Moving forward....when the dust clears.

Not rubbing anything here but a friend managed to get from NYC to Glasgow yesterday on BA

He (and his partner) very relieved. Lots of phoning involved though !

As it was work he got himself on a virgin train to london rather than 9 hrs on a coach

As someone sitting in Orlando at the moment - with return flight booked for Saturday (24th) I am beginning to get a little nervous and have been pondering the priority question myself. Of course if planes are flying by the weekend we are hoping we can take our scheduled flight - but if not then I guess we'll be in the line with everyone else.

Oh well another 6 days to go yet so fingers crossed.

FM

guys any info would be appreciated
due to return from MCO on Monday 26th and abviously there is a back log of passengers who need to get home. Assuming flights are going to start Tuesday should I anticipate a delay of several days whilst the passengers currently delayed are taken home

regards

[Pete]

Assuming flights start before the 26th (and it looks like they should), your seat is safe. They won't offload you to put a stranded passenger in your seat - that just ripples the problem down the line.

Well, I'm still stuck in Turkey. My BA flight for last Friday was cancelled and I have no idea when we will be able to fly home. We are being looked after by the company we are doing business with and are staying in a 5* hotel in Bodrum. The weather has been glorious (26 deg) and the suntan is coming along nicely. However we were expecting to be back last Friday and now are running out of clothes and medicines!
Family back home in the UK are getting anxious, especially our parents (they are in the 80's) and are naturally worried as to when they will see us. We can only sit and wait - by the pool and sip our cocktails 8D
Anna

I would not want to be the person who has to make such a decision. You're faced with either more disruption to passengers around the globe or if you decide planes can start taking off and landing again you're faced with the constant worry that something may happen to an aircraft ?|

I think what NATS will do is say something like -

"The current indications are that travel is safe but it is down to individual airlines to decide on whether to operate their scheduled flights (or not).

"If they do decide to operate then we will provide our normal ATC services"

That puts the onus on the airlines - which is effectivly what some of the operators have been saying - let us decide what is best for our aircraft / pax.

[HighFlyer]

Well the first flights from Scotland flew today and if the pictures on the BBC website are accurate it looks like the ash cloud is moving south and outwards. I would expect that long haul flights will be running towards the end of the week if not before.

Best wishes to all those who want to get home. I have a very large number of collegues stranded and also a family friend stuck in Turkey.

[Bazz]

I would think the airlines will want to be very certain that UK airspace on the approach to and surrounding their destination airport will be open fully before they start inbound pax flights. Whilst the picture is so fluid they cannot risk transatlantic eastbound flights. The first VS aircraft is not estimated to land at LGW until after 15.00 tomorrow (21st), VS will want to be very sure there is a very high likelihood of LGW being open and also alternatives that will be open. I see them carrying extra fuel in case they have to divert to a east/south european airport, in the event of further eruptions and/or wind changes closing western europe.

Hi all I understand nobody has a crystal ball but may I please just ask a quick question?. We have a flight out on Friday 23rd to MCO.

Now, IF the flights are operating AND the plane is in at MAN, would they still operate that as normal or fly it over to MCO empty prior to our flight time to bring home stranded passengers, therefore either delaying us or cancelling, which would obviously still cause further disruption

[Neil]

It is a tough question to answer. Firstly the airspace needs to be open, and then it all depends on where the a/c are positioned. If possible I imagine VS would like to do the outbound as normal as it really doesn't make much sense to send an empty a/c across the Atlantic, causing problems for more pax, which they would then have to try and move on to later flights.

Really it is just a question of waiting for more news and updates from both NATS and then Virgin. Rest assured I am sure they are doing their best and they want to try and get pax flying as soon as possible.

[Bazz]

Chattt123, given your proviso's, it is highly likely, as Neil has said, that your outbound will fly with pax that have confirmed bookings. You will need to check with VS or your tour operator to be certain. Jet Stream forecast is looking better for Friday but things can change.