‘It’s been completely surreal’: Suburban women stranded in Dubai as war disrupts flights home
Three women from the suburbs had just gotten off a 13-hour flight to Abu Dhabi when their phones — and everyone else’s in the airport — started buzzing.
“Kind of like how when you experience an Amber Alert back home, it was like that,” said Schaumburg resident Leslie Allenspach. “We get this missile warning, which is something we’ve never seen before.”
Allenspach, joined by her sister and friend, only anticipated a nine-hour layover before catching a connecting flight to a mental health and wellness retreat in Bali.
Instead, they’re now stuck in the United Arab Emirates desperately trying to get a flight back home amid the war in Iran.
“It’s been completely surreal. We would never have expected that,” Allenspach said from a hotel room Wednesday night in Dubai. “It’s been going on several days, and it’s taken its toll. We’re exhausted emotionally and physically.
“And every once in a while, we’ll just take a moment and be like, ‘Wow, this is where we are. This is what’s happening around us.’ It is definitely surreal and it’s humbling.”
They’re among thousands of travelers stranded in the Middle East, where commercial flights are limited and airspaces are restricted or closed since the U.S. and Israel began military strikes on Iran Saturday.
The U.S. Department of State told Americans in the region to depart now “due to serious safety risks” by using any available commercial transportation.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday said state officials and the federal congressional delegation received numerous requests from U.S. citizens seeking additional support to return.
In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Pritzker called on the state department to use charter flights, military aircraft, or both to assist Americans trying to get out, among other asks.
From their hotel room in Dubai, Allenspach, her sister Dana Mays, and their friend Natalie Potesta say they have tried booking any number of flights with various airline carriers and to any destination they can find.
“We book a flight, it gets canceled. We book a flight, it gets canceled. We’ve kind of lost track, and everybody seems to be in the same situation,” said Potesta of Lindenhurst. “I think everybody is just trying to get anywhere right now.”
After calling the state department’s emergency hotline number and getting a recorded message multiple times, Mays said she finally talked to a live person Wednesday morning.
“That was at first encouraging,” said Mays of Palatine. “But unfortunately they had no help for us. The only thing they said we could do right now is continue to either shelter in place until and if the military or a government evacuation can be done. But as of right now they have no information on that. … Or you can continue to try to find your own way home through commercial flights at your own risk and accommodation.”
The women say they’ve heard the sounds of booms — believed to be from intercepted missiles and drones — and sirens off in the distance.
But they believe they’re safe in Dubai.
“Safer than anywhere else that people are,” said Potesta. “We are looking forward to going home, but under the circumstances, we feel very fortunate. And I do believe there are a lot of people out there who don’t have the same ability to say that, and it’s very upsetting.”