The pair are unable to get back to their children in the UK [PA Media]
A woman who is stranded in Thailand due to the US-Israel conflict with Iran have said their dream holiday has turned into a nightmare.
Laura Webster from Birmingham has been told by their travel agent that there are no available flights to get them home for the next two weeks.
Webster and her husband had booked to fly with Emirates to Dubai on Wednesday for a three-night stay, before taking another flight to Birmingham, but it was cancelled.
Emirates told passengers it was operating “a reduced flight schedule until further notice”, and those transiting in Dubai would “only be accepted for travel if their connecting flight is operating”.
Webster, 40, said: “We’ve got work, we’ve got kids. We want to get back ASAP. We don’t care if that means four flights.”
The couple both have young children in the UK who are being cared for by former partners.
She added: “My husband found [a flight] via Japan for £10,000 each, which obviously we’re not going to do.
“Unless you have a direct flight that’s already booked from Bangkok to London, you’re stuffed for two weeks at least.”
The vast majority of flights to and from the Middle East have been cancelled due to widespread airspace closures since the conflict began on Saturday.
Thick black smoke billows into the air above the Jebel Ali port after getting struck by debris from an Iranian intercepted missile, in Dubai [EPA]
Passengers booked on a flight arriving in the UK with a non-UK or European Union based airline are not covered by UK consumer law.
This means they have no right to be re-booked with another airline if it will get them to their destination quicker.
Laura said their travel agent arranged for them to get an extra three nights of accommodation, but then they woulchave to fend for themselves as “you can’t claim for it on insurance, because it’s war”.
She added: “It’s just horrible. It’s literally a holiday from hell.
Lisa and John Gifford have managed to return to their Ward End home [Handout]
John Gifford from Ward End, Birmingham, was also stranded in Dubai with his wife Lisa due to the ongoing conflict, but has since managed to return safely back home.
He told BBC Radio WM: “We did it ourselves, there was nothing coming from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) about what was going on and we couldn’t get in touch with Emirates.
“We thought we can’t wait around forever, so we took it upon ourselves at our own cost to book the flights and got the early morning flight out.
He flew from Dubai on an airbus that was “pretty much full” and packed with families with small children, he said.
“Luckily we had the resources to get out, but not everyone does.”
The FCDO has said the first government charter flight had taken off from Oman on Thursday to bring British nationals home, with more than 4,000 people said to have landed in the UK on Wednesday.
Those still stranded in Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Palestine, Qatar and United Arab Emirates have been urged to register their presence via the FCDO website.
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