The Big Volcanic Ash from Iceland Thread

We just drove home this morning after the vA check-in people said there was no chance of going today. They gave us an apology letter & said to re-book as soon as our flight was cancelled. We'd had 2 texts at 2am and 4 am changing our depart time to 17;00 and then 22;00. We got the cancellation text as we got in the house and I've rebooked to fly on Wednesday 21st (fingers crossed)and back home on the 17th May rather than the 12th. I've also re-booked villa, car-hire, escape lounge etc. I had booked direct with VA so the changes didn't cost us anything. Car-hire was £15 for re-scedule. It could be worse - I'd rather be stuck here than stuck in Orlando :0 - oh no - what am I saying
So now, I hope I'm rot doing a repeat performance on Wednesday.

Katie

Glad you managed to get that sorted, your lucky you could rebook like that as I know if this had happened in the beginning of June my holiday would have been down the drain due to work!

Ryanair have just cancelled all UK / Ireland flights up to 1300 on Monday....looks like this has got some way to go yet.

VS005 on Sunday morning seems unlikely now.

nibbs

Went to LGW yesterday to stay overnight at the Hilton and catch the VS015 today. Thought we might as well go and stay there, the rooms was paid for and the executive lounge was packed but really quite good fun. The staff were bringing out cases of beer every thirty minutes or so and at least 2 gin bottles were emptied (some of it by me).

VS did keep me informed by text and email and I don't think there's anything more they could have done. My husband decided to go to work at 8.30am as we knew nothing would happen before 7pm at the earliest. I called early this morning and was advised to wait until 11am and call back which I did. I got through both times pretty quickly and they couldn't have been more helpful, just put the flights back by one week in each direction.

Keeping my fingers crossed for next week now.

Jilly

The fact it's gone on for 2 days already will cause immense chaos, the longer it goes on, the longer it will take to clear the backlog. I know quite a few people at work have been told to take tomorrow as holiday as there's no point in coming in as there's nothing to do!

I didn't think companies could tell people to take holiday if there is no work (holiday is by mutual agreement)...

I just hope flights are actually working by this time next week when I'm flying on VS20 back home... I was hoping to upgrade to J, but I doubt that there will be space now

Crispin

We at swissport are never one to turn down the offer of holidays/getting to leave early!

We at swissport are never one to turn down the offer of holidays/getting to leave early!

Miopyk, If you feel this is likely you may want to consider buying ferry tickets now just in case.

Flexible ticket booked on Eurotunnel for Wednesday evening So if Miami is still on we can cancel and get a refund.

Miopyk 8D

[Neil]

Not sure I understand Ryanairs decision to cancel everything until Monday already. Sure, it let's people know well in advance that they won't be flying but what if things change and they could operate flights on Sunday? Pax won't be at the airport because they weren't expecting any flights to operate and it could add to the problems when they might have been able to start helping to get it sorted.

The interesting one on this is going to be does the 10 days extra it takes you to get back to work count as holiday? Discussing this morning at work, there have been a couple of cases lately where it has been held that if you cant make it back to work for an extra couple of days, due to travel issues, then this will count as holiday!

I can just see all the cases down at the EMployment tribunals in a couple of months...

What happens if you've booked a reward flight? Do the re-book/refund options apply?

The thing is I've just got back in from taking the dog out and the sky's are as blue as ever with not even a hint of cloud.

Now I'm no scientist but I have to say I'm not convinced with all of this. The radar or whatever equipment they are using to track the ash cloud must be bloody clever to see something that I can't.

They keep quoting the BA 747 incident as an example of why it's not safe to fly but is that an accurate comparison of the current situation. There must be all kinds of debris floating around the stratosphere at any given point in time.

While I agree that safety comes first I do wonder if this is another example of H&S gone mad.

Flame suit on

Miopyk 8D

How long can an nations airspace be closed before it causes real problems? US airspace was closed for only 3 days after 9/11

That very thought occurred to me as well... and how long can an airline afford not to find alternative routes before going bust? Don't planes only earn money when airborne?

[Darren Wheeler]

I'm not so sure. Looking at the northern sky, there is a low, brownish haze. The irony is, they have to send a plane up to find information on the cloud. BBC News

[Neil]

Isn't the ash at a height of between 20,000-30,000 ft? Now I have good eye sight but I don't think we will see it.

I think they are totally right to be cautious, it isn't even worth thinking about what would happen if aircraft were allowed to fly and the ash started causing the problems like BA9 suffered in 1982.
Yes it is causing major problems, but the risk is just to high to ignore the warnings.

[Neil]

The interesting one on this is going to be does the 10 days extra it takes you to get back to work count as holiday?.

I would say so. I know when our flight from NYC was cancelled resulting in a 24 hr later than expected arrival back to work, Luke had to take it from his holiday allowance.

I can't see employers just letting them go,
it does get interesting if you don't have any days holidays left. Does it go from next years, do you take them as unpaid holiday?

My daughter has just been texted by VS to say her flight to NY tomorrow morning is cancelled. The web site says not to ring until 1000 hrs to re-schedule but she didn't know this and phoned reservations who answered immediately. They are now on the Monday flight provided all is back to normal.

If your flight has been cancelled and you are planning to ring reservations tomorrow - you may want to try tonight as available seats are already being allocated.

Yup, I learned this lesson the hard way with United a few years back, and left it to them to sort me out.

As soon as you learn your flight is cancelled, get on the phone and see what your options are. Although in this instance, being early, could still mean you are affected, hence why I opted for a Wednesday flight rather than a Monday Air India one.

Apparently BA has six flights leaving the US tonight but into Glasgow / Prestwick, from LA, SF, EWR and JFK then providing ground transport to London. Also another from Calgary is going to Aberdeen.

Wonder if we'll hear VS doing the same - it would certainly help planes positioning closer to home for when schedules can restart.

we have just got the text confirming v75 canceled in the morning , time for us to go home now

catching up on a few things ..

Holidays - down to you and your employer and what is in your contract. If you've used up your allocation then you need to negotiate a way of paying it back. Managers will have some sympathy but will need to take into account the reaction of staff who wernt affected. They might be sympathetic but not if yo get a freeby and they dont

Health & Safety - yes have seen the whole 'gone mad' thing BUT if one plane had an incident of some sort then it would be 'why were they allowed to fly' headlines.

H&S allied to the 'why so long to sort out' - simply because no one knows ! If it suddenly rained and brought the ash down that would be good but not going to happen. The ash is moving south over europe which would mean some UK flights could happen but not those going over europe

Flying into the cloud - yes there is a plane that can do this but it has been adapted. Not sure this practical for 'normal' airlines.

Given the extended continuing saga, those VS planes must have; sparkly carpets, clean seat pockets, non-sticky loo floors & walls! rickety PE IFE stems fixed,re stocked provisions, bits of sticky sweets removed by now..

So least some good may come of all this........

Or not?

Given the extended continuing saga, those VS planes must have; sparkly carpets, clean seat pockets, non-sticky loo floors & walls! rickety PE IFE stems fixed,re stocked provisions, bits of sticky sweets removed by now..

So least some good may come of all this........

Or not?

Me thinks Mrs NH has been putting sunstances in her beloved hubby's tea !

What happens if you've booked a reward flight? Do the re-book/refund options apply?

I was on a K fare today but my husband was travelling on a reward with Amex upgrade.

We changed our for next week with no charges but obviously there has to be the relevant code available.

Jilly

LATEST

Restrictions until 13:00 saturday

http://www.nats.co.uk/