Surrounded by friends and family on the island of Phuket, Thailand, Darren Osbourn and Nicola Smith had what can only be described as a dream wedding.
But, five days after trying to return home to London, they are still stranded in Oman, experiencing – as they describe it – an “extended honeymoon in a war zone”.
The newlyweds, along with their two young children, are among scores of Britons trapped in the Middle East who were denied a spot on the government’s first rescue flight.
The couple paid £1,400 to apply for four seats on the repatriation flight, which set off from Oman’s capital, Muscat, to Heathrow on Wednesday evening. But they did not hear anything from officials about securing a spot on the flight - and are now anxiously waiting to see what happens next.
Mr Osbourn, an aircraft engineer, said: “Since we’ve registered for the flight and paid £1400 I’ve been checking my emails constantly for the confirmation that we’re going. We have been sitting in our room looking at our packed bags waiting to go.”
But that confirmation never came.
“11pm came and we decided to put the already overtired kids to bed, hoping tomorrow will bring good news. Gutted best describes how we’re feeling,” he said.
The government said it would fly 180 British nationals home on the flight. The move was announced early on Wednesday as the Middle East crisis deepened following the US and Israel’s attack on Iran on the weekend. A further two government charter flights are planned for the coming days.
For Mr Osbourn, 45, there is an extra worry of being left behind in Muscat, without his family. Women and children are given priority seating on the rescue flights, meaning he may be separated from his wife, who works as cabin crew on an airline, his six-year-old son and three-year-old daughter.
The family had stopped over in Doha on their way home from Thailand. But their flight was diverted to Muscat on Saturday morning after Iran came under attack.
Mr Osbourn did not know at that point what had happened but, as they touched down in Muscat, he saw large ships in a “formation” and suspected something major had happened.
He told The Independent: “The captain came over, and said ‘there’s been a bit of trouble in Iran’”.
His family sat on the plane for four hours before they were deboarded and bussed to hotels.
Iran later retaliated with strikes on Oman. Military planes have since been flying over Muscat which he said has been “quite scary”.
He said: “They started attacking Oman, and it didn’t feel real, and then the jets were flying over and it felt like ‘okay, this is serious’.”
As his family waits, in the hotel funded by Qatar Airways, Ms Osbourn said he has been worried for their safety.
They have not wanted to stray too far from the airport and have been told not to go near government buildings or US embassies.
He heard about the repatriation flight from his family on Wednesday morning and phoned the consulate, which sent him a link to register for seats on the flight.
The cost to register was £350 per seat. “Once you have paid your money, then you go into some sort of ballot to get allocated a seat,” he said.
The Foreign Office said it will refund those who were unable to get a seat on the flight.
If you are trying to return to the UK from the Middle East, please contact harriette.boucher@independent.co.uk
The family is now waiting at their hotel 20 minutes away from the airport. They do not know if, and when, they will be able to get on a government flight. Some 130,000 British nationals have registered their presence in the Middle East since the war broke out.
Mr Osbourn said he was surprised to find out that the government was charging them to get on the flight and called up the consulate to check if it was a scam.
He believes the government should have been chartering flights earlier, given that the airspace remains open in Oman, but praised officials for their support since he registered his interest in leaving.
“Let’s face it, this wasn’t going to be a weekend war,” he said. “Muscat airspace was always open. It never shut. There was no reason why they couldn't have jumped on this a lot earlier and got these repatriation flights going instead [waiting] five days.”
Since Saturday, the communication from his carrier Qatar Airways had been a “shambles”, he said. “I'm really disappointed with the way Qatar Airways have dealt with this, they’ve just left us basically.”
Their family was unable to get their luggage, which included nappies, clothing, and their son’s medication, until Tuesday.
He added: “Trying to get hold of someone from Qatar, I'll probably have more of a chance of speaking to Donald Trump. We’ve been trying to contact them. We have been put from pillar to post.”
Some commercial flights are operating from Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE but the vast majority are cancelled because of airspace restrictions caused by the conflict.
British Airways announced it will operate two more flights between the capital Muscat and London Heathrow, on Friday and Saturday.
Sir Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that more than 1,000 British nationals arrived back in the UK on commercial flights from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday. Eight more UK flights are scheduled to leave the UAE on Wednesday, he said.
There is not expected to be a widespread evacuation of the 138,000 British nationals who have registered their presence in the Middle East.
The Independent has contacted the Foreign Office and Qatar Airways for comment.
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