Airports closed as volcanic ash drifts toward UK

[budwieser]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Can they guarantee that every single airway is clear and will stay clear?? The tests they've done is like saying that because the B113 is clear of ice in mid january then every road in the country is clear and will stay clear

I`m with Kymmy on this one, I`d sooner my girls are safe and NO chances are taken with the safety of anyone for profit.

[alferret]

BA are also doing a test flight from Heathrow over to Ireland, do a couple of curcuits at altitude and back to their engineering centre to check the plane.
On that flight one of the "passengers" is Willie Walsh.

[budwieser]

Originally Posted by alferret

BA are also doing a test flight from Heathrow over to Ireland, do a couple of curcuits at altitude and back to their engineering centre to check the plane.
On that flight one of the "passengers" is Willie Walsh.

Hope they`ve got parachutes.

Does anyone know whats being done to help anyone stranded who is on medication for any conditions?
Are the consulates getting involved at all?

[alferret]

Originally Posted by budwieser

Does anyone know whats being done to help anyone stranded who is on medication for any conditions?
Are the consulates getting involved at all?

Stranded Britons should contact their local embassy, high commission or consulate.

Foreign office helpline
020 7008 0000

As for medication. I would assume that if you produced packaging from medicine that was in your posession that was prescribed to you, went to a chemist with you passport & explained the situation the chemist would sell you the medication that you re on. Supposition on my part though.

---------- Post added at 20:03 ---------- Previous post was at 18:58 ----------

Mixed signals from Eyjafjallajökull

Iceland's Meterological Office said tremors from the volcano had grown more intense and had increased from a day ago, but that the column of steam and ash rising from the volcano had eased back to 4-5 km (2.5-3 miles) from as high as 11 km when it started erupting earlier this week.

"We are seeing mixed signals. There are some hints that the eruption will be decreasing, and others that show it is not decreasing," Einar Kjartansson, a geophysicist at the Meteorological Office, told Reuters.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL...0:b33019416:z0

Ministers met shortly before UK flight restrictions were extended until at least 1900 BST on Monday.
Ideas included flying those outside the no-fly zone to Spain and then to the UK by other transport, using the Royal Navy and requisitioning merchant ships.

BBC News

[Osem]

Originally Posted by alferret

Foreign office helpline
020 7008 0000

As for medication. I would assume that if you produced packaging from medicine that was in your posession that was prescribed to you, went to a chemist with you passport & explained the situation the chemist would sell you the medication that you re on. Supposition on my part though.

---------- Post added at 20:03 ---------- Previous post was at 18:58 ----------

Mixed signals from Eyjafjallajökull


http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL...0:b33019416:z0

I was listening to a radio phone-in on the travel chaos this afternoon and it's clear that there are UK citizens with serious medical problems who're stuck abroad and are getting little or no help. Quite how drugs etc. which aren't available locally are going to be speedily shipped abroad is anyone's guess however..

[danielf]

The wife's just picked up her car from the airport where she left it on Tuesday for a 2 day businesstrip. She should be home in an hour, after an over-land trip from Northern Italy which involved colleagues meeting her in France.

Listening to the news this morning it seems the Dunkirk spirit has infected lots of stranded tourists and their hosts.All sorts of efforts to get people where they are supposed to be have been going on..including one minibus all the way from Turkey arriving at Calais and another from Scandinavia. All cheerful at being crammed onto an overcrowded ferry.

However it's a very different story for anyone in the US..One family have been told that they may have to wait until the 27th even if flying resumes immediately.Me I think I'd be seeing if there were any ships if that was the best on offer especially as in typical US attitude no one is offering them any assistance with accomodation.

Anyway the government are on the case.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8628878.stm

The UK's emergency committee Cobra is due to discuss the ash cloud chaos, amid suggestions the Royal Navy could help ferry stranded Britons back home.
Gordon Brown has spoken to the Spanish premier about the feasibility of some Britons being flown into Spain, before a possible journey by sea to the UK.
Travel agents' association Abta says its "rough estimate" is that 150,000 Britons are currently stranded abroad.

[BBKing]

it's clear that there are UK citizens with serious medical problems who're stuck abroad and are getting little or no help

Cuts both ways, that, I heard about a lady stranded here who can't get drugs at the pharmacy and was told to go to A&E, which isn't exactly going to help much.

"PLANES cant fly lower too far as they use more FUEL and would possible they could run out before destination on transatlantic flights"

Fly low level, brim the tanks at Shannon, fly low until clear of the cloud then up and away, diverting to Gander if you start to run short. Problem is insurance, expense of the extra fuel and that you can't get that many planes through.

In the end the police who had been called by the Ferryport immigration control decided that everyone holding up their passports in the air was sufficient for them to pass through.

I believe that's called 'common sense'. Well done.

Where has the entrepreneurial spirit of our various travel industries gone?

Simple - the profit margins are so thin due to competition that they literally don't have spare vehicles, so they can effectively max out their capacity without having to go out of their way. The French railways, notably, being state owned and inefficient, do have scads of spare trains lying around, so can do things a bit better.

[Bluffdemon]

A good friend of mine is stuck in ibiza with her 2 kids , she is running very low on money but is on standby to fly out on wendnesday with ryaniar which sadly i dont see happening ( i havent said that to her as i dont want her to worry to much ) , ive been in constant contact with her via facebook trying to give support as it must be pretty scary for her and her kids , the good news is she has her room in the hotel for another 2 nights as she was meant to be flying today and she said ryanair have been fantastic helping her !

[budwieser]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Wor...rom_Met_Office

[Kymmy]

The latest headlines concerning the Fly to Spain and then the navy gets you home looks like it's gonna go ahead

Originally Posted by bbcnews.co.uk

ASH CLOUD:Gordon Brown confirms Navy will help rescue stranded British people abroad

[budwieser]

Latest news.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Bus...eland_Eruption

Well I suspect that a lot of cover workers will be ask to stand in for missing workers through out all the varying disciplines.I've got work for the rest of the week.

Even the deputy who usually gives me work is stuck in Crete.Which means that the school will be without it's art technician as she is his wife.

Anyone else here having to cover for missing staff?

We're missing my Networks Manager, who is stuck in Canaries - his team is covering for him, and his boss will help manage the workload.