Malaga tourists stranded in Middle East as flight prices hit €3,000

The search for a way home has become a multi-thousand-euro expense for Malaga families stranded across the Middle East.

As airspace remains restricted following recent missile activity, the Spanish Embassy in Abu Dhabi has confirmed there are currently no government repatriation flights, leaving tourists to navigate a collapsing commercial market alone.

With only narrow "safe windows" available for takeoff, the cost of alternative connections has spiked. Some passengers report being quoted up to €3,000 for a single economy seat to return to Spain.

According to estimates, there are around 30,000 Spanish residents that are yet to return. So far, only 175 have managed to come home, with a flight on Tuesday afternoon.

Several reliable sources, including the Spanish Embassy in Abu Dhabi, have confirmed that safety restrictions limit the number of possible departures.

"You should not go to the airport until you have confirmation of your ticket from the airline and you should contact your airline for information on possible rebookings. The rebooking of tickets by airlines happens without the intervention of the Embassy," the Spanish representatives in Abu Dhabi said.

Air Europa pilot Nacho Ballesteros is, for once, among the tourists. Unfortunately, he and his family are unable to leave Dubai after a holiday. The captain's knowledge has made him a beacon of light amid so much uncertainty for the Spanish passengers there.

Ballesteros criticises Minister of Foreign Affairs Albares for the empty promises of repatriation flights. "The Spaniards who have managed to leave have done so by their own means, on the few regular flights that have been able to depart, not on government aircraft," he told SUR.

Etihad Airlines has already scheduled the first flight at 4pm on Thursday. The plane in question, however, is still subject to possible cancellation due to the airspace closure.

Such a situation discourages passengers, especially those who have already received a call to go to the airport once in the past few days but have then had to return due to the flight getting cancelled or being overbooked.

This happened to Lola Sánchez Cívico and her daughter Claudia Padilla Sánchez. They arrived in Abu Dhabi from India on 28 February. They returned to the airport on Tuesday morning, lucky to have two seats on a repatriation flight. They were not allowed to go beyond the gate for their flight, however, and are still in Abu Dhabi.

The Emirates national airline has its employees working from home and they have instructions to mobilise fully to get planes out as soon as they can.

The situation changes in a matter of minutes. It has already happened a few times that a plane would take off or land and the missile warning would go off. Several passengers have sent SUR videos of missiles over the night sky in the Emirates.

All Middle Eastern airlines are in the same boat. They all tend to have very high occupancy rates and, with the accumulated waiting list, finding available seats is difficult. They have all announced their intention to increase services as far as possible, but this is not an easy task at the moment.

It's important that passengers who have a flight to or from a conflict zone know their rights.

The airline must cover hotel expenses if it is not possible to rebook them on another flight. If possible, they should look for an alternative or refurn the money and let the passenger make their own arrangements.

SUR has been following the stories of several groups of Malaga tourists stranded in various points around the world: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Omán, Sarja and even other countries, such as Thailand and Kenya, from where passengers first have to get to the Middle East to catch their flight to Malaga.