Latest news with #MaddieWilcox
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Daily Mail
The war ruined my holiday! Influencers and holidaymakers complain missile barrage has left them stranded at airports
Qatar 's decision to close its airspace in response to Iranian missile attacks has sparked global travel chaos - with influencers complaining of being left stranded at airports and on planes. Doha's Hamad International Airport shut for eight hours from yesterday evening, prompting airlines to rush to cancel their flights. It reopened at 1.20am local time, but with international routes now interrupted the disruption will take time to resolve. The barrage of Iranian missiles fired at Al Udeid US military base in Doha in response to American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend was the latest escalation of tension in the already volatile region. Those who have had their travel plans disrupted include Beth Hassan, a 'running and lifestyle' TikToker who shared a video earlier this morning to say her flight from Sydney to Doha had been called off. 'I'm so stressed - there's been no information given,' she said. 'I've tried to contact the airline but can't get through on the phone or email so don't know what to do. I'm really stressed, somebody help!' Make-up influencer Maddie Wilcox described waking up to hear that their plane from India to Qatar was being diverted with two hours to go before landing due to missiles being fired at its capital. She described the experience as 'scary' and said the plane was heading to Mumbai instead. Tens of thousands of passengers are now stranded across several airports across the Middle East - which happens to be one of the busiest regions for commercial aviation. Qatar Airways posted on X: 'Our focus at this time is to help our passengers return home or reach their onward journey safely and smoothly. We've deployed extra ground staff at Hamad International Airport to support you as we resume operations.' Dozens of flights have been diverted to a variety of destinations including Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai World Central, Jeddah Muscat, Medina and Riyadh. Meanwhile, several planes taking off from Heathrow and West Midlands Airport u-turned in mid-air and returned home or were cancelled before departure. One TikToker, 'marmoves', said she had been stuck on her plane for 'three to four hours' after it was diverted away from Doha to Turkey. Meanwhile, 'clodagh7' said she had been unable to get on a flight out of Brisbane. 'Apparently Doha airport is just chockablock, so I'm going back to Brisbane now,' she said. Several British influencers who are currently living in Dubai said they were leaving following the outbreak of war. Harrison Sullivan wrote: 'The war has kicked off, we have seen the bombs going into Qatar and I am out of here. I'm going straight to Europe where I will continue my hustle for this whole week.' TylerTen10 added: 'Currently stranded in Dubai thanks to Trump. Woke up to hearing all flights cancelled. I am absolutely gutted. I miss home now. Cheers Trump.' Other social media users expressed their concerns about the impact of the conflict on their relatives in the Middle East. TikToker uminehaax described how her family were 'stuck' in Qatar during the bombing. She told followers: 'Things just don't seem to be getting better for me at the moment. You might have heard about the strikes that have happened between Iran and the US. 'Well I moved to Qatar when I was about 12 and we've lived there for eight, nine years. My mum is still there.... This is incredibly scary, nothing like this has ever happened - Qatar has never been involved in any conflict like this on this scale. 'My mum is absolutely distraught, she was sending us lots of videos of missiles flying over where we live.' Airlines scrambled to cancel flights and reroute planes yesterday after news of the attacks on the Al Udeid US military base in Doha first emerged. Officials were told the attack in advance and it did not kill or injure anyone. The escalating tensions are starting to affect airlines beyond the Middle East, where major flight routes have already been cut off since Israel began strikes on Iran on June 13. Yesterday, Air India said it would suspend flights to and from eastern North America and Europe as those routes use what has become an increasingly narrow path between those destinations and the Indian subcontinent. After briefly closing their airspace, Bahrain and Kuwait both reopened them. Dubai Airports said its operations had resumed after a brief suspension, though it warned of delays or cancellations on social media site X. The conflict has already cut off major flight routes to typically resilient aviation hubs such as Dubai, with the world's busiest international airport, and Qatar's capital of Doha. The usually busy airspace stretching from Iran and Iraq to the Mediterranean this morning resembled a ghost town, devoid of commercial air traffic due to the airspace closures and safety concerns. Air India said yesterday it had stopped all operations to the Middle East, but also flights to North America's east coast and Europe. This included diverting flights already in the air back to their takeoff site, and away from closed airspaces. 'It's terrifying,' said Miret Padovani, a business owner who was stranded at Doha's Hamad International Airport. She was booked on a Qatar Airways flight to Thailand scheduled to leave late yesterday, but cancelled her trip and is now planning on returning home to Dubai early today. 'Everything happened so quick. I actually heard from people in the first class lounge that the missiles were being sent this way before they were even in the news.' According to aviation analytics company Cirium, about two dozen flights to Doha, mostly from Qatar Airways, were diverted yesterday, and about a handful of flights to Dubai were diverted due to the airspace closures. Kuwait Airways yesterday suspended its flight departures from the country, while UAE's Etihad Airways was rerouting flights today. IAG's Spanish airline Iberia scrapped a plan from earlier in the day to resume flights to Doha today after the latest airspace closures. With Russian and Ukrainian airspace also closed to most airlines due to years of war, the Middle East has become a more important route for flights between Europe and Asia. Amid missile and air strikes during the past 10 days, airlines have routed north via the Caspian Sea or south via Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Carriers have likely been avoiding Doha, Dubai and other airports in the region due to concerns that Iran or its proxies could target drone or missile attacks on US military bases in these countries, aviation risk consultancy Osprey Flight Solutions said.
News.com.au
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Australian tourists caught up in flight chaos after Iran fires missiles at Qatar
Australians in Doha — a popular aviation hub for connecting flights to Europe — have been caught up in chaos after Iran fired missiles at the United States' Al Udeid air base in Qatar amid the Iran-Israel conflict. Some of the world's biggest airlines were forced to cancel or reduce flights in and out of Qatar's airspace. Darren Flindell, who was flying from Sydney to Dublin, Ireland via Doha, was at the Tropicana 360 rooftop bar in the city when he watched the missiles hit just after 7.30pm local time. 'You could see the lights coming in from the distance,' he said on the Today Show. (Watch in the video player above). 'At first it felt like sort of dull fireworks there, with a bit of rumblings going off and then it became very apparent that these were missiles are coming in.' Mr Flindell described the moment as 'very unsettling'. He had whipped out his phone to capture footage. 'I thought, well if this is it, I'm going out, I better record the moment so people know I'm here and this is what's happened and it went on for about 10 to 15 minutes,' he said. Mr Flindell said while he knew the target was likely the Al Udeid air base, he said it seemed as though the missiles were 'coming from all directions'. 'It was coming in front, then it was coming from the side, and then the interceptors were coming from over the back of the building and it was getting really crazy,' he said. Australian make up artist Maddie Wilcox who was on her way to Europe for a holiday was just a couple hours away from landing in Doha when her Qatar Airways flight needed to be diverted. They landed in Goa, India and waited on the tarmac until cleared to continue the flight to Doha. In a series of TikTok videos, Ms Wilcox described the experience of needing to divert midair due to the missiles as 'scary' and was now hoping for a safe landing in Doha. Another Australian woman travelling home from Europe was at Doha's Hamad International Airport when flights were grounded. She said passengers on the Qatar Airways flight bound for Melbourne had been stuck at the airport since about 6pm local time and it was now the early hours of the next morning. She told flights had been cancelled to Melbourne and Sydney, and they were waiting in a queue to find out if accommodation would be provided. 'Chaos (is) now erupting, people are arguing. Passengers are overtired and frustrated (because of) the language barrier, staffing issues and general frustration,' she said. 'There's one (airline) person trying to deal with all these people.' Qatar Airways announced on Tuesday morning Australian time the reinstatement of flights following the reopening of airspace but wanred there would be significant delays. 'Our focus at this time is to help our passengers return home or reach their onward journey safely and smoothly,' the statement read. 'We are working tirelessly with government stakeholders and the relevant authorities to restore operations as quickly as possible. 'We have also deployed additional ground staff at Hamad International Airport and other key airports to assist affected passengers by minimising disruptions and offering the utmost care and support to all customers. 'As operations resume, we anticipate significant delays to our flight schedule. We would advise passengers to check or the Qatar Airways mobile application ahead of travel.' It said the safety of its passengers and crew is the 'first and highest priority at all times'. Australians warned In the last few days Australians travelling to Europe this peak summer season via the Middle East had been warned of airspace closures, flight cancellations and other travel disruptions amid the Iran-Israel conflict. Travel insurance is also expected to become more expensive for Aussies with connecting flights in the region. It is terrible timing for Virgin Australia and its customers as the airline only just returned to international long-haul flying with the launch of its Sydney-Doha and Brisbane-Doha flights in partnership with Qatar Airways on June 12 and June 19. Perth-Doha services are scheduled to take off June 26, and Melbourne-Doha will join in December. Smartraveller, which is run by the Australian Government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), raised the advice level for Qatar to 'exercise a high degree of caution' last week. Dubai, UAE, and Doha, Qatar, are both aviation hubs for connecting flights into Europe, but Smartraveller now warns: 'the security situation in the Middle East is unpredictable and could deteriorate further with little warning'. Travel insurance costs may increase Tim Bennett, an insurance expert at Finder, told on Monday (before the missiles hit Qatar) that travel insurance providers 'pay very close attention' to Smartraveller's advice levels, and this will directly impact what is covered in tourists' policies and the premiums they are likely to pay. 'Travel insurance is probably going to be more expensive now if your trip runs through Qatar, or frankly anywhere in the Middle East,' Mr Bennett said. 'Travel insurance companies base their premiums on the risk of your trip, and a higher Smartraveller alert level is a good indicator of an increase in risk.' However, he said while it may be more costly, fortunately most insurance companies would still offer cover at this advice level. 'Some insurers may introduce exclusions for claims you can make if you take out cover after the alert level has changed, but you'll generally still be covered for most things,' Mr Bennett said. 'Times like these are when you actually need to read your policy documents.' He added that your plane being diverted to another destination shouldn't affect your ability to make a claim, even if you end up in a country with a high travel warning, as the cover is based on a planned itinerary. Although, Mr Bennett suggested getting cover as soon as possible. 'Disruptive': Congestion in the air Australian aviation expert Keith Tonkin told that a country can decide to close its airspace at any time, and it can take effect immediately — meaning aircraft may need to divert midair. 'That might be the entire airspace of the country or it might just be a certain part of the airspace where they want to do something like fire missiles into the sky or conduct some operation where they don't want civilian aircraft flying through the airspace,' he explained. Even if the airspace is not closed, Mr Tonkin said there are hazards that may need to be avoided, such as other aircraft flying through the space to deliver weapons. Airspace closures themselves can be 'very disruptive' and have 'significant implications'. Even if flights are not landing in a country with a closed airspace, the aircraft may need to change its flight path to avoid the area, and this could result in flights needing to divert to get more fuel to make it to their final destination. 'One of the interesting things is that we now have several different airspace volumes not available to fly through at the moment because of the war in Ukraine, what's happening in the Middle East, and Pakistan-India, there's a situation there where Pakistan closes airspace for a little while because they're fighting — a lot of aeroplanes are getting condensed into less airspace,' Mr Tonkin said. 'There are fewer flight routes available for them to fly through, so there's a bit of congestion, more aeroplanes being processed by air traffic controllers that they would not have been doing in the past. The system is being pressured where those aeroplanes are now being diverted through different airspace.' He said this leads to flight delays and increased costs with aircraft having to fly further and burn more fuel. 'Travellers shouldn't panic or cancel unnecessarily' Australian Travel Industry Association Dean Long said Australians flying to Europe via the Middle East should be prepared for some delays, but urged travellers to not cancel their flights. 'Travellers shouldn't panic or cancel unnecessarily,' Mr Long said on Monday. 'The one thing we learned through Covid is don't cancel as it reduces the number of rights you have. Let the airline make that decision. This approach ensures your rights are protected and you get the support you need.' Mr Long asked travellers not to contact their travel agent or airline unless they are travelling in the next three days so that the needs of those travelling immediately could be accommodated as a priority.
