Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international passengers, was shut for five consecutive days. Over 23,000 of the 44,000 scheduled Middle East flights have been canceled since the strikes began. The State Department has called on US citizens to depart 16 Middle East countries. And if you’re reading this from an airport hotel in the Gulf, you already know none of those statistics capture how it actually feels.

We covered the initial crisis in our earlier guide when cancellations hit 12,300. The situation has escalated significantly since then. Airspace closures expanded, repatriation flights launched, and the insurance picture has gotten both clearer and more complicated. Here’s what’s changed and what you need to do right now.

Situation Update (March 7, 2026)

Metric	Status
Flights canceled	23,000+ of 44,000 scheduled
Dubai (DXB)	Reopened March 6, limited operations (~60% of Emirates network)
Emirates capacity	106 daily return flights to 83 destinations as of March 6
Etihad	25 international destinations, limited schedule
State Dept. action	US citizens urged to depart 16 countries; charter flights operating
Repatriation hub	Muscat (MCT) serving as primary relief flight hub
US citizens returned	9,000+ safely back, including 300+ from Israel

Key change from our March 4 coverage: DXB is reopened but running through restricted corridors via Saudi and Omani airspace. Recovery is underway but nowhere near normal.

If You’re Stranded Right Now: Do This First

Skip the rest of this article and come back to it. Here’s the priority sequence:

1. Check whether your airline has resumed flights. Emirates is operating about 60% of its network from DXB as of March 6. Etihad is running 25 routes. Flydubai has resumed limited operations. Check your airline’s app or website for your specific route. Don’t assume your flight is still canceled.

2. If commercial flights aren’t available, check State Department charter flights. The Department of State is operating charter flights from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. These are available to US citizens and the government has waived the reimbursement requirement, so you won’t be billed. Contact the nearest US Embassy or register at step.state.gov if you haven’t already.

3. Look at Muscat as your escape route. Muscat in Oman has become the primary relief hub. Qatar Airways is running relief flights from both Muscat and Riyadh. If you can get to Oman by ground transport, you have more options. Several airlines and private operators are using Muscat to shuttle passengers out of the region.

4. Keep every receipt. Hotel, food, ground transport, phone charges. All of it. You’ll need documentation for airline duty-of-care claims, insurance claims, and credit card trip protection claims.

What Airlines Owe You (Updated)

The legal framework hasn’t changed since our earlier guide, but airline waivers have expanded.

Emirates: Passengers with tickets issued on or before February 28 with travel dates through March 20 can rebook for free. If DXB was your departure or connection point, Emirates carried roughly 30,000 passengers out on March 5 alone and is targeting full network restoration within days.

Etihad: Extended its waiver further. Tickets issued on or before February 28 with original travel through March 21 can be rebooked free onto Etihad-operated flights through May 15. That’s a genuinely wide window.

Qatar Airways: Operating relief flights from Muscat and Riyadh. If you were booked on Qatar and are stuck, contact them about these specific services. Doha Hub flights are still running limited schedules.

Non-Gulf carriers (Lufthansa, Air India, Singapore Airlines, etc.): If your booking routed through Gulf airspace, your carrier must rebook or refund. Call them. Many are rerouting through the Caucasus (northern) corridor or the Egypt/Oman (southern) corridor, adding 2–4 hours to flights. Ask specifically whether your checked baggage transfers on the rerouted itinerary.

The Insurance Reality: War Exclusions, Delay Benefits, and CFAR

Standard travel insurance excludes war. Full stop. If your policy has a war/military action/hostilities exclusion (and almost all do), your trip cancellation and trip interruption coverage won’t pay out for this event directly.

But “war exclusion” doesn’t mean “zero coverage.” Here’s the breakdown that matters:

What’s excluded: Trip cancellation and trip interruption triggered by the conflict itself. You can’t file a claim saying “the war caused my trip to be canceled” against a standard policy.

What may still be covered — travel delay benefits: Here’s where it gets interesting. Many standard policies include travel delay coverage that triggers when your flight is delayed for a covered reason. The covered reasons often include airline-caused delays from rerouting, crew scheduling problems, and mechanical issues — which are domino effects of the military action, not the military action itself. Squaremouth reported an 18x spike in travel insurance inquiries since the crisis began. A lot of those inquiries are people discovering their delay benefits may actually apply even when cancellation coverage doesn’t.

CFAR (Cancel For Any Reason): If you purchased a CFAR add-on within 14–21 days of your initial trip deposit, before the conflict was foreseeable, you can cancel for any reason and recover 50–75% of prepaid costs. The critical word is “foreseeable.” Once the strikes began and news broke, buying new CFAR coverage won’t help because the event is now a known risk. If you already had it, use it.

IFAR (Interruption For Any Reason): The lesser-known cousin of CFAR. If your trip is already underway and you have IFAR coverage, you can cut the trip short for any reason and recover 50–75% of remaining prepaid, non-refundable trip costs. Same foreseeability limitation applies for new purchases.

Credit card trip protection: Don’t overlook this. Chase Sapphire Reserve covers trip delays over 6 hours up to $500 per ticket. Amex Platinum covers trip cancellation up to $10,000. These card benefits sometimes use different exclusion language than standalone insurance policies. Read the specific terms on your card — a cancellation that falls outside your travel insurance may still qualify under your card. Our airline delay compensation and travel insurance guide has a full comparison of card-level protections.

How to File an Insurance Claim Right Now

If you have coverage that applies, here’s the process:

1. Call your insurer’s 24/7 emergency line before incurring costs. Most policies require you to notify them before or during the event, not weeks later. The number is on your policy card or in your policy documents.

2. Get written documentation of the cancellation or delay from your airline. A screenshot of the cancellation notification works. An email confirmation from the airline is better. You need proof that the disruption happened and that the airline caused the specific delay (rerouting, crew issue, etc.).

3. Save itemized receipts for every expense. Hotel, meals, transport, communication costs. Insurers reimburse documented out-of-pocket expenses. Lump-sum credit card statements aren’t enough. You need individual receipts.

4. File within the policy’s window. Most policies require claim filing within 60–90 days of the incident. Don’t wait.

5. For credit card claims, call the benefits number on the back of the card (not customer service). Reference your specific card benefit and the trip disruption. They’ll send you a claim form. Same documentation rules apply.

Repatriation: State Department Options for US Citizens

The State Department has moved beyond advisories into active facilitation:

• Charter flights are operating from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan to the United States. The statutory reimbursement requirement has been waived, so these flights are free for US citizens.
• Over 9,000 Americans have returned from the region in the past week, including over 300 from Israel.
• Commercial options remain in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, and Egypt. The Department is helping citizens book available commercial seats.
• Ground transportation to safer departure points is also being coordinated.

If you’re a US citizen in the region: register with STEP (Smart Traveler Enrollment Program) if you haven’t. This is how the State Department contacts you with evacuation updates and charter flight availability.

For non-US citizens: check with your country’s foreign ministry. Multiple nations are running repatriation operations. The UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, and France have all organized departures.

Tools That Actually Help Right Now

A few apps and services are proving useful in the chaos:

Google Flights. Shows real-time availability on alternative routes. If you’re trying to rebook yourself rather than waiting on hold, Google Flights lets you see what’s actually available through alternative hubs like Istanbul (IST), Zurich (ZRH), or Frankfurt (FRA). Our Google Flights AI deals guide covers the newer features.

Flightradar24. Their live blog is tracking airspace openings and closures in near-real-time. Before you book anything, check whether the airspace your flight would traverse is actually open.

Your airline’s app. Mobile apps are sometimes showing more real-time availability for rebookings than websites during mass disruption events. If the website queue is stuck, try the app.

Squaremouth. If you need to understand what your existing policy covers, Squaremouth’s Zero Complaint Guarantee means they’ll advocate for you if your insurer wrongly denies a valid claim. They also let you compare policies if you’re booking new travel and want CFAR protection.

eSIM providers. If you’re stuck in the region and your phone plan’s international coverage is expensive or nonexistent, an eSIM for international travel is the fastest way to get reliable data without hunting for WiFi.

Protecting Future Middle East Bookings

If you haven’t traveled yet and your flight routes through the Gulf:

• Rebook through alternative hubs now. Istanbul, Cairo, Addis Ababa, and Mumbai are all handling rerouted traffic. Yes, connections are tighter there too. But the airspace is stable.
• Buy CFAR if you’re booking new travel. Do it within 14–21 days of your initial payment. Once the trip is booked, the clock starts. Don’t wait.
• Pay with a credit card that has trip protection and charge the full trip cost to that single card. Split payments can void the protection.
• Use AI travel planners to identify alternate routes you might not think of. They can surface multi-stop options that avoid the affected airspace entirely.

What Happens Next

UAE airspace is reopening through restricted corridors over Saudi and Omani airspace. Emirates is targeting full network restoration “within days.” But intermittent closures are still happening. A drone incident near DXB on March 7 caused temporary disruption even after the airport had reopened.

The recovery will be uneven. Some routes will come back quickly. Others, especially those that relied on Iranian airspace for efficiency, will run longer routings for weeks or months. Ticket prices on affected routes will stay elevated until capacity normalizes.

If you’re watching this situation for upcoming travel: monitor Flightradar24’s live updates and your airline’s travel advisory page. And check what your flight delay apps are showing. Automated tracking beats manual refreshing.

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Situation current as of March 7, 2026. Airspace status, airline operations, and government charter availability are changing daily. Verify all information directly with your airline and relevant government agencies before acting.