As the conflict in the Middle East continues, British holidaymakers are still stuck abroad two weeks since the war began.
One couple, Andrea Pendrey and her partner, jetted off to the Maldives for a break before Andrea started treatment for breast cancer.
However, the pair’s flight on March 1 was cancelled due to the war breaking out between the US/Israel and Iran.
They were informed by their airline to find a room to stay in the meantime, and to pay for it themselves.
British holidaymakers are still stuck abroad two weeks since the war began. Pictured: Dubai airport earlier this month
Andrea Pendrey and her partner estimate they will have spent £12,000 on accommodation and additional costs by the time they make it home after being stranded in the Maldives
‘Emirates just told us we need to find a room, at our own cost and the airport was filling up with more and more people,’ Andrea told the BBC.
The couple now have a room at a resort but estimate they will have spent an additional £12,000 by the time they get home.
They have had to put the extra costs on a credit card and Andrea, whose partner lost his job before the holiday, admitted: ‘The money is stressing me out.’
Andrea was due to start her treatment last Thursday and the pair have been searching for rescheduled flights to get her home.
‘Even though this place is paradise, we’ve been crying and feel really upset,’ Andrea said
Most travel insurance policies do not cover war and conflict, meaning if a holidaymaker’s travels end up disrupted by the current situation in the Middle East, they may not be be entitled to help or compensation from their provider.
In Andrea’s case, their insurance company has now classed their situation as a medical emergency and they hope to fly home through Frankfurt on Monday.
The Daily Mail has approached Emirates for comment.
More than 140,000 Britons registered their presence in the Middle East with the UK government, after the US and Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei among those killed.
British tourists Lauren Higgins and Adam Wilson, who headed to the Maldives for a ‘once in a lifetime luxury holiday’, are among those who are stranded abroad.
Rosie Murray-West and husband Paul shelter in a conference centre in Doha, as the war with Iran breaks out
The war has meant their flight home via Bahrain was cancelled.
As of earlier this week, the pair are stranded on the tropical island – as their travel insurance doesn’t cover their situation.
Instead of the plush Siyam World Resort they were meant to be staying in, they are in a £500-a-night Holiday Inn.
They have already been forced to shell out £2,500 and are concerned they may have to pay out for up to three weeks before they can fly back home, the Daily Star reported.
Similarly, Rosie Murray-West recently revealed how she was stuck with her husband in Doha, just as the war broke out.
She found her travel insurance doesn’t cover many of her extra costs as a result of the conflict, but the Qatar government paid for their additional hotel nights whilst they waited for a new flight.
The couple had to fork out for ‘cat sitting at home, mobile data for work and about £30 a day on food,’ and she explained how her airline may cover some of the ‘mounting expenses’ – though it isn’t clear exactly what.
Another couple Sarah Short, 54, and her husband Ed, 58, were on holiday in Dubai when the war broke out.
They were meant to return to London the same day but their flight was cancelled and they decided to travel to Muscat when they heard a flight to London would leave.
The couple said they paid £1,500 for a taxi from Dubai to Muscat, driving more than eight hours through the desert on the 300-mile journey.
Another couple Sarah Short, 54, and her husband Ed, 58, were on holiday in Dubai when the war broke out
Ms Short hugs her son Alex as she arrives at Heathrow International Airport from Oman
Asked about the situation at the Muscat airport, Mrs Short said: ‘It was absolute chaos.’
She added: ‘We didn’t know what was going to happen next.
‘There were people who were absolutely in floods of tears, sobbing, shaking.
‘And we were lucky because we were with our friends.’
Self-employed consultants Mrs and Mr Short were able to board a flight home and arrived safely at Heathrow airport, where were surprised by their family.
Waiting for them at Heathrow’s Terminal 5, Mrs Short’s sister, 49-year-old Karen Fenton, said: ‘It was frightening for them but thankfully in the end it all went OK.
‘They’re quite traumatised by the whole experience, they’ve had to spend thousands (of pounds) on this and got three flights cancelled.’
Laura and Paul Webster, from Birmingham, were stuck in Phuket, Thailand as of earlier this month and were told by their travel agent that there were no available flights to get them home for two weeks.
The couple, who both work in insurance software, were due to fly to Dubai for a three-night stay before taking another flight to Birmingham before the war broke out.
Mrs Webster, 40, said: ‘We’ve got work, we’ve got kids. We want to get back ASAP.
‘We don’t care if that means four flights.
‘The travel agent said there’s none on their central reservation system.
‘They keep trying to put us on Emirates via Dubai and the flights keep getting cancelled because of the airspace.
‘When we’ve tried to look for flights ourselves, there’s just none.
‘We have been looking at trying to go via Singapore, we looked at Hong Kong.
Laura and Paul Webster, from Birmingham, were stuck in Phuket, Thailand as of earlier this month and were told by their travel agent that there were no available flights to get them home for two weeks
‘My husband found one via Japan for £10,000 each, which obviously we’re not going to do.
‘Unless you have a direct flight that’s already booked from Bangkok to London, you’re stuffed for two weeks at least.’
Mrs Webster said there were ‘loads of people in our hotel who are all stuck’.
She explained that their travel agent arranged for them to get an extra three nights of accommodation, but then they would ‘have to fend for ourselves’ as ‘you can’t claim for it on insurance, because it’s war’.
She added: ‘It’s just horrible. It’s literally a holiday from hell.
‘We had two days of a nice holiday, and then since Saturday we’ve just had such stress and anxiety of not knowing when you can get home to your kids.’
