War with Iran leaves New Jersey residents stranded in Middle East
Americans, including New Jersey residents, in more than a dozen countries in the Middle East are scrambling to get home amid the war with Iran.
The State Department has urged them to leave immediately, yet there are no commercial flights from the countries impacted.
New Jerseyans unable to get home
Ramadan with relatives in Kuwait last week started out peacefully for Mervat Elkadi, but that changed Saturday for the Bayonne, New Jersey, resident.
"I woke up on a very big bomb sound," she said.
She said right now, it's too costly and dangerous to arrange private travel by car to another country.
"We can see the missiles. Like, it's crazy," Elkadi said. "Nobody's feeling safe at all."
Teaneck resident Josh Lipowsky was in the middle of the Tel Aviv Marathon on Friday when the embassy encouraged nonessential personnel to get out.
"We also saw news that Secretary Rubio was scheduled to be here on Monday," he said. "We thought, OK, maybe we have a few days."
But on Saturday, the flight he and his wife, Stephanie Hausner, were supposed to take was canceled. Now, there are barely any commercial flights in the more than a dozen countries impacted by the Iran war.
For now, Lipowsky and Hausner say the Israeli airline El Al may have emergency flights Wednesday.
Instead of hosting Purim at home, it was spent in their hotel bomb shelter with alerts of rockets.
"Not having Purim in the way that we expected was a little bit hard ... We're kind of living our own Purim story," Hausner said.
Flight cancellations due to unrest
According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, about 18,000 flights have been canceled since the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran on Saturday.
"The only thing ... that I received from United was a text message letting me know that my flight was canceled, and letting me know that I had five days to rebook," said Matt Cowan, who flew to Israel from Los Angeles for the Tel Aviv Marathon.
"Realistically, it would be great to be getting back home on time, but I'd rather make sure that I get home safely than try to rush out of here," he said.
On Tuesday, Delta Air Lines announced flight cancellations from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Tel Aviv through March 22 and from Tel Aviv to JFK through March 23. United Airlines also canceled flights between the U.S. and Tel Aviv and Dubai through March 11.
"We've had more than 10 calls already from constituents asking, 'How do I get out?'" New York Rep. Dan Goldman said.
Retired Major General Randy Manner is stuck in Dubai.
"I've talked to two embassy personnel, two different embassies," he said. "They are in survival mode."
United and Delta are both offering travel waivers through March 31, allowing passengers impacted by the unrest in the Middle East to rebook select flights without additional fees.
State Department announces charter flights
Tuesday afternoon, the State Department announced charter flights from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
"If an airport's been attacked or the airspace is closed ... we can't get them to land because we don't have the permissions to land there, so that's the challenge," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. "But rest assured, we're confident that we are going to be able to assist every American."
Stranded Americans who are still waiting for help are encouraged to join the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, or STEP, at step.state.gov.
"They're providing us information saying that the U.S. embassy is unable to assist with any evacuation flights," Cowan said.
The New Jersey residents and some lawmakers want to know why they weren't warned.
"I thought we were going to have a situation where we were going to be attacked," President Trump said Tuesday.
