If I understand you they asked for a 180 and a revised plan back to CDG decending from 350 to 310.
Hence my question still stands .. if they were prepared to fly for at least a couple of hours, albeit slower and at a lower altitude and only get back where they started why not push on ?
Dubai isn't a million miles out of the way and at about half distance would be a good place for a refueling stop, and if that wasn't going to work, with plenty of abilities to deal with an A380.