British woman tells of ‘pretty chaotic’ situation at Abu Dhabi airport

A British woman who was stuck with her seven-year-old son in Abu Dhabi over the weekend has said the situation at the airport was “pretty chaotic”, as passengers were told flights to London were being cancelled on Saturday.

Fay McCaul, 41, who was due to leave the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for London on Saturday with her son, said “sirens started going off” and people were told “to stay away from windows because of potential missile strikes” when she was waiting for her flight.

She said: “It was just taking ages to board, with no announcements, so we didn’t know what was going on.

“And then after the boarding time, sirens started going off in the airport and everyone started receiving texts on their phones with alarm signals to stay away from windows because of potential missile strikes.

“So then it was pretty chaotic, and the airline obviously didn’t know what was going on either.”

A flight from Abu Dhabi carrying stranded UK nationals landed at London’s Heathrow airport on Monday evening.

Etihad Airways flight EY067 arrived at 7.25pm at Terminal 4 of the west London airport, after a delayed departure from the UAE’s capital.

It was one of 15 Etihad Airways flights to depart from Abu Dhabi in a three-hour window, which flight tracking company Flightradar24 said were “likely helping to clear transit passengers who have been stuck there since the start of the conflict”.

Ms McCaul said: “So then we were just grounded basically in the airport with no information for hours.”

She said stranded passengers were then sent to hotels to wait until flights could resume, adding: “We were really lucky to be allocated one because I think they were running out of space.”

“People were starting to be sent to Dubai, which is two hours away,” she said.

“It was just really confusing and basically no information.

“But yeah, we could hear explosions from the hotel. We were like 15 minutes away from the airport.”

Speaking of her young son, she said: “I mean, he had a lovely time because he had no idea of what was going on.

“And luckily our hotel had a pool and stuff, and he didn’t really understand what was happening.

“It was pretty stressful for me, but yeah, luckily, he’s quite chilled.”

She added: “I’m exhausted, because it’s just the ‘not knowing’, the lack of information and then the news constantly.”

Around 70 people were waiting at Heathrow’s Terminal 4 arrivals on Monday evening, including some ready to welcome family and friends landing from Abu Dhabi.

Ms McCaul said she was “unbelievably relieved” to land back in London, as she hugged her partner, Adam Smith, 41, who waited for her and their son at the arrivals.

She said: “It was a lot.

“I just hope the people who are stuck there get some help.”

She added: “The lack of information was probably quite, like, the hardest bit.

“But then to be fair, they (Etihad Airways) didn’t know what was happening either.”

Thousands of flights have been cancelled across Middle East airports amid the intensifying conflict between Iran and US-Israeli forces.

Isabel Robertson, who was welcomed by her mother Alba at the London airport on Monday evening, said: “I was staying in Dubai, but I just got lucky enough.

“When BA cancelled my flight from Dubai they put me on an Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi for today, and it just so happened to be the first and only flight that was leaving, so I’m just so lucky.

“I used to live in Dubai and this was my first time back visiting in about three years, and so obviously it didn’t end the way I was expecting it to.”

Lindsay Elvidge and her husband Ric, both 60, were coming back from a three-week holiday in Perth, Australia, when the second part of their journey from Doha to London got cancelled.

Describing the situation at the Abu Dhabi airport, where they were sent from Doha, Mr Elvidge said: “It wasn’t awful. It could have been a hell (of a) lot worse.

“We were very lucky to get out so quickly, to be fair, it could have been a hell (of a) lot worse.”

Etihad Airways continued to tell passengers on Monday not to travel to the airport unless they had been contacted directly and advised to do so.

In its latest statement on X, the Abu Dhabi-based airline said: “All Etihad’s scheduled commercial flights to and from Abu Dhabi remain suspended until 2pm UAE time (10am GMT) on Wednesday March 4.

“Some repositioning, cargo and repatriation flights may operate in co-ordination with UAE authorities and subject to strict operational and safety approvals.

“Guests should not travel to the airport unless they have been contacted directly by Etihad and advised to do so.”

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said 102,000 British nationals have registered their presence in the region.

She said a total of about 300,000 British citizens are in Gulf countries targeted by Iran.

Sir Keir Starmer said the Government is “looking at all options to support our people”.

He told the Commons on Monday: “We’re asking all British citizens in the region to register their presence so we can provide the best possible support and to monitor the Home Office travel advice, which is being regularly updated.

“We want to ensure that they can return home as swiftly and safely as possible.”

It is understood that any repatriation of UK nationals would likely be organised by the Foreign Office, with one potential route involving people travelling by land to Saudi Arabia, from where they could board flights.

British Airways said it is “closely monitoring the situation” and has cancelled “a number of our flights to the Middle East”.

Virgin Atlantic axed two flights to Heathrow on Monday – one from each of Dubai, UAE and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – while others were rerouted.