Americans stranded as Middle East airspace closures disrupt travel

Phoenix, Arizona – The U.S. State Department is urging Americans in the Middle East to leave the region immediately as escalating conflict and widespread airspace closures disrupt travel and evacuation efforts. But attacks from Iran, shuttered embassies, and closed airspace have created challenges for Americans who find themselves trapped with few options.

Shanice Day was one of thousands of Americans who said they felt stranded in the Middle East after the conflict began. He and his best friend had gone to Dubai to celebrate his 30th birthday.

“We had a whole desert day,” Day said, “They started calling me ‘habibi’ and let me play with the falcon.”

After the airspace was closed, only a limited number of flights began leaving the area due to security permitting.

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Day had only a few days of vacation before the United States and Israel struck Iran on February 28. Although the air strikes began that Saturday morning, Day did not realize there was a problem until that afternoon. By the time Day realized what was happening, Iran was already sending missiles to the Gulf.

“The moment I turn on my phone it says, ‘USA, Israel is shooting Iran.’ I told my friend that he was at the hotel and now he’s at the beach. I actually said, ‘Hey, did you see what happened?’ I thought. “He explains that he sees it almost like a missile heading into the sky,” Day said.

Iran responded almost immediately to American and Israeli attacks; It rained down missile and drone attacks on the United Arab Emirates, even hitting Dubai International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world. Day and his friend, whose return flights were canceled due to the UAE closing its airspace, tried to find their way home while trying to understand the seriousness of the situation.

“We cried a little bit. The first 48 hours were very hard for us. I had to break the news to our parents because it was so early here. Hearing my friend’s mom be so distraught and then hearing my own mom’s voice crack like that. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone,” Day said.

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Emirates airspace will continue to be opened to limited flights intermittently, but any rebooked flights will eventually be cancelled. Day and his friend eventually flew to Australia first and arrived in Houston, Texas.

Unlike the UAE, which has long described itself as a safe oasis for foreigners, travel to Israel has always brought with it the possibility of conflict.

Jenna Fonberg and Jetlyn Toledo landed at Ben Gurion Airport the day before Israel and the United States struck Iran. The friends had planned to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim with Fonberg’s older brother, Blake, who lives in Tel Aviv.

When Fonberg and Toledo landed in Israel, there were already rumors that a conflict would break out in the region.

Jenna Fonberg and Jetlyn Toledo landed in Israel the day before the start of the US operation against Iran. Because the threat of attack is ever-present in the country, Toledo and Fonberg said they don’t want to live in fear. (Courtesy of Blake Fonberg)

“The thing about Israel is there’s always talk of war coming or always talk of conflict. So if you cancel every trip based on rumors of violence, you’ll never actually come,” Toledo said.

The next day, the trio woke up to the sound of a siren telling them to go to the nearest bomb shelter. They said they made friends by working overtime with familiar faces who came to the same shelters over and over again.

“There’s a lot of new faces today because it’s a little bit closer to the beach, so a lot of people walking on the boardwalk run up here,” Fonberg said as he took cover during the missile threat.

Blake said he lost his home to a strike during the 12-day conflict with Iran in 2025. He said he’s focusing on staying positive this time.

“We have to stay positive. If we’re not positive, we lose. And I think I really tried to instill that in them.” [Fonberg and Toledo] day one. I was like, ‘Everything is going to be okay,'” Blake said.

Throughout the sirens and attacks, the trio said they remained confident that both the US and Israeli military would keep them safe. They said that despite all this, it is very important to remain calm.

Fonberg and Toledo considered their options to leave the country, but with Israeli airspace completely closed at the beginning of the conflict, they were left with few options. Instead of heading to another country with open skies, they chose to wait to see if the skies would clear in time for their scheduled flight on March 8.

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“It makes me feel safer to be next to a bomb shelter and be able to go in when I need to. Instead of driving 3 hours to 5 hours to Jordan or Egypt and just covering my head when I hear a siren,” Fonberg said.

Israeli airspace began to slowly open on March 4. Fonberg and Toledo returned to the United States on their originally scheduled flight.

Ben Suster and his wife were at the end of their honeymoon in Israel when the United States and Israel attacked Iran. Similar to Fonberg and Toledo, the newlyweds knew there was a possibility of conflict but felt safe in Israel. Suster and his wife arrived in the country days before the strikes began.

“Our flight was for Saturday night. We woke up Saturday morning and literally had a moment of peace and thought, ‘Oh my God,’ like we made it through the night, like we’re out in the open and our flights should be good tonight,” Suster said.

A few minutes later, the first sirens began to sound.

Without a bomb shelter in their Airbnb, the couple built a house for themselves from a nearby public shelter.

Ben Suster and his wife spend days living in a bomb shelter in Tel Aviv before moving into a family home with a shelter inside. (Courtesy of Ben Suster)

“We honestly didn’t expect to end our honeymoon sitting in a dreary garage,” Suster said.

They stayed in the garage full time before meeting friends at another shelter.

“We spent all day and night in this garage making friends, making sure the Israelis made the best of the situation,” Suster said.

A few days later, Suster and his wife left Tel Aviv to join their families in Geva Binyamin, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank near Jerusalem. The couple was eventually evacuated with the nonprofit Gray Bull Rescue. Suster could not share details about the operation for security reasons.

“We don’t even know what tomorrow will look like. We’ve been told what the final destination will be, but we have no clue how to get there when it happens,” Suster said.

Similar to Fonberg and Toledo, Suster said he felt safe and was sorry to leave. He left because they had to get to Florida in time for his sister’s wedding.

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More than 32,000 Americans have returned to the United States since Feb. 28, when U.S. attacks on Iran began, according to the State Department.