BILLINGS— A Montana native has been waiting in the Dubai International Airport for a flight back to her Seattle home since Saturday.
Lindsey Kelley said her flight to the United States was about to depart when travel was deemed unsafe, due to Iran’s retaliatory strikes after U.S. and Israel attacks.
Watch the report:
“We sat for four hours. And so, I was able to watch CNN on the plane and just kind of like I said, watch all of these retaliatory strikes open in real time,” said the Great Falls-raised woman, who has also lived in Bozeman.
“The airport was chaotic,” she added.
Kelley left the crowded airport to stay in a hotel. Iran then struck the airport Sunday, creating a large cloud of smoke, visible from her hotel.
“The airport was actually struck by an Iranian drone, and part of the terminal that I would have been in or was staying in was damaged. So that… unnerved me a bit,” said Kelley.
She described hearing other explosions as well.
“We were waking up to explosions in the air where they were intercepting these, these drones in the sky,” she said.
Kelley expects to wait until the weekend for a flight home, and said she is trying to get on a repatriation list, which would allow her to get a flight sooner.
She has spent the last two months in India, and said she is considering returning to India if flights to the United States continue to be delayed.
“I have talked about the idea of getting on a plane, maybe going back to India and staying a little longer. But I'm just I'm not sure what the best path forward is at this point,” said Kelley.
“I'm not a tourist. I'm not supposed to be here. I was just supposed to be here for nine hours,” she added.
Click here for updates on air travel in the Middle East.
