Bloomsday luminary stranded in Qatar as conflict errupts in Middle East, air travel is halted

Doug Kelley, who helped organize the first running of Bloomsday, was traveling home Saturday from a trip to Africa, at a pit stop in Doha, Qatar, when he got an alert on his phone.

Kelley, who spent years as a regional account executive for Avista, said the alert was in Arabic, so he “had no idea” what it was. Just hours earlier, U.S. and Israeli forces launched an attack on Iran, just across the Persian Gulf from Qatar.

A few minutes went by and a few more “national alerts” came through as he sat at a beach resort some 700 miles across the gulf from Iran, he said in an email Saturday.

“Third time it goes over 15 minutes, people start to pack up and security is coming around,” Kelley wrote. “So I figure something is up.”

Iran had launched counterattacks against U.S. interests in the region, including the largest American base, the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base located just 40 miles from Doha, as reported by the BBC.

Kelley, however, didn’t receive any clarity as to why the beach cleared out until he caught a cab to travel the several miles back to his hotel, and received another alert. This time, in English.

“Shelter inside,” Kelley recounted.

The turmoil sparked by the U.S.-Israel attack and counterattacks from Iran has upheaved travel throughout the Middle East as airlines cancel flights across the region. Kelley, who was scheduled to catch a return flight Sunday morning, is one of thousands of travelers now without a means out of the region.

Doha, as well as Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the neighboring nation of the United Arab Emirates, serve as key transportation hubs, with Dubai International seeing a record 95.2 million travelers in 2025, making it the busiest airport in the world.

Airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel and Bahrain was virtually empty on Saturday, maps by flight-tracking service Flightradar24 showed. The European Union’s aviation regulator recommended that its airlines stay out of the airspace, as reported by Reuters.

In 1977, Kelley was a member of the Spokane Jaycees, the Junior Chamber of Commerce, when noted Spokane runner and Olympian Don Kardong came to the organization with an idea for a road race in the Lilac City. Kardong needed an organization to help bring Bloomsday to fruition, and Kelley was willing to lend a helping hand, he told The Spokesman-Review in 2010.

The two served as the co-chairs of the project, developing a guide that was entered into national Jaycee competitions. Kelley was later tapped to serve as the first Lilac Bloomsday Association race director in 1982. 

“Bloomsday still has that project guide,” Kelley said at the time. “We called it the Bloomsday bible.”

On Saturday, Kelley said traffic started disappearing on his cab ride back to the hotel Saturday as people heeded the warnings. He started hearing “booms” in the sky, which was followed by more as he returned to his hotel. The ruckus carried on for around six hours as he watched the sky from his balcony, he said, with at least two explosions close enough he could feel them rattle the room.

Qatar’s Defense Ministry says it “thwarted” attacks on the country in accordance with a “pre-approved security plan”, intercepting “all missiles” before they reached the country’s territory, as reported by AlJazeera. The outlet reports that some missile debris made landfall, as the country’s officials lamented the targeting by a neighboring country.

Kelley said the city of Doha is quieter than usual, for now. The frequent traveler said he’s experienced bombings in Paris and Karhmandu, Nepal, “but this missile thing feels a bit different.”

His flight says it is canceled when he looks it up, but he’s received no notice from the airline. The U.S. State Department issues a shelter in place alert around noon pacific time, Kelley said.

The U.S. embassy in Qatar is advising Americans to find a secure location, keep an emergency supply of food, water and medications and to keep a low profile. Travelers in the region should monitor local media for breaking news, be prepared to adjust their plans and keep their phone charged to maintain communication with family and friends.

“No special plans, need to buy some new books,” Kelley wrote. “Think I’m going to be here a while … No other options out of here.”