A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The war between Israel and the U.S. and Iran has closed airports across the Middle East. Hundreds of thousands of travelers are stranded by flight cancellations.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
One of them is Oliver Sims IV. He was returning home to Dallas after a trip to India for a wedding. His connecting flight through Doha, Qatar, took off, but not for long.
OLIVER SIMS IV: I got a notification on my phone that said that the United States and Israel had began strikes on Iran. And then about 30 minutes after that, the captain came on the loudspeaker and said that we had to return to Doha due to some military conflicts and the airspace being restricted.
FADEL: His flight was one of many that left Doha only to be turned around.
MARTÍNEZ: Sarah Gaither (ph) found herself in a similar situation and described the scene at the Doha airport for us.
SARAH GAITHER: A lot of planes deboarded, and the airport filled up very, very quickly. We all just sat around for a really long time with zero update. And as frustrated people are with the airlines, they need to remember it's not just our airline doing this. It's the entire Middle East that's experiencing this issue.
FADEL: Henry Harteveldt is an airline industry analyst with Atmosphere Research Group. He says the airports in Doha and Dubai are among the world's largest.
HENRY HARTEVELDT: Major airlines like Emirates, Etihad and Qatar operate worldwide route networks. So these disruptions are being felt almost everywhere in the world.
MARTÍNEZ: When NPR spoke with Sims and Gaither on Sunday, they were safe in hotel rooms. Even so, Sims told us he's concerned about missiles aimed at Qatar.
SIMS IV: I'm feeling very nervous of where I am. I thought that I was going to be home by now, and I didn't think that any type of military strike was going to happen, even whenever I was in the air, headed back home to the U.S.
FADEL: Gaither told us she's doing her best not to worry her family.
GAITHER: Last night, I was on the phone with my mom just chatting about what's happening in Dallas and stuff, and I heard all the missiles go off, and I was like, I got to go. Like, the missiles are going off. Like, I'll talk to you soon. And that really shook her up a little bit.
FADEL: Last we spoke, Gaither and Sims were both waiting to hear when airspace might open up again so their travels could resume.
(SOUNDBITE OF JULIA KENT'S "GARDERMOEN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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