Other passengers on the plane appeared calm and most seemed unaware of the situation.

The kind nun from Madagascar sitting next to me had fallen asleep and asked me why the flight was so late.

When I told her, she was worried she would not make the connection in Dubai to her homeland in time for her brother’s funeral. I felt uneasy knowing that my family and friends were in Dubai, and the situation was still developing.

People were rushing to sit down and identify their bags. Picture: Supplied

The cabin crew started marching the aisles with luggage. Picture: Supplied

With my parents travelling in business class, I asked the crew if I could go upstairs to talk to them. They very kindly consulted their superiors, and then ushered me upstairs. Credit to the entire Emirates crew who handled it professionally and turned a blind eye when my folks and I sat down at the A380 bar to drink champagne and wait it out. The A380 business class bar was a different vibe to economy, with people cracking jokes, lots of laughter, cake served and a party vibe quickly evolving.

At around 8.15pm we noticed more of a momentum on the aircraft, crew seemed to be getting ready for something. At about 8.20pm, the captain announced that things were looking positive and we might soon be cleared to fly.

Then at 8.45pm, we got more news. “The UAE has decided to reopen their airspace … there are aircraft landing and departing around the terminal as normal,” he said. We’d be pushing back at 9.15pm, he said to an eruption of cheers in the A380 bar.

Back in economy, things were calm but less festive. Cabin crew immediately began going through each of the cabin bags in the holds and asking passengers to identify their bags.

One bag was not identified in my section and it was paraded up and down the aisle before an announcement was made saying that it would be offloaded.

Eventually someone who wasn’t paying attention claimed it. The nun was not happy.

However, then there were more delays. Some people wanted to get off of the plane.

“I’ve been informed that there are some passengers who wish to offload,” said the captain.

He stressed Emirates safety protocols and that the current unrest was isolated to very specific spots.

Chaos as cabin crew tries to get everyone to identify their bags. Picture: Supplied

Cabin crew started identifying bags on board. Picture: Supplied

Several freaked-out passengers did decide to disembark the flight and the captain kept us informed that there would be a bit more of a wait until their bags were collected from the hold.

We eventually took off at around 9.36pm and touched down in Dubai nearly 2.5 hours later than scheduled, so there was plenty of panic, with most passengers connecting to onwards flights.

It was as if the entire economy jumped up into the aisle to get their bags before the plane had even stopped moving.

I wished my seat neighbour all the best in making her brother’s funeral and assured her the ground staff would assist her.

There were masses of staff holding signs to connecting flights when we touched down, but other than that, things appeared as normal.

Kudos to Emirates and all the crew on flight EK764 for handling this tricky situation with such grace and professionalism.

Let’s hope my next flight to Europe is less eventful.

The writer travelled as a guest of Emirates.