March
Of War
Of War
Before we could even clear the frenzy of February, the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran turned the travel world upside down. Two of the world's busiest long-haul connecting airports (Dubai and Doha) shut down for the duration. Israel closed its airspace, again isolating the nation. And when Iran responded asymmetrically by attacking civilian and travel targets around the Gulf region, the entire Middle East became a no-go zone. Here's how we're covering it. Read up from the bottom for context.
3/31/26, 11AM ET, TUESDAY
GAS CRASHES THROUGH THE $4-A-GALLON BARRIER
Both the AAA and the experts at GasBuddy say the nationwide average price of a regular gallon of gasoline has leapt past the $4-a-gallon mark. That's the highest price since 2022. In fact, AAA pegged the price at nearly $4.02 this morning. Worse, there is no end in sight for the price increases given the standoff in the Iran situation. Since hostilities began on February 28, the price at the pump has risen more than a buck a gallon. Diesel fuel is now more than $5 a gallon, which means the cost of pretty much everything moved by truck--food, clothing, you name it--will rise. Watch the inflation rate in the weeks ahead.
3/31/26, 10AM ET, TUESDAY
AIR CANADA CEO CASSER SA PIPE
I alerted you Sunday to the serious storm brewing in Canada after Air Canada chief executive Michael Rousseau recorded a condolence video only in English after the AC Flight 8646 catastrophe at New York/LaGuardia. The airline says he has now decided to "retire" as soon as a new CEO is found. In plain English, Rousseau took the pipe yesterday. In plain French, he casser sa pipe. And lest you think this is a trivial matter, consider: 1) Canada is officially a bilingual country. 2) Air Canada is based in Montreal, the capital of French-speaking Canada. 3) Flight 8646 originated at Montreal/Trudeau International. 4) Rousseau had promised years ago to learn to speak French and it was that promise that cemented his appointment to the top job. 5) Air Canada says it is looking for a new chief executive and one of the job requirements will be the ability to speak both French and English. 6) Oh yeah, there are elections in Quebec in April that will have a bearing on the strength of the sitting Prime Minister Mark Carney's government.
3/29/26, 9PM ET, SUNDAY
THE LATEST ON AIR CANADA FLIGHT 8646
In normal times, last Sunday night's Air Canada incident at New York/LaGuardia would dominate the travel news for weeks. But with so much craziness, it's already out of the headlines. Still, the stories are being written. Here's what you might have missed:
The Tick-Tock The Wall Street Journal put together a minute-by-minute reconstruction of what happened.
The Survivors The Associated Press interviewed several passengers who survived the crash between the commuter jet and the fire truck. Another AP story tells the tale of the flight attendant who fell from the plane still strapped into her jump seat.
The Ironic Story An NTSB official detailed to investigate the crash was late arriving at LGA because he was caught in mammoth security checkpoint lines in Houston.
The Politics of It All Canada's touchy language politics is an issue in this incident. Air Canada chief executive Michael Rousseau recorded an English-only condolence video and that enraged the country's French speakers. (Not to mention that Air Canada is headquartered in Montreal and Flight 8646 originated there.) He was summoned to Ottawa to explain his decision. The video even drew the ire of Prime Minister Mark Carney. Rousseau's explanation? His French is awful.
3/29/26, 8PM ET, SUNDAY
AIRLINES CONTINUE TO BAIL ON MIDDLE EAST FLIGHTS
Airlines, especially Western carriers, continue to cancel service into the Middle East. Lufthansa and its allied carriers--Brussels, Swiss and Austrian, ITA and Edelweiss--have taken a cleaver to the schedules. Dubai and Tel Aviv service is cancelled through May 31. Eight other destinations are dumped through October 24: Abu Dhabi, Amman, Beirut, Dammam, Riyadh, Erbil, Muscat and Tehran. Eurowings, the discount carrier operated by Lufthansa, has cancelled its flights to Tel Aviv, Beirut and Erbil through April 30. And Air France, which has cancelled flights only a few days at a time, says flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut are off until April 4.
Meanwhile, OAG, the industry's schedule keepers, offers a deep dive on the changes in airline capacity as Middle East routes are redirected elsewhere. Clearly, some capacity won't be back for quite a while. Example: Qatar Airways has sent 20 of its largest aircraft--Airbus A350s and A380s and Boeing 787s--into storage at Teruel airport in Spain. At the moment, Doha-based Qatar is running only about a quarter of its schedule.
One notable irony? Etihad Airways launched its new route to Charlotte from Abu Dhabi last week on schedule. Charlotte-based airline reporter Ted Reed has the peculiar details of the nearly secret launch.
3/23/26, 2:30PM ET, MONDAY
ONE LAGUARDIA RUNWAY REOPENS
One runway at New York/LaGuardia reopened at 2PM Eastern time. Needless to say, delays are epic, running around four hours. There have been at least 600 cancellations so far today. Logic would dictate that the second runway, the scene of the Air Canada incident late last night, will remain closed for some time. It would be wise to avoid LGA for the rest of the week. The NTSB usually handles informational briefings after accidents, but nothing runs quite to form in the Trump Administration. It has scheduled a 3:15pm ET briefing with DOT Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.
3/23/26, 2PM ET, MONDAY
ICE IS STROLLING AROUND MAJOR AIRPORTS
Based on reporting and eyewitness accounts, ICE agents deployed today at 14 major airports: Atlanta; Chicago/O'Hare; Cleveland; Houston/Hobby and Intercontinental; Newark; New York/LaGuardia and Kennedy; New Orleans; San Juan; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Pittsburgh; and Fort Myers. Marisa Kabas, a one-time political strategist and now a freelance journalist, has created a Bluesky thread so travelers can post airport ICE sightings. With the exception of one (apparently) unrelated incident at SFO, the agents aren't doing much. As I reported earlier today, it seems performative. They are walking around--sometimes coffee and bottled water in hand--essentially showing the metaphoric flag. Kabas' Bluesky post is here. Meanwhile, Tom Homan, the Trump Administration border "czar," has bent over backward in the last 36 hours to assure flyers in specific and citizens in general that ICE agents at the airport are not involved with tasks at security checkpoints. But President Trump apparently has other ideas. ICE agents "love it because they’re able to now arrest illegals as they come into the country. It’s very fertile territory,” he said this morning. TheHill.com has the details.
3/23/26, 12:30AM ET, MONDAY
THE UNHAPPY TSA UPDATE
Here's the latest on the TSA funding gridlock and the worsening lines at many airports around the country:
Multiple reports out of Washington today say that Republicans in Congress told President Trump that they were okay with a deal that would fund all of Homeland Security, including the TSA, except for ICE. Democrats were on board, too. Trump reportedly vetoed the idea and Senate Majority Leader John Thune now says he's "hitting pause" on funding talks.
To their credit, most major airports in the United States are trying harder to keep passengers informed about TSA wait times. Then there's the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the region's airports. It has decided that it can't be bothered. In posts this morning on social media sites, the Port says it has stopped updating flyers, the media or anyone about wait times at LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark airports.
A travel journalist named Zach Griff has put together a bot that he hopes will track TSA wait times at major airports around the country. Is it accurate? Hard to tell. But bookmark it and consult as you see fit.
If CBS News is to be believed, the TSA agent callout rate hit 11.76% of the workforce on Sunday. That's the highest since the funding shutdown began and almost six times the usual sickout rate. Worst airports for callouts yesterday? New Orleans at 42.3% and Atlanta at 41.5%. It was about 20% at Phoenix, 24% in Philadelphia, 37% at New York/JFK and 39% at Houston/Intercontinental.
3/23/26, 11:30AM ET, MONDAY
EL AL SLASHES DEPARTURES FROM TEL AVIV AGAIN
El Al says the government of Israel has limited the carrier to 15 outbound flights per day from Tel Aviv. Each departure is now capped at 50 passengers. The airline says it was running at 20% of capacity, but the new restrictions now limit it to 5% of pre-war service.
3/23/26, 9:30AM ET, MONDAY
AN UNHAPPY ANNIVERSARY AT LAGUARDIA
Ironically, Sunday night's incident came on the 34nd anniversary of USAir Flight 405. It crashed into Flushing Bay on takeoff and killed 27 people. That flight, headed to Cleveland-Hopkins, was operated by a Fokker F28, which was ill-equipped to operate in wintry weather. A little bit of background on the misplaced Fokkers and USAir's poor planning is here.
3/23/26, 9AM ET, MONDAY
TWO CONFIRMED DEAD AT LAGUARDIA AFTER GROUND ACCIDENT
The weather remains dreary and cloudy in New York, but we now can at least see what's happened at LaGuardia late last night into early this morning. The news is not good, of course. Here's what we know:
The pilot and first officer of Air Canada Flight 8646 are dead. There were two flight attendants and 72 passengers aboard. About 40 people were initially hospitalized. As many as a dozen may still be hospitalized as of 8AM ET.
The aircraft in question, a CRJ-900 operated by AC's Jazz commuter division, was cleared to land on Runway 4. But a fire truck also had been cleared to cross the runway to reach a United Airlines flight that had an aborted takeoff.
The incident happened around 11:30pm ET. Weather conditions were poor and there was more activity than normal at that time due to weather-related delays. In fact, Flight 8646 from Montreal would normally arrive around 9:30PM ET.
Although these details are always subject to change, it seems the aircraft essentially T-boned the fire truck at speeds around 100 miles per hour. It would explain why the nose of the aircraft, where the cockpit is located, was effectively sheared off and destroyed.
NBC News in New York is reporting that one flight attendant was thrown from the aircraft still strapped into her jump seat. She was rescued. If true, it means only one flight attendant remained on board to supervise the evacuation of the 72 passengers.
The ground controller supervising events last night is heard on tape admitting "I messed up." He did desperately try to stop the fire truck as it was crossing the runway, but it was too late. The issue in the hours and days ahead is the staffing levels at LGA, part of the busiest and most complex airspace in the nation. On a normal evening, traffic would be very light at that hour as LGA has a soft overnight curfew. But, as mentioned, weather conditions were bad last night and flights were departing and arriving at later hours than usual.
LaGuardia is closed and has been closed since minutes after the incident. The FAA has listed LGA as closed until at least 2PM ET today. FlightAware.com is reporting that nearly 600 flights to/from the airport have already been cancelled today. Best advice: Avoid LGA today and tomorrow.
3/23/26, 8AM ET, MONDAY
THE ICEMEN COMETH
Although details are sketchy, it does look as if ICE agents have been deployed to about a dozen airports nationwide. Early reporting confirms what Tom Homan, the Trump Administration's border "czar," said yesterday: ICE can't and won't be involved with security checkpoint functions. To be honest, the ICE presence seems performative, as if Homan had no choice but to send agents to airports since Trump announced it. They are unmasked and basically just strolling around. It seems much like a National Guard presence at airports and other transit hubs when they have been deployed in the past.
3/23/26, 1AM ET, MONDAY
SOMETHING BAD HAS HAPPENED AT NEW YORK/LAGUARDIA
There's a developing situation at New York's LaGuardia Airport. After a brief ground stop, the FAA closed the airport just before midnight Sunday and, at the moment, the closure is listed to last until 2PM Eastern time Monday. The FAA offers no other details on its National Airspace System Status page. According to some reports, an Air Canada Jazz CRJ-900 commuter jet arriving from Montreal, operating as Flight 8646, struck or was struck by a ground vehicle on Runway 04. Unverified photos from LGA show an AC aircraft tipped on its tail with heavy damage on the nose and the front fuselage. At this time, there are no reliable reports of injuries or death. Emergency vehicles are on the scene. It's hard to know exactly what's happening because it is dark and the weather in the New York area has been foggy with periods of heavy rain. It could be hours before trustworthy information emerges. Also worth considering: If your travel on Monday includes flights to or from LaGuardia, consider altering your plans. If we are in a worst-case scenario, the airport really could be closed until 2PM ET.
3/22/26, 7PM ET, SUNDAY
HERE COME THE FLIGHT CUTS DUE TO SOARING FUEL PRICES
Here's what we know: Brent crude, the global standard, is selling for about $110 a barrel, up 80% in the last three months. WTI, the U.S. standard, is selling at just under $100 a barrel, up from around $60 a barrel in January. Jet fuel? Selling for $4.56 a gallon, up from $2.50 on the day before Iran hostilities erupted on February 28. That's not only unsustainable, but it also outstrips the airlines' ability to offset the added cost with fare increases. The solution? Cutting some flights that are suddenly unprofitable. United Airlines said on Friday that it would cut capacity by at least 5% in the weeks ahead. Some will come from what the carrier expects to be federally mandated flight reductions at overscheduled Chicago's O'Hare Airport. More cuts will come from cancelled capacity that would have flown to Tel Aviv and Dubai. The rest will be spread around the network. Meanwhile, SAS Scandinavian says it will dump 1,000 scheduled flights in April. And on the other side of the world, Air New Zealand is weighing an even larger retrenchment after cutting about 1,100 flights through early May. A route at risk? ANZ's thrice-weekly nonstops between New York/Kennedy and Auckland. Ultra-long-haul runs are especially vulnerable because aircraft used on these nonstops burn large amounts of fuel just to transport the fuel needed to make the long distances. And if airlines do keep those long hauls running, severe price hikes are inevitable. Case in point: Cathay Pacific. It hiked fuel charges by 100% or more on all its flights. On itineraries from Hong Kong to the United States, that represents a $300 fare increase.
3/22/26, 6PM ET, SUNDAY
FRIDAY IS A NIGHTMARE DAY FOR THE TSA SHUTDOWN
Mark Friday, March 27, on your calendar of existential travel doom. That's the day the nation's 50,000 TSA checkpoint agents will miss their second full paycheck. Since the partial Homeland Security shutdown began on February 14, the agents have received only one check and that covered only about 30% of their work. Friday is also when Congress is scheduled to begin a two-week Easter/Passover recess. And since Republicans and Democrats are talking past each other, the crisis may extend at least another three weeks. Inevitable conclusion: More agents will quit for other gigs, much higher callout rates by other agents--and longer and longer airport security lines. They're already stretching to two hours or longer at airports in Houston and Atlanta. Lines also are growing elsewhere as they begin to close security lanes due to insufficient staffing. Do travelers have any recourse? Not really, but here are some tips:
Make sure your Known Traveler Number, passport info and PreCheck credentials are in order in your profile at each airline you'll use in the weeks ahead.
Opt in to TSA Touchless ID, the agency's newish name for its facial-recognition technology. It's already in use at dozens of airports. The opt-in process is often as simple as ticking a checkbox in your profile with your preferred carrier.
Download your airport's app and check its TSA wait times carefully. Most airports seem to be updating wait times more frequently in recent days.
Try to use one of the 20 airports that have privatized security checkpoints. San Francisco (SFO); Orlando/Sanford (SFB) and Sarasota (SRQ) in Florida; Kansas City (MCI); and Rochester (ROC), New York. Contract security agents there are being paid and wait times are normal.
Fly nonstop whenever possible, or, if you must connect, try to do it at an airport that doesn't require a terminal change and a second trip through security.
3/17/26, 11PM ET, TUESDAY
A BONUS TACTICAL TRAVELER BECAUSE ... YOU KNOW
The bonus briefing in brief: Callouts at the TSA are rising and airports are beginning to close security checkpoints. Eight Gulf airports, only 750 flight miles apart, are the Strait of Hormuz in the sky. Who's flying--and who's not--in the Middle East. Why has the United States been so slow with evacuations? Terrible storms lead to two awful days in the U.S. skies. And much more. Surf here to read.
3/16/26, 7:45AM ET, MONDAY
TODAY'S A CONTENDER FOR: WORST. TRAVEL. DAY. EVER.
Before JoeSentMe ends its run, I'll send an URGENT! E-mail with the headline "Today was a great day to travel." Sadly, today is not that day. In fact, today is a contender for "Worst. Travel. Day. Ever."
WEATHER WOES
Where shall we start? Look out a window. Most every place in the United States and Canada has been hit with awful weather: Rain, snow, high winds, far-too-high temperatures and possible tornadoes. The result? A blizzard of woe. As of 7am ET, there have been more than 4,400 cancellations nationwide and more than 10,500 delays. That's ugly stuff. Southwest has dumped about 500 flights. Delta and its main commuter carrier (Endeavor) have cancelled nearly 900 flights so far. American and its commuters (PSA, Piedmont and Envoy) have dumped nearly 1,200 flights. Cancellations at United and its captive commuters are only comparatively lower: 300. SkyWest, which flies for all the majors, has cancelled nearly 300. Worst major airports so far today? New York/LGA (36% cancelled); Washington/DCA (32%); Charlotte (23%); and New York/JFK, Boston/Logan and Philadelphia (20% each). Delays have been the problem at Atlanta (half the schedule delayed); Chicago/O'Hare (45%) and Houston/IAH (44%). Other key airports aren't far behind. And, folks, the day's not over.
MIDDLE EAST TURMOIL
The day started (Middle East time) with an Iranian drone attack on fuel facilities near Dubai (DXB). That forced the airport to close. Incoming flights were rerouted elsewhere or, in the case of Emirates Flight 172, turned back to Dublin, its departure airport. It was flying over Egypt when it turned around, meaning an 11-hour flight to nowhere. The airport is open again, but remember what I said yesterday: The Middle East is not safe now whether you're trying to fly into the region or use the mega-hubs (Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi) for connections. Meanwhile, El Al has cancelled its scheduled service until at least March 28. At the moment, it is running at 20% of capacity.
ENERGY PRICES
Brent crude, the world standard, opened at $101/barrel today after closing at $100/barrel yesterday. WTI, the U.S. crude standard, is selling at about $95. AAA says today's national average for regular gasoline was $3.718. The CAA says today's price in Canada was C$1.64 a liter, up from $1.27 last month. Jet fuel on U.S. spot markets today is $3.78/gallon, down slightly from the $3.95 it reached on March 6.
3/15/26, 3PM ET, SUNDAY
Q&A: TRAVEL AND WAR
How this Iran thing will play out is far above my pay grade, so let's concentrate on what we can assess. What follows are mostly answers to travel questions you've put to me in recent days. The questions are all terrific. The value of my answers? Your call. Read it here.
3/14/26, 11PM ET, SATURDAY
TSA: NOBODY'S RIGHT WHEN EVERYBODY'S WRONG
I hate this. You hate this. TSA agents who aren't getting paid hate this. The airlines hate this--although they are careful not to squawk too much lest we recall that we are shouldering the burden of security work that the carriers themselves should be doing. And one month into the TSA shutdown, things will get worse before they get better. Read it here.
3/11/26, 9AM ET, WEDNESDAY
ENERGY PRICES GO BERSERK
There is some good news amidst the dreary dispatches here, so let's start there.
GLOBAL ENTRY REOPENS
Homeland Security confirmed last evening that it would reopen Global Entry kiosks effective at 5am today. The good news: I've been able to confirm that they are up and running at East Coast airports where the first banks of international flights are arriving. Ironically, Global Entry kiosks at overseas-based preclearance facilities--think Canada, Dublin, etc.--reopened almost immediately after DHS announced the initial closure nearly three weeks ago. It was part of the bizarre decision-making that Homeland Security has pursued. After all, Global Entry is almost totally automated and processes far more arrivals-per-available-agent than any other customs-based operation.
AMERICAN AIRLINES
To call American the least enthusiastic U.S. carrier about Middle East flying is to suggest that these are unhappy times. So it won't shock you to know that AA says its New York/JFK-Tel Aviv flights now are cancelled until at least April 23 and its Philadelphia-Doha flights won't resume until May 7.
AIRFARES RISING
It's a lot more nuanced than just announced fare increases, of course, and we'll talk more about this in the days ahead. But if you're tracking fares based on announced prices, consider: Air New Zealand has increased fares by NZ$10 (about US$6) on domestic flights, NZ$20 on short-haul international flights and NZ$90 on long-haul international runs to places like the United States. Qantas has moved fares up by about 5%. SAS Scandinavian and Air India have increased fares, too.
ENERGY PRICES
Oil and natural gas (think Qatar) production is down and now comes word that the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint located between Iran and the UAE, is effectively closed. That again has rattled the global oil market. Trading in Brent crude, the world standard, is back over $90 a barrel. WTI, the U.S. standard, is now trading above $86/barrel again. Gas prices continue their relentless rise. The AAA says that the average price of regular gasoline at the pump this morning is $3.58. That's 60 cents a gallon more than February 28, when the conflict started. Jet fuel on the spot market fell below $3.50 a gallon yesterday, according to A4A, the U.S. airline trade group. It reached $3.95 on Friday.
3/9/26, 1PM ET, MONDAY
ENERGY PRICES GO BERSERK
If you want the cynic's eye view of events, consider the comments this morning of one Iran observer: After ten days of hitting the Islamic Republic, we've succeeded in replacing an 86-year-old dictator with a 56-year-old one. But that's war stuff and the fog is only getting thicker, so let's concentrate instead on the travel end of this.
FLIGHT SERVICE
Bahrain: Airspace essentially closed. Gulf Air running some repatriation flights, but no commercial service.
Kuwait: Airspace closed.
Israel: Airspace is open on a limited basis. Two narrowbody departures per hour are permitted from Ben Gurion (TLV). El Al, Israir and Arkia are running repatriation flights. El Al says all commercial flights are cancelled until March 14.
Qatar: Airspace open for repatriation flights. No timeline for return of commercial service.
United Arab Emirates: Airspace is open for limited commercial service. Emirates Airline says there are flights from Dubai International (DXB) to Chicago, DFW, JFK, San Francisco and Toronto. Etihad is operating limited service from Abu Dhabi to Boston, Chicago, JFK and Washington/Dulles.
ENERGY PRICES
AAA says the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline today is $3.48, up from $2.98 on Saturday morning, February 28, when the conflict began.
A4A, the U.S. airline trade group, says jet fuel on the spot market on Friday (March 6) was $3.88/gallon, up from $2.50 on February 27.
Crude oil on world markets surged past $100/barrel yesterday evening. Brent crude, the global standard, was exactly $100 at 12:30pm today, but it has been bouncing wildly between $95-$110. WTI, the U.S. standard, was selling for $95. It has been four years since crude of any kind sold as high as $100/barrel.
TSA WAIT TIMES
Things are not improving today at TSA checkpoints. Worst airports: Houston (IAH and HOU), New Orleans, Charlotte, Phoenix and Atlanta. Some of this is undoubtedly passenger volume (2,781,523 people passed through TSA checkpoints yesterday, the highest one-day total since January 4.) One tip: Download the MyTSA app (https://www.tsa.gov/mobile). It's the only place with real-time reports on airport-specific wait times. My experience is the quoted wait times are broadly accurate.
3/7/26, 8:30PM ET, SATURDAY
ASYMMETRY AND TRAVEL SAFETY
We now live and travel in this asymmetrical world. No place is safe. No one is immune. If you want to keep traveling, especially internationally, you'll have to adjust to the new realities. And understand that it's not the act of travel that puts you at risk. It's lack of planning, bad decision-making and erroneous assumptions that make you a target. Read all about it here.
3/6/26, 7:30PM ET, FRIDAY
AIRFARES WILL RISE QUICKLY, TOO …
For better or worse, airlines have largely abandoned fuel hedging. That means you should expect airfares to rise as jet fuel prices rise. Fares are already jumping on flights between Europe and Asia, partly because of lack of seats and partially because airlines are already pricing in higher fuel prices. Domestically? One airline executive told me today that his carrier will raise fares "soon" because he doesn't expect fuel prices to fall as fast as they are rising. Adding to the confusion? No one knows when the attacks will end, how long energy production will remain slowed and how long Iran can pressure choke-points such as the Straits of Hormuz. So buckle up for price increases.
3/6/26, 7PM ET, FRIDAY
ENERGY PRICES GO BERSERK
The market forces that control energy prices do not like what they see. And they expect it to get much worse.
The AAA says the price of regular gallon gasoline started the day at $3.32. That's 34 cents above last Friday. And the trendline is spiking. Patrick DeHaan of GasBuddy says prices reached $3.39 by the end of the day and he expects another 15-25-cent increase in the next few days. The AAA says the year-ago average gas price was $3.11 a gallon.
WTI Crude, the U.S. oil standard, closed at $91.36/barrel compared to $67 last Friday. Brent Crude, the global oil standard, closed at $92.69, up 27% over the last five days.
Jet fuel on the spot market jumped to $3.95 yesterday, according to A4A, the domestic airline trade group. It was $2.50 last Friday. As I mentioned yesterday, a Boeing 737-800 holds about 6,900 gallons of fuel.
3/6/26, 6PM ET, FRIDAY
THE STATE OF MIDDLE EAST FLYING
Tel Aviv: El Al is operating rescue and repatriation flights, but scheduled service is off at least through the weekend. It looks as if the Star Alliance airlines--think United and the Lufthansa Group of carriers--have cancelled service for at least two more weeks. Air Canada, however, says its Toronto-Tel Aviv run won't operate before May. Delta Air Lines service is off for at least the same amount of time. Air France won't fly to Tel Aviv before March 12. (Sister airline KLM previously planned to drop flying on March 1.) BA has no scheduled flights, either.
Around the Gulf: Emirates Airline is operating a few flights via Dubai, including to North America. Etihad is operating a few flights via Abu Dhabi, but none to North America. Air Canada has cancelled Dubai service for at least another two weeks. Virgin Atlantic claimed it would resume Dubai flights this week, but has now cancelled service through March with the exception of a flight on Monday (March 9). Qatar Airways is operating some repatriation flights to/from Doha, but its regular schedule is still cancelled. Gulf Air (Bahrain) and Kuwait Airlines are not flying. Oman Air is flying via Muscat.
3/5/26, 11:30PM ET, THURSDAY
ENERGY PRICES ARE SPIKING
Gasoline prices are surging. The AAA says that the average U.S. national price of regular gas today has jumped to $3.25 a gallon. That's up from $2.98 a week ago. The CAA says regular gas in Canada jumped to C$1.41 a liter, up from C$1.30 a week ago. Airlines are suffering, too. The industry trade group says jet fuel spot prices rose to $3.50 a gallon yesterday. That's up from $2.50 last Friday. (For your reference, a Boeing 737-800 holds about 6,900 gallons of fuel.) Crude oil prices are also climbing rapidly. WTI, the US standard, was selling for about $79/barrel at 11am. It closed at $67 on Friday (February 27), the day before the attacks. Brent crude, the global standard, is selling for about $84/bbl. That's up 19% over the last five days.
3/5/26, 11:15PM ET, THURSDAY
HAS STATE FORGOTTEN STRANDED AMERICANS?
To my knowledge, no JoeSentMe members have been stranded in the Middle East. (Some Israel-based members are in the United States, but are comfortably situated with friends and family.) Unfortunately, perhaps hundreds of thousands of other Americans have not been so lucky--and the U.S. government has done little to help them until recent hours.
On Monday, March 2, the U.S. State Department told Americans to leave 14 countries in the region "by commercial means." Of course, most of those nations did not have commercial means to use. And when U.S. nationals called the State Department's Emergency Number (202-501-4444), a recorded message told them that the government had no evacuation plans and could not offer assistance.
It wasn't until yesterday, after intense media coverage, that the State Department changed the message and, more importantly, began organizing bus trips from Israel to the Egyptian border. But unlike other countries--including France, Britain, Italy and Canada--State had yet to organize a single evacuation flight. CNN is now reporting that the first charter evac flight did depart late last evening Eastern time. Several more may have departed so far today, but details are extremely sketchy.
Worse, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt lied about what happened in the few days before the attacks began. She insisted that there were "many signs put out by the State Department" for the affected countries in the days before the war began. That is untrue. On Saturday morning, even as the bombs began to fall, the State Department had only two red-colored Level 4 "do not travel" alerts, one for Iran and one for Iraq. In fact, even now, most of the countries in the region remain coded orange, Level 3, which says "reconsider travel."
3/5/26, 11AM ET, THURSDAY
FLYING? NOT MUCH
Here's the latest on what's flying and what isn't in the Middle East:
El Al has cancelled all flights to and from Israel scheduled to depart through Saturday, 7pm EDT. The airline's first "rescue" flight from Athens landed at Tel Aviv shortly after 8am Eastern time. Smaller Israel-based carriers Arkia and Israir are also running or planning rescue flights.
Emirates is operating a skeletal schedule. It shows flights to eight U.S., Canadian and Mexican destinations. All are nonstops to Dubai, except for Newark, which operates via Athens. Emirates says flyers with prior and existing reservations have priority. With U.A.E. airspace now open on a limited basis, Etihad says a "number of repositioning, cargo and repatriation flights are operating" to Abu Dhabi. Some commercial flights will begin this evening. The only U.S. flight on the schedule is New York/Kennedy-Abu Dhabi.
Gulf Air, the Bahrain-based carrier, says flights are cancelled until at least midnight tonight.
Qatar Airways today began operating "relief" flights, but there is no traditional flight service.
3/5/26, 10AM ET, THURSDAY
WHAT PASSES FOR "NORMAL" OPERATIONS
Egyptair, Turkish and Saudia are largely running complete schedules with the exception of obvious regional flights. Oman Air, the Muscat-based airline, is running most of its flights, but regional service is cancelled through Sunday local time. The carrier has added some flights from Muscat to Delhi and Mumbai, which would help Indian nationals hoping to get home after making a land crossing from the UAE or even Qatar. European and Asian airlines may be running rescue flights, but scheduled service to/from the region is cancelled. U.S. and Canadian carriers have stopped their flights for the duration.
3/2/26, 1:45PM ET, MONDAY
ANOTHER DAY OF NOTHING
An update on Middle East travel events? Not much has changed because not much is moving.
El Al says all flights are cancelled until at least 7pm ET tomorrow. Israeli airspace is closed. The carrier previously said there'd be no new ticket sales until at least March 21. Emirates Airline says all flights are cancelled until at least 6am ET tomorrow. Etihad, based in Abu Dhabi, has also cancelled all flights. UAE airspace is closed. Qatar Airways says all its flights are cancelled until at least 1am ET tomorrow. Qatari airspace is closed. Gulf Air, based in Bahrain, has cancelled all flights. So has Kuwait Airways. Airspace over both nations is closed. As you probably know, three U.S. military jets were downed by friendly fire over Kuwaiti airspace. U.S., Canadian and most European carriers have cancelled their services into the region.
What's open? Jordanian airspace does seem to be open and Royal Jordanian is flying about half its schedule today. RJ flights to Chicago and Montreal are literally in the air. Egyptair is operating, as is Saudi Arabian Airlines. Turkish Airlines is the largest carrier in the region currently running a mostly normal schedule.
If you're watching, more than 3,200 flights around the globe were cancelled yesterday. Almost all were related to Middle East markets.
Meanwhile, key oil futures have risen sharply in today's trading. West Texas International, the U.S. standard, has topped $70/barrel for the first time in months. Brent crude, the global standard, has topped $77/barrel. Both of those represent increases of at least 5%. Natural gas (Qatar is a major supplier) is up more than 3%. Heating oil is up around 10%. Energy producers around the Middle East have been shutting down facilities as Iran has targeted them with drone and missile attacks. Existing stocks may have difficulty moving since Lloyds, the primary insurer of oil tankers, has stopped issuing war-related marine coverage.
3/1/26, 10:30PM ET, SUNDAY
EARLY WARNINGS ON THE ENERGY FRONT
The "war" (or whatever you want to call it) in the Middle East is expanding as Lebanon and Israel are lobbing ordinance at each other. But from the travel angle, nothing has changed: Everything remains locked down. The region has now gone two days without commercial flights and the two mega-hubs, Dubai and Doha, remain shuttered. But watch this: Oil futures are surging in early trading on Asian markets on Monday and that augers poorly for European and US markets. It won't take much to drive fares up and run up prices at the pump, that's for sure.
3/1/26, 9:30AM ET, SUNDAY
ANOTHER DAY OF GROUNDING
The news in brief: Nothing is flying--and nothing will be flying for many hours and days ahead.
It goes without saying that U.S., Canadian and European airlines have dumped their flights to places such as Tel Aviv, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha for the foreseeable future. They're not going to put blood (flight crews and passengers) or treasure (expensive aircraft) at risk while missiles and drones are still flying. And as you see by tuning into any of the news networks, Iran has mounted a retaliation that is perhaps more robust than what U.S. and Israeli officials expected.
Now onto the crucial carriers in the region:
EL AL: If you or your relations are stranded in Israel or are trying to get back there, the news is not good. El Al has suspended ticket sales through March 21. When the carrier begins flying again, it will focus on "rescue" flights to return passengers back to Israel. When even that rescue schedule can begin is hard to know. Israeli airspace is still closed and El Al says all flights are cancelled until at least 7pm ET on Monday, March 2.
EMIRATES AIRLINE: Emirates Airline has cancelled all operations and flights until at least 6am ET tomorrow morning. Airspace of the United Arab Emirates is closed at this moment.
QATAR AIRWAYS: Qatari airspace also is still closed. That means nothing is moving at Doha, hub of Qatar Airways. The airline says it won't have more news before 1am ET Eastern time.
TALE OF THE TAPE: The number I keep hearing is that about 250,000 travelers a day depart from, arrive at or transit the Middle East's key hubs. That may or may not be accurate, but tens of thousands of travelers are sheltering at the airports. That's never good, but, worse, Iran has been attacking airports with missiles and drones. (See below). Meanwhile, FlightAware says that 2,758 flights were cancelled worldwide on Saturday. That includes 87% of Emirates flights, 50% of Qatar Airways' schedule, 69% of Etihad Airways flights, half of El Al's schedule and 78% of the flights of Gulf Air of Bahrain. Today is, naturally, even more severe: Nearly 2,600 flights have already been dumped worldwide. An Australian source, Analytic Flying, says at least 29 aircraft from Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways are grounded in Australia.
ATTACKS ON TRAVEL INFRASTRUCTURE: With limited military resources, Iran is responding by hitting civilian infrastructure, including hotels and airports. In Dubai, Iran hit the Fairmont Palm and the Burj al Arab hotels. Iran also attacked at least four Gulf airports: Kuwait International (KWI); Dubai International (DXB) and Abu Dhabi Zayed International (AUH) in the UAE; and Bahrain International. Damage has been minimal, but at least one person was killed in Abu Dhabi and four injured in Dubai.
2/28/26, 4PM ET, SATURDAY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: NOTHING'S MOVING
An update on the situation in the Middle East? Executive summary: There's no travel. And there's not likely to be any travel until we know more about the military situation and the length of the hostilities. Let me go through it for you based on your possible travel patterns.
ISRAEL: Israeli airspace is closed indefinitely. That means no flights into or out of the country. El Al and other Israeli carriers have suspended their flights at least through tomorrow (March 1) local time. Obviously, no U.S., Canadian or European carrier can operate to Tel Aviv.
QATAR: Qatar Airways has stopped all flights due to the closure of Qatari airspace. The next decision point seems to be 7PM Eastern tonight.
UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC: Emirates Airline has grounded all flights and all service to/from both Dubai airports is cancelled. The next decision point seems to be 6AM Eastern tomorrow.
WHAT'S OPEN?: The airspace of Egypt and Turkey is open and many aircraft are flying through there. The only Gulf airport that seems to be operating is Muscat (MCT), Oman. An example of how aircraft now must operate: Air India Flight 186 from Vienna to Delhi. It's running nearly four hours late because of the routing it has taken. After leaving Vienna, it swung south over Greece and then into the Mediterranean. Then it flew over Cairo and through Saudi Arabia, bypassed Dubai and headed over the Arabian Sea toward Delhi. Needless to say, avoiding so much contested airspace is no easy vector.
AIRLINES: Here is what some airlines are saying about their schedules in the coming days:
United Airlines is offering travel waivers for Tel Aviv and Dubai flights through March 5.
Delta Air Lines is offering travel waivers for Tel Aviv through at least March 12.
Lufthansa is suspending flights to Tel Aviv, Beirut, Amman, Erbil, and Tehran until March 7.
British Airways is offering travel waivers for Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Tel Aviv through March 6.
NOTED: Iran has responded to the Israeli and U.S. strikes by hitting out at U.S airbases in the region and civilian targets in Israel. It also hit civilian targets in the UAE, including at least one hotel in Dubai. It also launched a drone attack on a passenger terminal at Kuwait International (KWE) Airport.
2/28/26, 8:15AM ET, SATURDAY
TRAVEL RATTLED BY U.S./ISRAEL ATTACK ON IRAN
As you wake, you are hearing that the United States and Israel have attacked Iran in the early hours of this morning Eastern Time. Iran has retaliated by hitting U.S. military facilities in the Middle East and directly hitting Israel with missiles and drones.
We're definitely in the "fog of war" stage, so I won't speculate on the military part of this. Be aware, however, that much of what you hear in the early hours of this conflict will turn out to be incorrect.
However, keep the following items in mind as you consider your travel in the coming days (and, perhaps) weeks:
There are shelter-in-place orders around the region. If you're in the Middle East now, assume you're a target of one or both sides. Whether that is from direct attack or collateral action, the danger is the danger. Your body can't tell the difference.
Regional air travel is halted, including most connecting traffic at the mega-hubs in Dubai and Doha. Israeli and Iranian airspaces are officially closed. Flight maps show the airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel and Bahrain is virtually empty. North American carriers will not operate today to most Middle East destinations. And while UAE and Qatari officials will try to keep their airports running, it is a tricky and dangerous calculous. Flights are running there, but at a severely reduced level. Unless you're leaving the region, avoid all travel for the short term. (Ironically, KLM announced this week that it would suspend Tel Aviv service effective tomorrow because flights between Amsterdam and TLV were no longer financially or operationally rational.)
Traveling in Europe and Africa? Consider the reality: Iran may respond asymmetrically. It can't go head-to-head militarily with Israel and the United States, but Iran maintains a well-known global proxy network. It could hit anywhere in Europe and Africa with targeted terror strikes. Avoid public gatherings, stay away from train and rail stations, skip major tourism destinations and assume you are a potential target anywhere.
Defer future travel decisions that involve the Middle East or transiting the region. We don't know how long the immediate military actions will last.
Expect a short-term oil shock. That will mean almost immediate price increases at the pump and higher heating-oil and natural-gas rates. Air prices may surge, too.
Expect delays elsewhere. The Middle East corridor is absolutely vital for East-West flying. If carriers need to divert around the region in the medium-term, they may need to cancel their longest-haul flights and add flying time to other routes.
This is not happening in a vacuum. Although it has gotten almost no coverage in the United States or Canada, Pakistan and Afghanistan are essentially already at war. There have been vicious border clashes all week. And remember: This is a multi-sided affair. The Arab states are no friends of Israel, of course, but most also despise Iran. The conflict could unfold in any number of ways, none of them good for us as travelers.
3/31/26, 11AM ET, TUESDAY
GAS CRASHES THROUGH THE $4-A-GALLON BARRIER
Both the AAA and the experts at GasBuddy say the nationwide average price of a regular gallon of gasoline has leapt past the $4-a-gallon mark. That's the highest price since 2022. In fact, AAA pegged the price at nearly $4.02 this morning. Worse, there is no end in sight for the price increases given the standoff in the Iran situation. Since hostilities began on February 28, the price at the pump has risen more than a buck a gallon. Diesel fuel is now more than $5 a gallon, which means the cost of pretty much everything moved by truck--food, clothing, you name it--will rise. Watch the inflation rate in the weeks ahead.
3/31/26, 10AM ET, TUESDAY
AIR CANADA CEO CASSER SA PIPE
I alerted you Sunday to the serious storm brewing in Canada after Air Canada chief executive Michael Rousseau recorded a condolence video only in English after the AC Flight 8646 catastrophe at New York/LaGuardia. The airline says he has now decided to "retire" as soon as a new CEO is found. In plain English, Rousseau took the pipe yesterday. In plain French, he casser sa pipe. And lest you think this is a trivial matter, consider: 1) Canada is officially a bilingual country. 2) Air Canada is based in Montreal, the capital of French-speaking Canada. 3) Flight 8646 originated at Montreal/Trudeau International. 4) Rousseau had promised years ago to learn to speak French and it was that promise that cemented his appointment to the top job. 5) Air Canada says it is looking for a new chief executive and one of the job requirements will be the ability to speak both French and English. 6) Oh yeah, there are elections in Quebec in April that will have a bearing on the strength of the sitting Prime Minister Mark Carney's government.
3/29/26, 9PM ET, SUNDAY
THE LATEST ON AIR CANADA FLIGHT 8646
In normal times, last Sunday night's Air Canada incident at New York/LaGuardia would dominate the travel news for weeks. But with so much craziness, it's already out of the headlines. Still, the stories are being written. Here's what you might have missed:
The Tick-Tock The Wall Street Journal put together a minute-by-minute reconstruction of what happened. The Survivors The Associated Press interviewed several passengers who survived the crash between the commuter jet and the fire truck. Another AP story tells the tale of the flight attendant who fell from the plane still strapped into her jump seat. The Ironic Story An NTSB official detailed to investigate the crash was late arriving at LGA because he was caught in mammoth security checkpoint lines in Houston. The Politics of It All Canada's touchy language politics is an issue in this incident. Air Canada chief executive Michael Rousseau recorded an English-only condolence video and that enraged the country's French speakers. (Not to mention that Air Canada is headquartered in Montreal and Flight 8646 originated there.) He was summoned to Ottawa to explain his decision. The video even drew the ire of Prime Minister Mark Carney. Rousseau's explanation? His French is awful.3/29/26, 8PM ET, SUNDAY
AIRLINES CONTINUE TO BAIL ON MIDDLE EAST FLIGHTS
Airlines, especially Western carriers, continue to cancel service into the Middle East. Lufthansa and its allied carriers--Brussels, Swiss and Austrian, ITA and Edelweiss--have taken a cleaver to the schedules. Dubai and Tel Aviv service is cancelled through May 31. Eight other destinations are dumped through October 24: Abu Dhabi, Amman, Beirut, Dammam, Riyadh, Erbil, Muscat and Tehran. Eurowings, the discount carrier operated by Lufthansa, has cancelled its flights to Tel Aviv, Beirut and Erbil through April 30. And Air France, which has cancelled flights only a few days at a time, says flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut are off until April 4.
Meanwhile, OAG, the industry's schedule keepers, offers a deep dive on the changes in airline capacity as Middle East routes are redirected elsewhere. Clearly, some capacity won't be back for quite a while. Example: Qatar Airways has sent 20 of its largest aircraft--Airbus A350s and A380s and Boeing 787s--into storage at Teruel airport in Spain. At the moment, Doha-based Qatar is running only about a quarter of its schedule.
One notable irony? Etihad Airways launched its new route to Charlotte from Abu Dhabi last week on schedule. Charlotte-based airline reporter Ted Reed has the peculiar details of the nearly secret launch.
3/23/26, 2:30PM ET, MONDAY
ONE LAGUARDIA RUNWAY REOPENS
One runway at New York/LaGuardia reopened at 2PM Eastern time. Needless to say, delays are epic, running around four hours. There have been at least 600 cancellations so far today. Logic would dictate that the second runway, the scene of the Air Canada incident late last night, will remain closed for some time. It would be wise to avoid LGA for the rest of the week. The NTSB usually handles informational briefings after accidents, but nothing runs quite to form in the Trump Administration. It has scheduled a 3:15pm ET briefing with DOT Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.
3/23/26, 2PM ET, MONDAY
ICE IS STROLLING AROUND MAJOR AIRPORTS
Based on reporting and eyewitness accounts, ICE agents deployed today at 14 major airports: Atlanta; Chicago/O'Hare; Cleveland; Houston/Hobby and Intercontinental; Newark; New York/LaGuardia and Kennedy; New Orleans; San Juan; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Pittsburgh; and Fort Myers. Marisa Kabas, a one-time political strategist and now a freelance journalist, has created a Bluesky thread so travelers can post airport ICE sightings. With the exception of one (apparently) unrelated incident at SFO, the agents aren't doing much. As I reported earlier today, it seems performative. They are walking around--sometimes coffee and bottled water in hand--essentially showing the metaphoric flag. Kabas' Bluesky post is here. Meanwhile, Tom Homan, the Trump Administration border "czar," has bent over backward in the last 36 hours to assure flyers in specific and citizens in general that ICE agents at the airport are not involved with tasks at security checkpoints. But President Trump apparently has other ideas. ICE agents "love it because they’re able to now arrest illegals as they come into the country. It’s very fertile territory,” he said this morning. TheHill.com has the details.
3/23/26, 12:30AM ET, MONDAY
THE UNHAPPY TSA UPDATE
Here's the latest on the TSA funding gridlock and the worsening lines at many airports around the country:
Multiple reports out of Washington today say that Republicans in Congress told President Trump that they were okay with a deal that would fund all of Homeland Security, including the TSA, except for ICE. Democrats were on board, too. Trump reportedly vetoed the idea and Senate Majority Leader John Thune now says he's "hitting pause" on funding talks.
To their credit, most major airports in the United States are trying harder to keep passengers informed about TSA wait times. Then there's the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the region's airports. It has decided that it can't be bothered. In posts this morning on social media sites, the Port says it has stopped updating flyers, the media or anyone about wait times at LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark airports. A travel journalist named Zach Griff has put together a bot that he hopes will track TSA wait times at major airports around the country. Is it accurate? Hard to tell. But bookmark it and consult as you see fit. If CBS News is to be believed, the TSA agent callout rate hit 11.76% of the workforce on Sunday. That's the highest since the funding shutdown began and almost six times the usual sickout rate. Worst airports for callouts yesterday? New Orleans at 42.3% and Atlanta at 41.5%. It was about 20% at Phoenix, 24% in Philadelphia, 37% at New York/JFK and 39% at Houston/Intercontinental.3/23/26, 11:30AM ET, MONDAY
EL AL SLASHES DEPARTURES FROM TEL AVIV AGAIN
El Al says the government of Israel has limited the carrier to 15 outbound flights per day from Tel Aviv. Each departure is now capped at 50 passengers. The airline says it was running at 20% of capacity, but the new restrictions now limit it to 5% of pre-war service.
3/23/26, 9:30AM ET, MONDAY
AN UNHAPPY ANNIVERSARY AT LAGUARDIA
Ironically, Sunday night's incident came on the 34nd anniversary of USAir Flight 405. It crashed into Flushing Bay on takeoff and killed 27 people. That flight, headed to Cleveland-Hopkins, was operated by a Fokker F28, which was ill-equipped to operate in wintry weather. A little bit of background on the misplaced Fokkers and USAir's poor planning is here.
3/23/26, 9AM ET, MONDAY
TWO CONFIRMED DEAD AT LAGUARDIA AFTER GROUND ACCIDENT
The weather remains dreary and cloudy in New York, but we now can at least see what's happened at LaGuardia late last night into early this morning. The news is not good, of course. Here's what we know:
The pilot and first officer of Air Canada Flight 8646 are dead. There were two flight attendants and 72 passengers aboard. About 40 people were initially hospitalized. As many as a dozen may still be hospitalized as of 8AM ET. The aircraft in question, a CRJ-900 operated by AC's Jazz commuter division, was cleared to land on Runway 4. But a fire truck also had been cleared to cross the runway to reach a United Airlines flight that had an aborted takeoff. The incident happened around 11:30pm ET. Weather conditions were poor and there was more activity than normal at that time due to weather-related delays. In fact, Flight 8646 from Montreal would normally arrive around 9:30PM ET. Although these details are always subject to change, it seems the aircraft essentially T-boned the fire truck at speeds around 100 miles per hour. It would explain why the nose of the aircraft, where the cockpit is located, was effectively sheared off and destroyed. NBC News in New York is reporting that one flight attendant was thrown from the aircraft still strapped into her jump seat. She was rescued. If true, it means only one flight attendant remained on board to supervise the evacuation of the 72 passengers. The ground controller supervising events last night is heard on tape admitting "I messed up." He did desperately try to stop the fire truck as it was crossing the runway, but it was too late. The issue in the hours and days ahead is the staffing levels at LGA, part of the busiest and most complex airspace in the nation. On a normal evening, traffic would be very light at that hour as LGA has a soft overnight curfew. But, as mentioned, weather conditions were bad last night and flights were departing and arriving at later hours than usual. LaGuardia is closed and has been closed since minutes after the incident. The FAA has listed LGA as closed until at least 2PM ET today. FlightAware.com is reporting that nearly 600 flights to/from the airport have already been cancelled today. Best advice: Avoid LGA today and tomorrow.3/23/26, 8AM ET, MONDAY
THE ICEMEN COMETH
Although details are sketchy, it does look as if ICE agents have been deployed to about a dozen airports nationwide. Early reporting confirms what Tom Homan, the Trump Administration's border "czar," said yesterday: ICE can't and won't be involved with security checkpoint functions. To be honest, the ICE presence seems performative, as if Homan had no choice but to send agents to airports since Trump announced it. They are unmasked and basically just strolling around. It seems much like a National Guard presence at airports and other transit hubs when they have been deployed in the past.
3/23/26, 1AM ET, MONDAY
SOMETHING BAD HAS HAPPENED AT NEW YORK/LAGUARDIA
There's a developing situation at New York's LaGuardia Airport. After a brief ground stop, the FAA closed the airport just before midnight Sunday and, at the moment, the closure is listed to last until 2PM Eastern time Monday. The FAA offers no other details on its National Airspace System Status page. According to some reports, an Air Canada Jazz CRJ-900 commuter jet arriving from Montreal, operating as Flight 8646, struck or was struck by a ground vehicle on Runway 04. Unverified photos from LGA show an AC aircraft tipped on its tail with heavy damage on the nose and the front fuselage. At this time, there are no reliable reports of injuries or death. Emergency vehicles are on the scene. It's hard to know exactly what's happening because it is dark and the weather in the New York area has been foggy with periods of heavy rain. It could be hours before trustworthy information emerges. Also worth considering: If your travel on Monday includes flights to or from LaGuardia, consider altering your plans. If we are in a worst-case scenario, the airport really could be closed until 2PM ET.
3/22/26, 7PM ET, SUNDAY
HERE COME THE FLIGHT CUTS DUE TO SOARING FUEL PRICES
Here's what we know: Brent crude, the global standard, is selling for about $110 a barrel, up 80% in the last three months. WTI, the U.S. standard, is selling at just under $100 a barrel, up from around $60 a barrel in January. Jet fuel? Selling for $4.56 a gallon, up from $2.50 on the day before Iran hostilities erupted on February 28. That's not only unsustainable, but it also outstrips the airlines' ability to offset the added cost with fare increases. The solution? Cutting some flights that are suddenly unprofitable. United Airlines said on Friday that it would cut capacity by at least 5% in the weeks ahead. Some will come from what the carrier expects to be federally mandated flight reductions at overscheduled Chicago's O'Hare Airport. More cuts will come from cancelled capacity that would have flown to Tel Aviv and Dubai. The rest will be spread around the network. Meanwhile, SAS Scandinavian says it will dump 1,000 scheduled flights in April. And on the other side of the world, Air New Zealand is weighing an even larger retrenchment after cutting about 1,100 flights through early May. A route at risk? ANZ's thrice-weekly nonstops between New York/Kennedy and Auckland. Ultra-long-haul runs are especially vulnerable because aircraft used on these nonstops burn large amounts of fuel just to transport the fuel needed to make the long distances. And if airlines do keep those long hauls running, severe price hikes are inevitable. Case in point: Cathay Pacific. It hiked fuel charges by 100% or more on all its flights. On itineraries from Hong Kong to the United States, that represents a $300 fare increase.
3/22/26, 6PM ET, SUNDAY
FRIDAY IS A NIGHTMARE DAY FOR THE TSA SHUTDOWN
Mark Friday, March 27, on your calendar of existential travel doom. That's the day the nation's 50,000 TSA checkpoint agents will miss their second full paycheck. Since the partial Homeland Security shutdown began on February 14, the agents have received only one check and that covered only about 30% of their work. Friday is also when Congress is scheduled to begin a two-week Easter/Passover recess. And since Republicans and Democrats are talking past each other, the crisis may extend at least another three weeks. Inevitable conclusion: More agents will quit for other gigs, much higher callout rates by other agents--and longer and longer airport security lines. They're already stretching to two hours or longer at airports in Houston and Atlanta. Lines also are growing elsewhere as they begin to close security lanes due to insufficient staffing. Do travelers have any recourse? Not really, but here are some tips:
Make sure your Known Traveler Number, passport info and PreCheck credentials are in order in your profile at each airline you'll use in the weeks ahead. Opt in to TSA Touchless ID, the agency's newish name for its facial-recognition technology. It's already in use at dozens of airports. The opt-in process is often as simple as ticking a checkbox in your profile with your preferred carrier. Download your airport's app and check its TSA wait times carefully. Most airports seem to be updating wait times more frequently in recent days. Try to use one of the 20 airports that have privatized security checkpoints. San Francisco (SFO); Orlando/Sanford (SFB) and Sarasota (SRQ) in Florida; Kansas City (MCI); and Rochester (ROC), New York. Contract security agents there are being paid and wait times are normal. Fly nonstop whenever possible, or, if you must connect, try to do it at an airport that doesn't require a terminal change and a second trip through security.3/17/26, 11PM ET, TUESDAY
A BONUS TACTICAL TRAVELER BECAUSE ... YOU KNOW
The bonus briefing in brief: Callouts at the TSA are rising and airports are beginning to close security checkpoints. Eight Gulf airports, only 750 flight miles apart, are the Strait of Hormuz in the sky. Who's flying--and who's not--in the Middle East. Why has the United States been so slow with evacuations? Terrible storms lead to two awful days in the U.S. skies. And much more. Surf here to read.
3/16/26, 7:45AM ET, MONDAY
TODAY'S A CONTENDER FOR: WORST. TRAVEL. DAY. EVER.
Before JoeSentMe ends its run, I'll send an URGENT! E-mail with the headline "Today was a great day to travel." Sadly, today is not that day. In fact, today is a contender for "Worst. Travel. Day. Ever."
WEATHER WOES
Where shall we start? Look out a window. Most every place in the United States and Canada has been hit with awful weather: Rain, snow, high winds, far-too-high temperatures and possible tornadoes. The result? A blizzard of woe. As of 7am ET, there have been more than 4,400 cancellations nationwide and more than 10,500 delays. That's ugly stuff. Southwest has dumped about 500 flights. Delta and its main commuter carrier (Endeavor) have cancelled nearly 900 flights so far. American and its commuters (PSA, Piedmont and Envoy) have dumped nearly 1,200 flights. Cancellations at United and its captive commuters are only comparatively lower: 300. SkyWest, which flies for all the majors, has cancelled nearly 300. Worst major airports so far today? New York/LGA (36% cancelled); Washington/DCA (32%); Charlotte (23%); and New York/JFK, Boston/Logan and Philadelphia (20% each). Delays have been the problem at Atlanta (half the schedule delayed); Chicago/O'Hare (45%) and Houston/IAH (44%). Other key airports aren't far behind. And, folks, the day's not over.
MIDDLE EAST TURMOIL
The day started (Middle East time) with an Iranian drone attack on fuel facilities near Dubai (DXB). That forced the airport to close. Incoming flights were rerouted elsewhere or, in the case of Emirates Flight 172, turned back to Dublin, its departure airport. It was flying over Egypt when it turned around, meaning an 11-hour flight to nowhere. The airport is open again, but remember what I said yesterday: The Middle East is not safe now whether you're trying to fly into the region or use the mega-hubs (Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi) for connections. Meanwhile, El Al has cancelled its scheduled service until at least March 28. At the moment, it is running at 20% of capacity.
ENERGY PRICES
Brent crude, the world standard, opened at $101/barrel today after closing at $100/barrel yesterday. WTI, the U.S. crude standard, is selling at about $95. AAA says today's national average for regular gasoline was $3.718. The CAA says today's price in Canada was C$1.64 a liter, up from $1.27 last month. Jet fuel on U.S. spot markets today is $3.78/gallon, down slightly from the $3.95 it reached on March 6.
3/15/26, 3PM ET, SUNDAY
Q&A: TRAVEL AND WAR
How this Iran thing will play out is far above my pay grade, so let's concentrate on what we can assess. What follows are mostly answers to travel questions you've put to me in recent days. The questions are all terrific. The value of my answers? Your call. Read it here.
3/14/26, 11PM ET, SATURDAY
TSA: NOBODY'S RIGHT WHEN EVERYBODY'S WRONG
I hate this. You hate this. TSA agents who aren't getting paid hate this. The airlines hate this--although they are careful not to squawk too much lest we recall that we are shouldering the burden of security work that the carriers themselves should be doing. And one month into the TSA shutdown, things will get worse before they get better. Read it here.
3/11/26, 9AM ET, WEDNESDAY
ENERGY PRICES GO BERSERK
There is some good news amidst the dreary dispatches here, so let's start there.
GLOBAL ENTRY REOPENS
Homeland Security confirmed last evening that it would reopen Global Entry kiosks effective at 5am today. The good news: I've been able to confirm that they are up and running at East Coast airports where the first banks of international flights are arriving. Ironically, Global Entry kiosks at overseas-based preclearance facilities--think Canada, Dublin, etc.--reopened almost immediately after DHS announced the initial closure nearly three weeks ago. It was part of the bizarre decision-making that Homeland Security has pursued. After all, Global Entry is almost totally automated and processes far more arrivals-per-available-agent than any other customs-based operation.
AMERICAN AIRLINES
To call American the least enthusiastic U.S. carrier about Middle East flying is to suggest that these are unhappy times. So it won't shock you to know that AA says its New York/JFK-Tel Aviv flights now are cancelled until at least April 23 and its Philadelphia-Doha flights won't resume until May 7.
AIRFARES RISING
It's a lot more nuanced than just announced fare increases, of course, and we'll talk more about this in the days ahead. But if you're tracking fares based on announced prices, consider: Air New Zealand has increased fares by NZ$10 (about US$6) on domestic flights, NZ$20 on short-haul international flights and NZ$90 on long-haul international runs to places like the United States. Qantas has moved fares up by about 5%. SAS Scandinavian and Air India have increased fares, too.
ENERGY PRICES
Oil and natural gas (think Qatar) production is down and now comes word that the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint located between Iran and the UAE, is effectively closed. That again has rattled the global oil market. Trading in Brent crude, the world standard, is back over $90 a barrel. WTI, the U.S. standard, is now trading above $86/barrel again. Gas prices continue their relentless rise. The AAA says that the average price of regular gasoline at the pump this morning is $3.58. That's 60 cents a gallon more than February 28, when the conflict started. Jet fuel on the spot market fell below $3.50 a gallon yesterday, according to A4A, the U.S. airline trade group. It reached $3.95 on Friday.
3/9/26, 1PM ET, MONDAY
ENERGY PRICES GO BERSERK
If you want the cynic's eye view of events, consider the comments this morning of one Iran observer: After ten days of hitting the Islamic Republic, we've succeeded in replacing an 86-year-old dictator with a 56-year-old one. But that's war stuff and the fog is only getting thicker, so let's concentrate instead on the travel end of this.
FLIGHT SERVICE
Bahrain: Airspace essentially closed. Gulf Air running some repatriation flights, but no commercial service. Kuwait: Airspace closed. Israel: Airspace is open on a limited basis. Two narrowbody departures per hour are permitted from Ben Gurion (TLV). El Al, Israir and Arkia are running repatriation flights. El Al says all commercial flights are cancelled until March 14. Qatar: Airspace open for repatriation flights. No timeline for return of commercial service. United Arab Emirates: Airspace is open for limited commercial service. Emirates Airline says there are flights from Dubai International (DXB) to Chicago, DFW, JFK, San Francisco and Toronto. Etihad is operating limited service from Abu Dhabi to Boston, Chicago, JFK and Washington/Dulles.ENERGY PRICES
AAA says the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline today is $3.48, up from $2.98 on Saturday morning, February 28, when the conflict began. A4A, the U.S. airline trade group, says jet fuel on the spot market on Friday (March 6) was $3.88/gallon, up from $2.50 on February 27. Crude oil on world markets surged past $100/barrel yesterday evening. Brent crude, the global standard, was exactly $100 at 12:30pm today, but it has been bouncing wildly between $95-$110. WTI, the U.S. standard, was selling for $95. It has been four years since crude of any kind sold as high as $100/barrel.TSA WAIT TIMES
Things are not improving today at TSA checkpoints. Worst airports: Houston (IAH and HOU), New Orleans, Charlotte, Phoenix and Atlanta. Some of this is undoubtedly passenger volume (2,781,523 people passed through TSA checkpoints yesterday, the highest one-day total since January 4.) One tip: Download the MyTSA app (https://www.tsa.gov/mobile). It's the only place with real-time reports on airport-specific wait times. My experience is the quoted wait times are broadly accurate.
3/7/26, 8:30PM ET, SATURDAY
ASYMMETRY AND TRAVEL SAFETY
We now live and travel in this asymmetrical world. No place is safe. No one is immune. If you want to keep traveling, especially internationally, you'll have to adjust to the new realities. And understand that it's not the act of travel that puts you at risk. It's lack of planning, bad decision-making and erroneous assumptions that make you a target. Read all about it here.
3/6/26, 7:30PM ET, FRIDAY
AIRFARES WILL RISE QUICKLY, TOO …
For better or worse, airlines have largely abandoned fuel hedging. That means you should expect airfares to rise as jet fuel prices rise. Fares are already jumping on flights between Europe and Asia, partly because of lack of seats and partially because airlines are already pricing in higher fuel prices. Domestically? One airline executive told me today that his carrier will raise fares "soon" because he doesn't expect fuel prices to fall as fast as they are rising. Adding to the confusion? No one knows when the attacks will end, how long energy production will remain slowed and how long Iran can pressure choke-points such as the Straits of Hormuz. So buckle up for price increases.
3/6/26, 7PM ET, FRIDAY
ENERGY PRICES GO BERSERK
The market forces that control energy prices do not like what they see. And they expect it to get much worse.
The AAA says the price of regular gallon gasoline started the day at $3.32. That's 34 cents above last Friday. And the trendline is spiking. Patrick DeHaan of GasBuddy says prices reached $3.39 by the end of the day and he expects another 15-25-cent increase in the next few days. The AAA says the year-ago average gas price was $3.11 a gallon. WTI Crude, the U.S. oil standard, closed at $91.36/barrel compared to $67 last Friday. Brent Crude, the global oil standard, closed at $92.69, up 27% over the last five days. Jet fuel on the spot market jumped to $3.95 yesterday, according to A4A, the domestic airline trade group. It was $2.50 last Friday. As I mentioned yesterday, a Boeing 737-800 holds about 6,900 gallons of fuel.3/6/26, 6PM ET, FRIDAY
THE STATE OF MIDDLE EAST FLYING
Tel Aviv: El Al is operating rescue and repatriation flights, but scheduled service is off at least through the weekend. It looks as if the Star Alliance airlines--think United and the Lufthansa Group of carriers--have cancelled service for at least two more weeks. Air Canada, however, says its Toronto-Tel Aviv run won't operate before May. Delta Air Lines service is off for at least the same amount of time. Air France won't fly to Tel Aviv before March 12. (Sister airline KLM previously planned to drop flying on March 1.) BA has no scheduled flights, either.
Around the Gulf: Emirates Airline is operating a few flights via Dubai, including to North America. Etihad is operating a few flights via Abu Dhabi, but none to North America. Air Canada has cancelled Dubai service for at least another two weeks. Virgin Atlantic claimed it would resume Dubai flights this week, but has now cancelled service through March with the exception of a flight on Monday (March 9). Qatar Airways is operating some repatriation flights to/from Doha, but its regular schedule is still cancelled. Gulf Air (Bahrain) and Kuwait Airlines are not flying. Oman Air is flying via Muscat.
3/5/26, 11:30PM ET, THURSDAY
ENERGY PRICES ARE SPIKING
Gasoline prices are surging. The AAA says that the average U.S. national price of regular gas today has jumped to $3.25 a gallon. That's up from $2.98 a week ago. The CAA says regular gas in Canada jumped to C$1.41 a liter, up from C$1.30 a week ago. Airlines are suffering, too. The industry trade group says jet fuel spot prices rose to $3.50 a gallon yesterday. That's up from $2.50 last Friday. (For your reference, a Boeing 737-800 holds about 6,900 gallons of fuel.) Crude oil prices are also climbing rapidly. WTI, the US standard, was selling for about $79/barrel at 11am. It closed at $67 on Friday (February 27), the day before the attacks. Brent crude, the global standard, is selling for about $84/bbl. That's up 19% over the last five days.
3/5/26, 11:15PM ET, THURSDAY
HAS STATE FORGOTTEN STRANDED AMERICANS?
To my knowledge, no JoeSentMe members have been stranded in the Middle East. (Some Israel-based members are in the United States, but are comfortably situated with friends and family.) Unfortunately, perhaps hundreds of thousands of other Americans have not been so lucky--and the U.S. government has done little to help them until recent hours.
On Monday, March 2, the U.S. State Department told Americans to leave 14 countries in the region "by commercial means." Of course, most of those nations did not have commercial means to use. And when U.S. nationals called the State Department's Emergency Number (202-501-4444), a recorded message told them that the government had no evacuation plans and could not offer assistance.
It wasn't until yesterday, after intense media coverage, that the State Department changed the message and, more importantly, began organizing bus trips from Israel to the Egyptian border. But unlike other countries--including France, Britain, Italy and Canada--State had yet to organize a single evacuation flight. CNN is now reporting that the first charter evac flight did depart late last evening Eastern time. Several more may have departed so far today, but details are extremely sketchy.
Worse, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt lied about what happened in the few days before the attacks began. She insisted that there were "many signs put out by the State Department" for the affected countries in the days before the war began. That is untrue. On Saturday morning, even as the bombs began to fall, the State Department had only two red-colored Level 4 "do not travel" alerts, one for Iran and one for Iraq. In fact, even now, most of the countries in the region remain coded orange, Level 3, which says "reconsider travel."
3/5/26, 11AM ET, THURSDAY
FLYING? NOT MUCH
Here's the latest on what's flying and what isn't in the Middle East:
El Al has cancelled all flights to and from Israel scheduled to depart through Saturday, 7pm EDT. The airline's first "rescue" flight from Athens landed at Tel Aviv shortly after 8am Eastern time. Smaller Israel-based carriers Arkia and Israir are also running or planning rescue flights. Emirates is operating a skeletal schedule. It shows flights to eight U.S., Canadian and Mexican destinations. All are nonstops to Dubai, except for Newark, which operates via Athens. Emirates says flyers with prior and existing reservations have priority. With U.A.E. airspace now open on a limited basis, Etihad says a "number of repositioning, cargo and repatriation flights are operating" to Abu Dhabi. Some commercial flights will begin this evening. The only U.S. flight on the schedule is New York/Kennedy-Abu Dhabi. Gulf Air, the Bahrain-based carrier, says flights are cancelled until at least midnight tonight. Qatar Airways today began operating "relief" flights, but there is no traditional flight service.3/5/26, 10AM ET, THURSDAY
WHAT PASSES FOR "NORMAL" OPERATIONS
Egyptair, Turkish and Saudia are largely running complete schedules with the exception of obvious regional flights. Oman Air, the Muscat-based airline, is running most of its flights, but regional service is cancelled through Sunday local time. The carrier has added some flights from Muscat to Delhi and Mumbai, which would help Indian nationals hoping to get home after making a land crossing from the UAE or even Qatar. European and Asian airlines may be running rescue flights, but scheduled service to/from the region is cancelled. U.S. and Canadian carriers have stopped their flights for the duration.
3/2/26, 1:45PM ET, MONDAY
ANOTHER DAY OF NOTHING
An update on Middle East travel events? Not much has changed because not much is moving.
El Al says all flights are cancelled until at least 7pm ET tomorrow. Israeli airspace is closed. The carrier previously said there'd be no new ticket sales until at least March 21. Emirates Airline says all flights are cancelled until at least 6am ET tomorrow. Etihad, based in Abu Dhabi, has also cancelled all flights. UAE airspace is closed. Qatar Airways says all its flights are cancelled until at least 1am ET tomorrow. Qatari airspace is closed. Gulf Air, based in Bahrain, has cancelled all flights. So has Kuwait Airways. Airspace over both nations is closed. As you probably know, three U.S. military jets were downed by friendly fire over Kuwaiti airspace. U.S., Canadian and most European carriers have cancelled their services into the region.
What's open? Jordanian airspace does seem to be open and Royal Jordanian is flying about half its schedule today. RJ flights to Chicago and Montreal are literally in the air. Egyptair is operating, as is Saudi Arabian Airlines. Turkish Airlines is the largest carrier in the region currently running a mostly normal schedule.
If you're watching, more than 3,200 flights around the globe were cancelled yesterday. Almost all were related to Middle East markets.
Meanwhile, key oil futures have risen sharply in today's trading. West Texas International, the U.S. standard, has topped $70/barrel for the first time in months. Brent crude, the global standard, has topped $77/barrel. Both of those represent increases of at least 5%. Natural gas (Qatar is a major supplier) is up more than 3%. Heating oil is up around 10%. Energy producers around the Middle East have been shutting down facilities as Iran has targeted them with drone and missile attacks. Existing stocks may have difficulty moving since Lloyds, the primary insurer of oil tankers, has stopped issuing war-related marine coverage.
3/1/26, 10:30PM ET, SUNDAY
EARLY WARNINGS ON THE ENERGY FRONT
The "war" (or whatever you want to call it) in the Middle East is expanding as Lebanon and Israel are lobbing ordinance at each other. But from the travel angle, nothing has changed: Everything remains locked down. The region has now gone two days without commercial flights and the two mega-hubs, Dubai and Doha, remain shuttered. But watch this: Oil futures are surging in early trading on Asian markets on Monday and that augers poorly for European and US markets. It won't take much to drive fares up and run up prices at the pump, that's for sure.
3/1/26, 9:30AM ET, SUNDAY
ANOTHER DAY OF GROUNDING
The news in brief: Nothing is flying--and nothing will be flying for many hours and days ahead.
It goes without saying that U.S., Canadian and European airlines have dumped their flights to places such as Tel Aviv, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha for the foreseeable future. They're not going to put blood (flight crews and passengers) or treasure (expensive aircraft) at risk while missiles and drones are still flying. And as you see by tuning into any of the news networks, Iran has mounted a retaliation that is perhaps more robust than what U.S. and Israeli officials expected.
Now onto the crucial carriers in the region:
EL AL: If you or your relations are stranded in Israel or are trying to get back there, the news is not good. El Al has suspended ticket sales through March 21. When the carrier begins flying again, it will focus on "rescue" flights to return passengers back to Israel. When even that rescue schedule can begin is hard to know. Israeli airspace is still closed and El Al says all flights are cancelled until at least 7pm ET on Monday, March 2.
EMIRATES AIRLINE: Emirates Airline has cancelled all operations and flights until at least 6am ET tomorrow morning. Airspace of the United Arab Emirates is closed at this moment.
QATAR AIRWAYS: Qatari airspace also is still closed. That means nothing is moving at Doha, hub of Qatar Airways. The airline says it won't have more news before 1am ET Eastern time.
TALE OF THE TAPE: The number I keep hearing is that about 250,000 travelers a day depart from, arrive at or transit the Middle East's key hubs. That may or may not be accurate, but tens of thousands of travelers are sheltering at the airports. That's never good, but, worse, Iran has been attacking airports with missiles and drones. (See below). Meanwhile, FlightAware says that 2,758 flights were cancelled worldwide on Saturday. That includes 87% of Emirates flights, 50% of Qatar Airways' schedule, 69% of Etihad Airways flights, half of El Al's schedule and 78% of the flights of Gulf Air of Bahrain. Today is, naturally, even more severe: Nearly 2,600 flights have already been dumped worldwide. An Australian source, Analytic Flying, says at least 29 aircraft from Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways are grounded in Australia.
ATTACKS ON TRAVEL INFRASTRUCTURE: With limited military resources, Iran is responding by hitting civilian infrastructure, including hotels and airports. In Dubai, Iran hit the Fairmont Palm and the Burj al Arab hotels. Iran also attacked at least four Gulf airports: Kuwait International (KWI); Dubai International (DXB) and Abu Dhabi Zayed International (AUH) in the UAE; and Bahrain International. Damage has been minimal, but at least one person was killed in Abu Dhabi and four injured in Dubai.
2/28/26, 4PM ET, SATURDAY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: NOTHING'S MOVING
An update on the situation in the Middle East? Executive summary: There's no travel. And there's not likely to be any travel until we know more about the military situation and the length of the hostilities. Let me go through it for you based on your possible travel patterns.
ISRAEL: Israeli airspace is closed indefinitely. That means no flights into or out of the country. El Al and other Israeli carriers have suspended their flights at least through tomorrow (March 1) local time. Obviously, no U.S., Canadian or European carrier can operate to Tel Aviv.
QATAR: Qatar Airways has stopped all flights due to the closure of Qatari airspace. The next decision point seems to be 7PM Eastern tonight.
UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC: Emirates Airline has grounded all flights and all service to/from both Dubai airports is cancelled. The next decision point seems to be 6AM Eastern tomorrow.
WHAT'S OPEN?: The airspace of Egypt and Turkey is open and many aircraft are flying through there. The only Gulf airport that seems to be operating is Muscat (MCT), Oman. An example of how aircraft now must operate: Air India Flight 186 from Vienna to Delhi. It's running nearly four hours late because of the routing it has taken. After leaving Vienna, it swung south over Greece and then into the Mediterranean. Then it flew over Cairo and through Saudi Arabia, bypassed Dubai and headed over the Arabian Sea toward Delhi. Needless to say, avoiding so much contested airspace is no easy vector.
AIRLINES: Here is what some airlines are saying about their schedules in the coming days:
United Airlines is offering travel waivers for Tel Aviv and Dubai flights through March 5. Delta Air Lines is offering travel waivers for Tel Aviv through at least March 12. Lufthansa is suspending flights to Tel Aviv, Beirut, Amman, Erbil, and Tehran until March 7. British Airways is offering travel waivers for Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Tel Aviv through March 6.NOTED: Iran has responded to the Israeli and U.S. strikes by hitting out at U.S airbases in the region and civilian targets in Israel. It also hit civilian targets in the UAE, including at least one hotel in Dubai. It also launched a drone attack on a passenger terminal at Kuwait International (KWE) Airport.
2/28/26, 8:15AM ET, SATURDAY
TRAVEL RATTLED BY U.S./ISRAEL ATTACK ON IRAN
As you wake, you are hearing that the United States and Israel have attacked Iran in the early hours of this morning Eastern Time. Iran has retaliated by hitting U.S. military facilities in the Middle East and directly hitting Israel with missiles and drones.
We're definitely in the "fog of war" stage, so I won't speculate on the military part of this. Be aware, however, that much of what you hear in the early hours of this conflict will turn out to be incorrect.
However, keep the following items in mind as you consider your travel in the coming days (and, perhaps) weeks:
There are shelter-in-place orders around the region. If you're in the Middle East now, assume you're a target of one or both sides. Whether that is from direct attack or collateral action, the danger is the danger. Your body can't tell the difference. Regional air travel is halted, including most connecting traffic at the mega-hubs in Dubai and Doha. Israeli and Iranian airspaces are officially closed. Flight maps show the airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel and Bahrain is virtually empty. North American carriers will not operate today to most Middle East destinations. And while UAE and Qatari officials will try to keep their airports running, it is a tricky and dangerous calculous. Flights are running there, but at a severely reduced level. Unless you're leaving the region, avoid all travel for the short term. (Ironically, KLM announced this week that it would suspend Tel Aviv service effective tomorrow because flights between Amsterdam and TLV were no longer financially or operationally rational.) Traveling in Europe and Africa? Consider the reality: Iran may respond asymmetrically. It can't go head-to-head militarily with Israel and the United States, but Iran maintains a well-known global proxy network. It could hit anywhere in Europe and Africa with targeted terror strikes. Avoid public gatherings, stay away from train and rail stations, skip major tourism destinations and assume you are a potential target anywhere. Defer future travel decisions that involve the Middle East or transiting the region. We don't know how long the immediate military actions will last. Expect a short-term oil shock. That will mean almost immediate price increases at the pump and higher heating-oil and natural-gas rates. Air prices may surge, too. Expect delays elsewhere. The Middle East corridor is absolutely vital for East-West flying. If carriers need to divert around the region in the medium-term, they may need to cancel their longest-haul flights and add flying time to other routes. This is not happening in a vacuum. Although it has gotten almost no coverage in the United States or Canada, Pakistan and Afghanistan are essentially already at war. There have been vicious border clashes all week. And remember: This is a multi-sided affair. The Arab states are no friends of Israel, of course, but most also despise Iran. The conflict could unfold in any number of ways, none of them good for us as travelers.