Airports closed as volcanic ash drifts toward UK

Originally Posted by defirish

I was wondering the same thing. I suppose they will have to cater for them as its not there fault that they are stranded

I think we should use anti-terror laws to cease Iceland's assets in this country in order to pay them back! Iceland cause us more trouble than terrorists could possibly hope to achieve!

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Neil22

It's not looking good for the people in Europe at the moment, my sister has been stuck in Tenerife since Thursday morning. Like many other people out there she's running out of money and fast. She's OK on the accommodation front because her friend owns an apartment out there but no one is telling them anything.

On Sunday I heard a lady stuck in Tenerife with her 2 young children saying, in a radio interview, that the earliest she'd been able to rebook her return flight was May 2nd and, of course even that's not guaranteed!

---------- Post added at 09:07 ---------- Previous post was at 09:06 ----------

Originally Posted by Damien

I think we should use anti-terror laws to cease Iceland's assets in this country in order to pay them back! Iceland cause us more trouble than terrorists could possibly hope to achieve!

Good idea, although Iceland's assets are questionable....

---------- Post added at 09:08 ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 ----------

Originally Posted by Derek S

I'm beginning to think this guy isn't a drunken idiot after all.

Hey, don't shoot the messenger - there's really no need to be rude to me!!.....






---------- Post added at 09:28 ---------- Previous post was at 09:08 ----------

Originally Posted by defirish

I was wondering the same thing. I suppose they will have to cater for them as its not there fault that they are stranded

IIRC EU airlines have a responsibilty to accommodate their passengers but non-EU ones don't which puts EU carriers at a distinct commercial disadvantage. Of course the rules drawn up covering this didn't take into consideration extreme circumtances such as these and the airlines can't continue paying out indefinitely so they'll be pressing their Governments for urgent financial assistance I'd imagine.

Originally Posted by injuneer

More effective than a bunch of striking BA workers!

Not heard the news this morning willie walsh blames the unite trade union for volcanic eruption over europe,leading to severe disruption for british airways flights.

[Osem]

Originally Posted by richard1960

Not heard the news this morning willie walsh blames the unite trade union for volcanic eruption over europe,leading to severe disruption for british airways flights.

If this carries on for much longer it'll be the other way around and it'll be Unite blaming Walsh for the resulting job losses.

[Bluffdemon]

I am pretty impressed with the attitude of monarch airlines when i think it was the managing director that said they are putting passangers safety first instead of profit even though they are losing millions , unlike british " everything will be alright" airways and their dodgy test flights , i am sorry but i don't think passenger safety is their top priority at the moment , even though they say these aircraft are robust and can withstand various forces put on them , they were not designed to fly through a ash cloud thats been proven again with a nato f16 being damaged !

[Osem]

I think the airlines' insurers will take a very dim view of too many chances being taken with passenger safety.

[Saaf_laandon_mo]

Still stuck in Lisbon, was supposed to beon a flight back to Gatwick on Sunday, now hoping to fly back on Thurs to Luton subject to airspace opening over UK. On the plus side Easyjet have put us up in one of the best hotels in Lisbon, at their own cost with meals, on the negative side my insurance doesn´t pay for loss of earnings!

[moiraf100]

Daughter in Oz has been given a 2 day earlier flight home of 4th May from Sydney, and is on the waiting list for a flight home from Melbourne where she has friends.
She is going to stay in Sydney now until Friday when she has to leave the hotel (paid for by her), bus to Melbourne, stay with friends for a week, and either hope that she can get her flight changed to Mel. or bus back to Sydney for the flight home.

[Osem]

My nephew, who's been here for a few weeks holiday from New Zealand, was due to fly back there last Sat and has just been told he's booked on a flight for next weekend apparently..

[Derek]

Looks like I spoke too soon as Glasgow airport is closed again.

Whats even more frustrating is I'm due to be on a propeller driven plane that doesn't go very high and by all accounts should be free of problems flying through anything but the most severe ash clouds.

Originally Posted by Derek S

Looks like I spoke too soon as Glasgow airport is closed again.

Whats even more frustrating is I'm due to be on a propeller driven plane that doesn't go very high and by all accounts should be free of problems flying through anything but the most severe ash clouds.

Depends what sort of engine it has Derek.... Turbo-prop are basically jet engines attatched to a variable pitch prop.... On the other hand if its a piston engine I'd have thought they where much more likely to fly....

[fireman328]

I think it is all a ruse to take the heat off Gordon Brown.

[Stuart]

Funnily enough, it seems as though the closure of UK airspace is partly based on one model provided by the Met Office that is based on little actual data from the eruption. It seems to be based on the results of various Lidar readings (which tell them there is ash, but not how dense it is) and one 4 hour test flight that produced inconclusive results.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04...volcano_model/

Appatently, they haven't even sent up any Weather balloons, which could have given accurate data.

[Big]

Well, Lufthansa, Delta flew over England and Heathrow, you can check it out here.

Click on the yellow plane and you get the path.

Over Greenland there is a BA flight heading to Heathrow, it will be interesting to see where it lands...

[Stuart]

According to the last NATS update I read, they are allowing flight above 20,000 ft, but due to the ash, cannot allow flights below. As such, planes can fly over the southern parts of England, but they cannot land or take off.