[Closed] This volcano and cancelled flights

currently 1800BST being quoted

Yea, 18:00, but depends if the eruption continues.

Can you stay another night in Switzerland? |Maybe not ideal, but possibly preferable to having to deal with the chaos at the airport trying to get a flight back later today.

Why is the BBC banned in Switzerland? Has Robert Mugabe taken control?

Wouldn't bet on them being open at 18:00 - surely it will take ages for the ash to disperse enough ?

I think you may find it's heading your way
UK airports may open again today - although a guy on the radio has just said he doubts it - you may find European airspace affected later

This is just crap.

[selfish]Me and Mrs. S are booked to fly out of MCR to Paris CDG on Saturday morning. We've got two nights booked at the Paris Pullman, Tour Eiffel and a pissing volcano in Iceland could eff it all up.[/selfish]

Well I've just been quoted 'possibly days' by someone at BA I've just spoke to, my boss is stuck as well, and I wanted the weekend off.
Depends on which way the wind blows and further eruptions.

[quoteThis is just crap.

[selfish]Me and Mrs. S are booked to fly out of MCR to Paris CDG on Saturday morning. We've got two nights booked at the Paris Pullman, Tour Eiffel and a pissing volcano in Iceland could eff it all up.[/selfish]

Cancel flight and get eurostar?

derek - too late to buy travel insurance?

A friend did have an early flight from Amsterdam -> Manchester - he's being quoted Saturday morning as his replacement flight time.

derek - too late to buy travel insurance?

There is no way that any insurance that you buy now would cover you for delay/cancellation due to this volcanic eruption.

Might start at 18:00 but there'll be a long line of planes waiting to take off so you'll be joining a big queue. Disruption like this takes days to clear up as planes are in the wrong positions (like the plane taking you back from Switzerland is still sitting at London ready to make the journey across).

derek - too late to buy travel insurance?

Girl at work is supposed to fly to New Zealand tomorrow - current line from their insurance is that they aren't covering the volcano...

Insurance is such a con.

I do not think you will get an idea of how long the disruption will last until this evening , certainly I would be planning what to do till Monday .
Trains/Eurostar will be totally over loaded so I would not bother.
Maybe hire/borrow/buy a bike and do some touring for the weekend ?

We're supposed to be flying today to Edinburgh to visit our homesick daughter. Everything cancelled but at least Flybe have offered a full refund. So a 6 hour drive instead 🙁

If I were you WCA

I'd get myself over the border into France & hire a car - to be off-hired in Calais - & jump on a ferry
I did that once when the French air traffic lot went on strike

Well you learn something new everyday - apparently there's Volcanic ash advisory centers! http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/vaac/

Insurance is such a con

Mmm. You pay them money, they sort you out depending on the terms of the policy. Terrible.

depending on the terms of the policy

Which invariably makes the insurance not fit for purpose in the first place...

Planes and volcanic ash

[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9 ]Clicky[/url]

Ive been told it should be fine tommorrow via london air traffic control
and we have an aircraft we wanted test fly today which is now grounded ie costing £££.

Never even thought about contacting the insurance people. Just rang Airmiles/Lufthansa and they are giving me my money back. (Shame that DB don't want to do the same for my train tickets onwards from Frankfurt).

Apparently travel insurance is meant to be the most complicated contract people enter into.

Having once attempted to claim for lost luggage and being told I could only claim for stuff if I had original proof of purchase (anyone keep them for your clothes???) I'm strongly tempted not to bother renewing our annual policy....

If I was looking like I was stuck in switzerland for the weekend I'd probably be hiring a car and driving to the alps for a short break 🙂

I've got the answer!
If we can just power up & reverse all the wind turbines, we can clear it by afternoon tea! sorted

Just endured 30mins of BBC news on this.....people get so frustrated these days when there's no-one to blame 🙄

volcanic ash disrupts flights, my arse.

if it was 1st April the reason would be obvious, however the only logical explanation is a massive terror plot that the government is covering up so it doesnt interupt tonights 'big, live, tv [s]drivel[/s] debate'

Is the ash on a conveyor belt?

Having been a victim of the recent Sea France strike, I fully expect the French will use this to their advantage and walk out again!

[selfish]Me and Mrs. S are booked to fly out of MCR to Paris CDG on Saturday morning. We've got two nights booked at the Paris Pullman, Tour Eiffel and a pissing volcano in Iceland could eff it all up.[/selfish]

Hey, think yourself lucky - you aren't stuck in Atlanta Georgia, and worrying about having to spend an extra few days in the land of mediocre cheese and crap beer. My flight is tomorrow, so I'm crossing my fingers.

Joe

well done folks!, not one of you has said how 'its all the fault of that one-eyed scotch git Gordon-bloody-Brown'
Whats Camerons policy on stopping vulcanism? 🙂

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latest from the BBC:

"No non-emergency flights allowed in or out of UK before 0600 BST tomorrow at earliest, Nats says"

It's gonna be carnage

Found these to bits of info on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9 (When the 1982 incident occured over the Indian Ocean to the British Airways 747)

Fact No1: "Aircraft Ability"

[i]Without engine thrust, a 747-200 has a glide ratio of approximately 15:1 meaning it can glide forward 15 kilometres for every kilometre it drops. The flight crew quickly determined that the aircraft was capable of gliding for 23 minutes and covering 91 nautical miles (169 km) from its flight level of 11,000 metres (36,000 ft)[/i]

That's pretty impressive for what essentially becomes a very large tin of sardines!

Fact No2: "Flight Engineers Reaction"

[i]At approximately 13:42 UTC (20:42 Jakarta time), engine number four began surging and soon flamed out. The flight crew immediately performed the engine shutdown drill, quickly cutting off fuel supply and arming the fire extinguishers. Less than a minute later, at 13:43 UTC (20:43 Jakarta time), engine two surged and flamed out. Within seconds, and almost simultaneously, engines one and three flamed out prompting the flight engineer to exclaim, [b]"I don't believe it – all four engines have failed![/b][/i]

I can only imagine what I would have said in the same situation! Something with lots of swear words and cursing - followed by me looking for my parachute, or in the abscence of that the biggest golfing umbrella I could find 🙂

I´m stuck in Iceland with a school group. Meant to be doing SSEC this weekend. Arse.

What's the view like?!

I am now booked on a flight to Zurich - Luxembourg - London City, Zurich - Heathrow, Geneva - Heathrow and Basel - London City.

All tomorrow at various times. Let's hope one of them flies.

The view is a huge grey cloud in the air. It´s not very dramatic really. Very boring here.

Is it the bankers who bankrupted Iceland trying to throw up a huge smoke screen to hide their misdemeanors?

Is it just me that smells conspiracy. Ash that noone can see stops
ALL flights over UK airspace.

Hmmm ?

from the BBC website :
"Such a large eruption... would have the potential to severely affect air travel at high northern latitudes for six months or more.
"In relation to the current eruption, it is worth noting that the last eruption of Eyjafjallajoekull lasted more than 12 months."

Buy nice touring cycle and cycle north home over the next couple of weeks .
then catch ferry, meeting loved ones at UK port.

Tinfoil hat for yeti_guy...

Conspiracy?

[img] [/img]

The eruption could go on for months or years...

Apparently, tonight's sunset is going to be amazing, because of the ash.

yeti guy - Member
Is it just me that smells conspiracy. Ash that noone can see stops
ALL flights over UK airspace.

Hmmm ?

I'm not sure about conspiracies but I'm a little puzzled as to why ALL flights in the UK have been cancelled while I'm staring at an almost cloudless sky here in S Wales. It's been the same all day.

miketually - Member

Apparently, tonight's sunset is going to be amazing, because of the ash.

But that means that the ash cloud has to get here within the next 3 or 4 hours - anybody got any yet?

Maybe the ash will arrive just in time for this evening's ride?

IdleJohn - Too idle to read the whole story then? It's high up and dispersed, you can't see it from down here...

What is this Ash you speak of?

Hands up who has seen it

Hey, think yourself lucky - you aren't stuck in Atlanta Georgia, and worrying about having to spend an extra few days in the land of mediocre cheese and crap beer. My flight is tomorrow, so I'm crossing my fingers.

Just for you, all thanks to the wonders of Google: http://www.beer100.com/brewpubs_a_to_k/georgia.htm

I suppose I shouldn't feed the troll, but....

yeti guy - Member

What is this Ash you speak of?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8621407.stm

Looks quite clear to me...

zokes, yes, I missed the 'invisible' bit.

A shame, I was looking forward to seeing a volcanic plume across the sky. 😆

Anyway, planes crashing killing presidents, earthquakes happening everywhere, volcanoes stopping flights halfway across Europe - it's all down to Ming the Merciless..

and this all started after they started the Hydron collider

I blame Thatcher.

it's all down to Ming the Merciless

Can I be the first to lay claim to Princess Aura, then?

Well our guests for the weekend are not coming..
Woo-hoo - can ride my bike !!

WorldClassAccident - Member
and this all started after they started the Hydron collider

Is that like the Hadron Collider but with added water features?

i dont think the ash is nececssarily visible to the naked eye

We'll be having flash forwards next 😮

an almost cloudless sky here in S Wales

Don't expect some kind of Independence Day style rolling clouds of darkness...

The BA flight 9 thing where all engines failed had perfect visibility the whole time it was flying into the ash.

thanks molgrips, we've already established my stupidity!

this flight grounding will be good for the environment

for a few hours a few less tonnes of aviation fuel will be being burnt

although im not sure what dammages the tonnes of volcanic ash will do

personally i think the eruption was triggered by disgruntled ba cabin staff

According to the news earlier the plume consists of tiny particles of rough glass, ash and rock/pumice, that melts when it gets into the jets' combustion chamber then cools as it exits, coating turbine blades, stalling the engine. The pilot of that 1982 747 said that navigation lights were scoured opaque, paint was completely stripped off of the fusilage, and the windshield was frosted. You wouldn't want to be breathing that crap, that's for sure. Worth looking out for amazing sunsets for a couple of days or so.

John maybe you were just too idle to follow the link in the other thread 🙂

Well after a week of great biking in southern Spain. I'm now stuck here with no info from BA. It would appear that the Spanish office is now closed. The only information i have is that the next flight i can book onto is the 21st. Apparently they cancelled the flight 5 hours before i got my boarding card (how can you get a boarding card for a cancelled flight?).

Well, I am hiring a MPV tomorrow lunchtime, driving 6 of us up to Calais and hoping to get a foot passenger ferry crossing. Ferries will not allow people to book anymore.

Anyone on here got a boat and fancy picking us up from Calais?

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Of Fu it I may just stay on in Munich

Manchester airport was like a crypt today. Hid my airline ID on the bus ride back to the hotel to avoid difficult questions...

I flew in from JFK this morning and I feel quite lucky to be here. Heathrow had lots of queues to queues.

Because we're in a period of high pressure (weather wise) which means the winds aren't blowing much, there's a good possibility this is going to hang about for days.

As somebody said on radio 5 - big clouds of dense uncertainty, country grinding to a halt, doom and gloom everywhere, and that's just the election.

Just for you, all thanks to the wonders of Google: http://www.beer100.com/brewpubs_a_to_k/georgia.htm

I know, in fact I've just been to one of them. I'm still 4125 miles away from my heavily pregnant wife, and not a clue how I'm gonna get back, as my flight getting home Saturday has now been cancelled, and BA are not picking up the phone (and nothing of use on their website).

Joe

British airspace closed til at least 7pm this evening

They, BA, have cancelled flights and you have to phone to re-book but i'm in Spain and it's getting pricey. Are they allowed to cancel the flight and make me re-book when i'm sitting at the gate? Have absolutey no info from BA about the procedures we need to follow. If it is a re-book i'm here for another 6 days at least.

poo.
Why do these things always happen in my own time & never during work hours 🙁

Stuck in Stockholm for the weekend - I know there are worse places to be stuck.

I was due to fly home yesterday morning 6.25am (UK time) and had got as far as the gate before the flight was cancelled. It was the first flight to be cancelled here so I saw it coming and booked a hotel through to Sunday.

I'm booked now to fly home first thing Sunday morning, assuming things get going again. If they don't I guess it's time to go clothes shopping as I'm due back here Mon evening for all of next week anyway.

I'm stranded in Amsterdam - granted there are worse places to be! Bit boring on your own though so if anyone else is stuck here and fancies a beer email me (address in profile). Good test of the power of STW...

You can smell it here now in Surrey. A faint bad egg sort of smell everywhere, and the viz is rubbish.

If you are in Stockholm you've got at least an overland/water way of getting home. I suggest you hire a car and start driving 🙂

to avoid difficult questions...

Are people really giving airline staff a hard time? I'd just ask them if they want their plane to drop out of the sky or not. Then if it got really bad I'd print out flyers with the BA9 story on them.

Well BA have put us up for another night, guess that means they are going to fly us out sometime. Ha-HA to the smug git who was parading around last night letting everyone know he'd managed to re-book for Tuesday.

Stuck in Stockholm for the weekend

do you eventually become bored of gorgeous blondes ?