Pennsylvania couple stranded in Dubai amid canceled flights
By Carlos Cristian Flores
Click here for updates on this story
ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pennsylvania (WTAE) — Americans and diplomats have been advised to leave the Middle East, but getting home has been a challenge with canceled flights.
Jonathan and Elaine Widich, of Bethel Park, Allegheny County, are stranded in Dubai.
“We’re not terribly concerned, and we like it here; it’s a nice place, but we would really like to get home,” Jonathan Widich told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 reporter Carlos Flores on Thursday morning.
The couple said they received airstrike alerts on Saturday, prompting them to speak with hotel staff about safety measures.
“We spoke to the people down there, and they said, well, we think you’re OK, we think everything’s OK and we have a shelter prepared,” Jonathan Widich said.
Widich said he saw a drone being struck down while he was having a cup of coffee. They also heard the noise coming from the Fairmont Hotel a few miles down the road after it was hit by a strike.
The Widiches were set to return home Friday, but their British Airways flight was canceled. They managed to book a tentative flight for Sunday, but that flight, too, has now been canceled.
Jonathan Widich said they attempted to contact the State Department for guidance but have not had any success. They are hearing stories of others facing similar issues trying to reach someone by phone.
A view of the damaged facade of Gandi Hospital in Tehran on March 5, 2026, after it was hit on March 1 when a projectile struck a state TV communications tower and nearby buildings during the ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli campaign on the capital, following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 that killed Iran’s supreme leader and top military leaders and prompted retaliatory strikes on Israel and across the region. Trump says he should help pick Iran’s next leader and rules out Khamenei’s son “For the first several days, apparently, when you punched your way through and finally got your way through the ‘push 1, push 2’ kind of thing, there was no help, basically, at the end of the trail, so it was a little frustrating,” he said.
Widich said they are keeping their fingers crossed and will move to “Plan C” if necessary, although they are not yet sure what that would be.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.