Stranded abroad UAE residents rerouted for days to return to Dubai: 'This is home'

Dubai: When the Gulf airspace was disrupted and flights began cancelling one after another, many residents found themselves stuck abroad, far from the city they had built their lives in.

For some, that meant days of uncertainty, rerouting through multiple countries, and scrambling for any flight that would get them back. But for all of them, the reason to return was the same: this is home.

Pallavi Dean, founder and CEO of Roar Interior Design, had been in the Philippines for a team offsite before heading to Korea for a short break. She landed in Seoul on February 28 to find 136 WhatsApp messages waiting on her phone.

"I knew after seeing my phone that there was something definitely wrong," she said.

Two Emirates flights were cancelled in quick succession. Rather than wait, she decided to take matters into her own hands and chart her own way back, no matter how long it took.

"My kids are here. My husband was here. It's very difficult being completely helpless and out of control when things are going so drastically wrong in your home," she said. "I've lived in Dubai for 45 years. So this is my home, and whether there is so much uncertainty, all you want is familiarity and routine, which is being with your family, being with my business and my team."

Her route took her from Korea to Bangkok, then onto an Oman Air flight to Muscat, with plans to cross the land border by taxi into the UAE. But when she landed in Bangkok at 2.55am and scanned the departures board, she spotted an Etihad flight already listed.

"Nothing gives you more confidence than the national carrier flying you back," she said. She did not hesitate.

She boarded at 2.55am, landed in Dubai at 6am, and the flight was almost empty. "There were about 20, maybe maximum 30 people," she recalled. "But the crew, the flight, everything was normal. There was no talk about any kind of disaster scenario. It was operations as normal, and it was just really reassuring just to be on familiar ground."

She met her husband and children, had breakfast at home, and went straight back to work.

"You can't give in to this kind of panic. It should be business as normal."

For Pallavi, the pull back to Dubai was never really a question. She grew up here as a third culture kid, schooled in Sharjah, had beach days in Fujairah, went to university here, built her business here, met her husband here, and had her children here.

"When every little life memory is so intrinsically tied to a place, if that's not what makes it home, I don't know what does. The country has shaped my personality. It has influenced the way I look at the world. I've never really lived anywhere else, except for a two-year stint in the UK. I've never known any other place."

Susanne Herbst, German resident in the UAE and her husband Andre had been on a ski holiday in Austria and were due to fly back to Dubai on March 1 from Munich. The news reached them on February 28, and the worry set in immediately. Their flight was cancelled.

The couple made their way to family in Germany, stayed as calm as they could, and kept a close eye on the news, carefully filtering what was accurate from what was speculation.

"We were trying to filter which news were correct and we were in close contact with all our friends in Dubai," Susanne said. "We were monitoring the situation closely."

What occupied her thoughts most, beyond the uncertainty, was what was waiting for them back home.

Susanne and Andre are active animal rescuers with seven rescue bunnies in Dubai.

"They are family," she said simply. "All our thoughts were with our buns, our friends in Dubai and the UAE that we call home. We wanted to go back as soon as possible."

Emirates eventually called with a solution: a dedicated flight for UAE residents departing from Düsseldorf that afternoon.

"They did everything possible to find a flight for us and were super supportive," Susanne said. "Finally we got a call from Emirates yesterday and we have a flight today. We are so happy when we land in Dubai tonight and are back with them."

The relief in her words is palpable. After 17 years in the UAE, a country where she and Andre got married and built their entire life together, the idea of being kept away felt genuinely wrong.

"We feel very safe. We are here for 17 years. We have all our friends here. We always feel safe. We married during our Dubai time. It's easy to feel at home in such a country. Our family and friends come twice a year and they love it as well." She paused, then added: "We still think it's one of the safest places in the world."

Ritesh Tilani, Founding Partner of Enhance Ventures, had been visiting his mother in Mumbai for a few days when he decided it was time to head back. Getting there, it turned out, required a bit of quick thinking.

"There were a limited number of flights to choose from," he said. "I first picked flydubai. Half an hour later, I got an email saying it had been cancelled."

He switched immediately to Emirates. "I figured the local carriers' flights were less likely to be cancelled, at least in comparison to non-Dubai-based international airlines."

He booked at 7pm IST, made his way to the airport, and found the whole experience far more straightforward than expected. "It was a smooth check-in. I was told the flight was only at one-third capacity." He slept through the journey, landed in Dubai without incident, and walked out of the airport with his luggage without any fuss.

"It wasn't actually all that stressful," he said. "If I'd been stuck for a bit longer, I would've just enjoyed the extra time with my mom."

But there was a personal reason he was particularly keen to get back when he did. "I have a big personal milestone this weekend. I'm bringing home a new puppy, so I really didn't want to be away for that."

Beyond the puppy, Ritesh says his confidence in the UAE was never really shaken. He has lived there for over 30 years, and the idea of questioning its safety is not something that crosses his mind.

"I've lived in the UAE for over 30 years and have complete confidence in the leadership and defence infrastructure. The data on interception rates shows how incredibly well-protected we are," he said. "I was ready to get back to Dubai, where I'm most focused and productive with work."

Omaira Farooq, an Emirati who had been in Milan for fashion week, found herself in a similar position to so many others stranded across Europe. But for her, the urgency was personal and immediate.

"Honestly, I wanted to come back for my children," she said. "Not because I didn't think they were safe, but as a mother you want to come home."

What made the difference was the response she received from the UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs teams both in Milan and back in Dubai. They stepped in, coordinated everything, and made sure she was on a flight home.

"I am so lucky the MOFA team in Milan and Dubai took such good care of me and managed to bring me home," she said. She boarded the previous evening and landed back in the UAE at around 7.30am.

"The country is safe and I feel so blessed to be back."

But what struck Omaira just as much as her own journey home was what she witnessed around her, the sheer number of people of all nationalities, stressed and desperate to get back to the UAE, to their families, to the place they call home.

"While I'm Emirati, it was so amazing to see so many people, as so many were stressed and wanted to get back to family and were happy to call the UAE their home," she said. "It's just the way they take care of everyone, and not just their nationals."

Four very different journeys, across four very different circumstances. But the same feeling underneath all of it: an urgency to get back not out of obligation, but out of belonging.

As Pallavi put it, the UAE is not just where she lives. It is the place that made her who she is.

And for thousands of residents currently watching the skies and waiting for things to settle, that feeling is exactly what is keeping them steady.

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Areeba Hashmi is a trainee at Gulf News.