First Dubai flight since Iran War started lands at SFO, reuniting stranded travelers with families

Описание: (6 Mar 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
San Francisco - 5 March 2026
1. Heather Doherty's husband waits to greet her with flowers
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2. SOUNDBITE (English) Heather Doherty, Alameda, CA Resident Returning Home from Work Trip to Dubai:
"Our flight had taken off in Dubai on Saturday and had to turn around as things got heated up over Iran. So we landed and just didn't really have any information for a couple of days. So we're really happy to be home. I spent the first night huddled on the floor next to my bed, worried about the windows exploding. You hear alerts going off, you hear explosions in the sky, and it's hard to know what's going on, but it's really unsettling."
3. Dubai on flight arrival board outside international arrivals gate
4. Emirates Airlines sign in front of arrivals gate
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5. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Daley, Chicago Resident Returning Home from Work Trip to Dubai:
"Having the State Department or whoever tell us, you need to get out immediately, well, but there's no help. So you're on your own to get your own travel plans. And that was the most stressful thing."
6. Tour group employee greats client returning from Dubai
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7. SOUNDBITE (English) Cooper Pao, Tour Guide Operator:
"We have 60 people who were flying from San Francisco to Dubai and their plane was going to Dubai and Egypt. However, because of the war, we canceled the tour. They're flying back today. They were very nervous and we tried to arrange the first flight to make our customers travelling back to the Bay Area safe."
8. Welcome Home sign
9. Various Emirates Airlines check in counter
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10. SOUNDBITE (English) Ricky Kang, Dubai Resident Returning Home:
"We're going to Dubai. We're from there. We're residents of the country, so you know it's a place that I know that will protect us. So we have no worries going to Dubai at all. We're flying through Dubai. We're going to be there for a day and then go to India. India's kind of out of the way as far as we know and we have really important business we can't say no to. So you know, you got to do what you got do."
11. Emirates agent talks to Maria Orozco
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12. SOUNDBITE (English) Maria Orozco, San Francisco Resident Cancelling Dubai Vacation:
"Things right now are not looking too safe. I decided to maybe cancel it or just change the flight to maybe further on a month or just cancel it if things get even worse. But it would have been a really good experience to go to Dubai. But as of right now, it's looking too dangerous and I think I have to stay home with my family right now."
13. Passenger checks in for Dubai flight
STORYLINE:
The first flight from Dubai to San Francisco since the outbreak of the Iran War landed at San Francisco International Airport today, bringing emotional reunions as friends and family embraced loved ones who had been stranded in the United Arab Emirates for days.

Passengers arriving on the Emirates flight described a tense wait while fighting in the region disrupted travel.

Several Americans who had been in Dubai for work said they spent days sheltering in their hotels, unsure when it would be safe to return home.

Others had been traveling for vacation.

Among those on board was a Chinese-speaking tour group from the San Francisco Bay Area.

About 60 travelers had departed last week for what was supposed to be a tour of Egypt.

Instead, their trip ended at its first stop in Dubai when the conflict escalated.









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