British vacation makers nonetheless in Dubai say they’re trapped in five-star paradise – with no information if UAE authorities will cowl their £400-a-day payments
British holiday makers claim they have been left trapped in luxury hotels in Dubai with no confirmation on whether the United Arab Emirates governments will cover their £400-a-day bills.
Lily Mann, 25, and her boyfriend James Shires, 33, arrived in Dubai on February 26, with the intention of spending a week in what was once a popular luxury paradise among Brits.
However, the couple were left stranded for days in Dubai after their flight Etihad Airways to Manchester Airport was cancelled, as they faced being potentially having to pay £10,000 each to get home.
The influencer, who has since been able to make it back to the safety of British soil, previously said others who had fled the city had ‘been lucky’ as she faces the uncertainty of paying a £3,000 in living expenses.
The UAE’s Department of Economy and Tourism previously promised they would cover the costs of tourists stranded in the Middle Eastern country with a letter circulated requesting hotels ‘extend their stay until they are able to depart’.
In the directive shared with hotels, ‘no guests are [to be] evicted’ if they are unable to pay for their extended stay with the DET to be notified right away as the country’s Civil Aviation Authority confirming they will cover the costs.
But confusion remains on whether the costs will be covered by the government, as Pete Williams has been left fearing his family will be lumbered with a huge hotel bill after their return flight to Newcastle was cancelled due to the war with Iran.
The father-of-two said he was ‘pretty disappointed’ with the UK government and had not received an adequate amount of information from Emirates airline as he faces paying £400 for every extra day they are stranded.
Mr Williams said airline staff said his hotels costs would have been covered by them if he had come to the airport, however, he maintains he was told by the firm not to go.
Pete Williams has been left fearing his family will be lumbered with a huge hotel bill after their return flight to Newcastle was cancelled due to the war with Iran
Brits who have managed to flee ‘have been lucky’, influencer Lily Mann previously told the Daily Mail, as she faces a further £3,000 bill
His insurers then told him that he was no longer covered under them because he flew with Emirates and they were legally required to cover he and his family’s costs.
Of support he received from the UK government, he told the BBC: ‘Absolutely diddly-squat. Pretty disappointed with the UK government.
‘All we get told is look at what the flight carrier’s doing and keep checking the gov page.’
Meanwhile, Ms Mann spoke of her concern when she was stranded in Dubai on March 6, saying they had received ‘no compensation, no help, nothing’ whilst being stranded.
The influencer, who works as a freelance social media manager, said Etihad could not help their March 7 flight was cancelled as they had booked their travels through a third party company, Trip.
However, at the time the video was posted, the earliest flight Trip could book them on was for March 14, according to Ms Mann.
‘No compensation, no help, nothing. Quite stressful. I’ve got the two baby puppies at home and I am stuck in Dubai. I love Dubai but I would like to go home,’ she said.
‘We are hoping we can go home soon but its really hard because do you book a hotel day by day or do you book now until the 14th.
‘Will the 14th go ahead or will we be pushed back?’
Since arriving back in the UK, she had posted a short video of her beloved dog writing, ‘Oh how I’ve missed you.’
Lily Mann, 25, and her boyfriend James Shires, 33, arrived in Dubai on February 26, but had flights cancelled as she said they received ‘no compensation, no help, nothing’
Ms Mann arrived in Dubai with her boyfriend James Shires, 33, on March 26 with the intention of a week-long holiday. They had no choice but to extend their stay in the UAE
It comes as many of British travellers have been left stranded in the Middle East as US-Israeli strikes on Iran sparked retaliatory attacks across several countries in the region.
When she was previously stuck in Dubai on March 7, Ms Mann told the Daily Mail: ‘We have been very, very unlucky and people who have got out have been very lucky.
‘The few flights that are showing are business class or first class seats, which are coming up to around £10,000’.
This forced them to continue staying in the five-star hotel FIVE Luxe JBR, with the holiday extension costing upwards of £3,000 in holiday costs and dog care.
Ms Mann added: ‘We are spending a lot of money on having to stay in Dubai.
‘It is not cheap. There is no choice, we just have to pay for it.’
She and Mr Shires, a sports therapist, tried to ‘seek guidance’ from Trip, the travel agent they used to book the stay, but have received a ‘frustrating’ lack of luck.
She said their hands were tied as they were unable to speak directly to the airline at the airport because entry requires a boarding pass.
The couple, who have been together for four-and-a-half years, have visited Dubai ten times, which is documented on social media – with Ms Mann calling the city ‘kind of my thing’.
She added: ‘People tend to associate me with Dubai.’
The couple, who have been together for four-and-a-half years, have visited Dubai ten times, which Ms Mann documents on social media
The normally luxurious atmosphere associated with the UAE has recently been upended by alarm sirens, drone interceptions and evenings spent sheltered in underground car parks.
And on March 1 three people were killed in the blitz on the city, which saw the famous Jumeriah Hotel set ablaze and industrial zones smouldering.
Dubai International Airport was hit by further Iranian drone strikes on Sunday, causing the airport to be evacuated and flights suspended.
The couple had previously been oblivious to the rising international tensions until the first alarm bell was raised, and haven’t witnessed strikes or their aftermath first-hand.
Ms Mann said: ‘We were sitting in bed having room service last week and alarms on our phones started going off, causing us to question what was happening.
‘We saw a puff of smoke while we were having breakfast at the start of the week and a big black cloud of smoke at the start of the week.
‘But we do hear sounds.’
Despite saying one ‘gets used to [the current climate], she added ‘her heart [did] tend to go’ when an alarm was raised – which has become a daily occurrence.
She said: ‘We were in the mall when one went off and everyone looked around at each other. That was quite scary as we were above glass.’
While the ‘noises of the jets are the worst and can be scary’, the influencer said their holiday routine largely continued as usual with walks for coffee along the promenade and shopping jaunts.
She said: ‘You get a missile alert and within thirty minutes another warning says it is safe to go outside. When you can’t go outside, you don’t go outside.
‘It is very normal. We are still going for coffee and walking around the mall.’
Ms Mann confessed her attempts to continue a sense of normality may be her trying to block out that she is ‘in the midst of the warzone’.
She added: ‘It will probably hit us when we get home.
‘We are trying to be normal. But you can be doing your normal activity and then suddenly the sirens go off and you have to get inside and stay away from windows. Your heart does go when that happens.’
USIran was bombed by the US and Israel, which killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Since then, Iran has unleashed ‘revenge’ attack strikes on Israel, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq and Cyprus.
The conflict has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 290 in Lebanon and 11 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. It has also taken the lives of six US soldiers.
US President Donald Trump said today Iran ‘will be hit very hard’ today and dubbed the country the ‘loser of the Middle East’.
