Aviation expert shares alternate route Brits trapped in Dubai could take to get home
There are a lot of people all trying to leave on the same flights
Right now, there are many thousands of people who are trying to get out of the Middle East due to the ongoing conflict between the US, Israel and Iran.
The Iranian retaliation to the US and Israel attacking them has resulted in airstrikes on various other countries in the Middle East, leaving many people stuck amid missile and drone attacks.
Thousands of flights have been cancelled while countries try and offer routes out for their citizens who want to leave.
The UK's first government flight returning people has made it back to Britain after several problems, and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said thousands of people had been returning on commercial flights as well.
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Work is being done to get people out of there, but over 140,000 people signed up to say they were in the region and wanted to be kept updated on how the UK government could get them out. There's a website you can register on here if you've not done so already.
An alternative route
With so many people to evacuate and reduced services due to the danger posed by the nearby war, it could take some time to get everyone out.
Associate Professor Ivan Stevenson, Curriculum Lead for Aviation Management at Coventry University, told LADbible there was another possible way stranded Brits might be able to get out, as long as they had the money and the means to arrange it.
A typical flight from the Middle East back to the UK would fly west, but the aviation expert suggested 'you may be able to exit to go in the other direction', meaning you could fly east away from the conflict and try to make your way home from there.
He said: "It's a rather long route, the difference between a seven-hour flight versus exiting out to the east, out towards India, out towards Singapore and then travelling the long way home.
"There's always those ways, but that's down to individuals in some respects then to take what options they can get."
It's a much longer and more expensive travel time, but if there is space available, then it's a way out.
Professor Stevenson said he knew of an Emirates flight departing Dubai heading for Australia which had been 'virtually empty', those empty seats could have got some people out of the danger zone on a route that would be less busy than the ones everyone else was trying to take.
"The passengers that got onto it said that they were struggling to even find reliable scheduling information to say that the flight was actually departing, but it did depart and there were lots of empty seats on it," he explained, as he suggested this alternate route might be viable for some.
"It depends again, because actually, what are your priorities? What's your need? What's your priority? What are your resources and what can you think of it?
“Sometimes it's about thinking about things that you might not have thought of. The obvious route might not be the easiest or the most convenient at that given point."
Travel tips for exiting eastwards
His suggestion for people who aren't finding spaces on airlines heading west was to use a single ticket with the same airline if possible and avoid several tickets where it was on you to make the connection, as he warned doing so when journeys were being so disrupted was very risky.
Journeys with tight connections of under three hours also got a warning from him, given the disruptions to so many journeys - not just from flights delayed or cancelled due to turmoil in the Middle East, but also the knock-on effect on global transport.
The professor also suggested travelling through major global travel hubs such as Singapore or Hong Kong, and noted that before making your journey, you should check and double-check the visa rules to avoid getting stuck.
He noted that places like Singapore and Hong Kong should be alright for people with UK passports.
If you've told the government you're in the Middle East and need their help getting back out, then once you had departed, you would likely want to inform them you no longer need a spot on a chartered flight.
What Brits stuck in the Middle East should do
Regardless of how someone is planning on getting out of the Middle East, the professor said the first step for anyone is to contact their embassy of their country and let them know their status.
Tell them where you are, what you need and how they can contact you.
He also recommended that tourists might want to check their travel insurance as 'most travel insurance policies will not cover this situation because it's an exceptional event', but there might be some 'limited cover'.
If you have return tickets booked which have been thrown into chaos over the disruption, then Professor Stevenson said you should also get in touch with your airline, both to let them know your status as well as how to contact you.
He said there were a lot of people 'who either don't have the correct email details with their airline or indeed a telephone number', meaning their airline couldn't even get in touch with them if they wanted to.
"Making sure that you're registered with everyone that needs to know where you are is what's really important, and making sure that your airline is aware of your intentions and know where you are and that they can contact you is critical," he explained.
Above all, his advice was to 'stay calm'.
Topics: UK News, Iran, World News, Travel
Joe Harker