For the passengers on El-Al flight LY971, the heavy rains that occurred in the United Arab Emirates last week had a quite unpleasant side effect. Instead of going to Dubai International we went to Abu Dhabi and then back to Tel Aviv.

On April 17, 2024, the El Al-operated Boeing 777-200ER with registration 4X-ECE was scheduled to fly from Tel Aviv to Dubai-International (DXB) under flight number LY971. The long-haul aircraft did not arrive there because the heavy rains that prevailed in the emirate of Dubai had a significant impact on the airport's operations. As a result, the El Al flight in question had to divert to Abu Dhabi.

Actually, it wouldn't be worth mentioning because the cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi are not that far apart. Under normal circumstances it would have been a small matter to organize a transfer for the passengers to their destination. But that didn't happen because the Israel-based carrier initially wanted to wait in the capital of the United Emirates before transferring to Dubai by air at a later date.

For the passengers, this had the unpleasant side effect that the crew did not let anyone get off in Abu Dhabi. The passengers had to remain on the apron on board the 4X-ECE for several hours. When it became clear to the captain that it would hardly be possible to continue the flight to Dubai on April 17, 2024, he decided to start the return flight to Tel Aviv.

Those affected report that they were not asked whether they wanted to get off in Abu Dhabi, which is not particularly far from the destination Dubai, or whether they wanted to be taken back to Tel Aviv. This decision was made for the passengers of El Al because they all went back to Israel. The 4X-ECE then touched down safely at the country's largest airport a few hours later.

This means that the passengers on El Al flight LY971 spent around nine hours traveling from Tel Aviv via Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv. The Israeli carrier did not respond to a query about why passengers were denied disembarkation in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The reason why we couldn't land in Dubai is well known and was due to the storm.

While the passengers who wanted to fly from Tel Aviv to Dubai International on April 17, 2024 were allegedly rebooked on alternative flights, the 4X-ECE first went to London Heathrow and then back to Tel Aviv. On April 18, 2024, this machine performed another Dubai rotation. This time it was a routine round without any further incidents.

El Al is a private aviation company from Israel that has repeatedly been the victim of terrorist attacks in the past. This is one of the reasons why extremely high security measures have been developed and implemented over the years. Occasionally the carrier finds itself in the crossfire of criticism for precisely this reason. This mainly concerns the conduct of pre-departure interviews by Israeli officials or employees outside Israel. These operate in a legal gray area, as in many states such activities are reserved for the local executive branch. Yet many governments tacitly tolerate El Al's actions. After all, this seems to contribute positively to flight safety.