With your luck, maybe you should consider crossing Pompeii off your itinerary

That really sucks!

On the other side, be happy you weren’t flying above Iceland when the thing erupted

I was gonna post something about this. I hope to Odin that that damned volcano isn’t still acting up in September, because I need to fly TO Iceland and then to Europe

Good point, Bigfoot.
And good luck, Daniel and Feicht.
My kid is supposed to fly to the States at the end of this month—I hope everything goes okay.

I just heard that it is even effecting the train networks, because since people can’t fly from place to place they’re taking trains!

Also a geologist from Iceland just told NPR that this shit COULD go on for MONTHS! And it might even cause an eruption of a bigger volcano nearby. Ugh!

On a practical note, what do you think are the odds that this effects airline fares? I was going to take IcelandAir since it (at the time) was the cheapest option into Europe one-way. But now, I’m getting worried…

I guess the Icelandair rates would go down, as many people would prefer other airlines (just to make sure) in the next months.

See that would be cool, but in my mind, they’d raise the rates to cover the loss in patronage.

If they could raise rates without losing customers, they would do this all the time! Clearly you are not an economy student

that sucks, i’m leaving in 2 weeks (I hope) seems like it might be starting to clear up tho :
“Flights through England aren’t expected to resume until Saturday morning, but some flights have resumed in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Airspace in Norway, Sweden and Ireland will be gradually reopened Friday, and some flights will also start moving through airports in southern France and southern Germany.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/04/16/iceland-ash-european-flights.html#ixzz0lHCeACJ5”

fingers crossed

Yes, you would think everything would be cleared up.
But that volcano is gonna do whatever it wants.
I too was wondering if airfare would be affected.
It’s difficult not to see a sort of grim humor in the whole thing, though.
“We don’t have many volcanoes in Europe,” said David Learmount of Flight International, an editor at the aviation publication. “But the wind was blowing in the wrong direction.”
heh
Talk about understatement.

I’m also wondering what effect this might have on fares for the summer. I know Air France’s insurance company will not compensate them for losses from volcano-related cancellations, so I imagine this will have rack up some big losses for airlines with a lot of transatlantic and intra-European flights. Will it kill the possibility of decent discounts from here on out?

Man, I am sweating this to. My flight leaves to Berlin on May 31st. Was there any warning of the impending eruption? I just woke up, looked at the news, and come to find there was a volcano erupting on Iceland…I didn’t even know there was an active volcano there. Hopefully it clears up soon. God willing.

Thanks for your comments, as of now we are rebooked to leave Monday night, arriving in London Tuesday morning. i’ll be pulling out my hair until then

Bigfoot wrote:

If they could raise rates without losing customers, they would do this all the time! Clearly you are not an economy student

Right, but they do raise rates all the time; they usually just do it slowly so people are less likely to notice

In 1 day AA raised there prices for the same dates and flights over $100……damn volcano

Feicht wrote:

I was gonna post something about this. I hope to Odin that that damned volcano isn’t still acting up in September, because I need to fly TO Iceland and then to Europe

September? It better clear up by mid-May. I’m flying into CDG and out of MAD (end of May) via CPH.

Alright, Tuesdays not looking so good either. What are the odds? This is just unbelievable, hoping for the best but planning for the worst. Looks like if we get canceled for Tuesdays flight we’ll see if we can just switch our flight to Madrid and spend a week there? This is just a mess, naturally any hostel or hotel i booked at a cheap price is non refundable.

That blows dude, it’s not like it’s your fault…

I feel your pain Daniel. There are tons of folks in your same shoes right now. I really hope that your luck improves. Seriously, a volcano of all things? It just blows my mind man. Good luck brother. I am flying out at the end of May, so we’ll see how things go until then.

Trip delayed due to volcano is not one you hear about often. On the other hand, I just flew back Monday morning from Ireland and would have loved to have been forced to stay another week or so. Just missed it. Sorry boss, can’t make it in for another week or so, see you when the ash cloud clears.

Hahahaha! You know I was just thinking the same thing this morning. I thought if I get there in June, then around the time to come back the volcano flares up again….what if I just get stuck in Europe for another month? What would I do? Find a job to get some cash to cover my living expenses, and enjoy it! Picking grapes in France, teaching English, whatever.

My thoughts exactly. Getting stuck in Europe is soooooooooo not the end of the world! (unless you have some obligations like work or school.) I wouldn’t mind at all having to stay another week or two!
“Hi KLM, yeah, I’m at the pub, just give me a call when you have a flight available for me!”

This totally sucks. My flight to CDG leaves May 13 and I’m a little worried. Mostly because everyone I talk to now asks me about how this volcano eruption is going to affect my trip. I guess all we can do is wait and see right now.

Usually, I would have said no, but I’ve saved a nice sum of money during the winter. Also, I usually don’t spend that much (lots of couchsurfing, some hitchhiking, cheap but fun hostels…) And considering the fact that I’ll be travelling mostly in Eastern Europe this summer, I’m fairly sure I could survive for a few more weeks. This being said, it wouldn’t be an ideal situation because I guess I would have to stay near the airport to make sure I don’t miss my flight.

My flight to Rome is April 29th, I’m not getting too worried yet as it’s still 10 days away and reports today are more optimistic. The airlines are already getting annoyed with the flight ban as test flights have been successful. It can’t go on forever, the flight industry is bleeding money as it is. That said, safety is paramount.

I’m just worried about losing money, Ryanair are saying they can re-book you a different flight or offer a refund, but the only thing is I’ve booked my first 3 hostels in Rome, Florence and Venice and booked my train from Rome to Florence so it knocks my whole plan off course and I doubt the hostels/train company will refund me… good job I only paid 10% deposits on the hostels I guess.

Most hostels have a 24 or 48 hour cancellation policy. I’m pretty sure you would be fine as long you contact them in time. You don’t even have to tell them the reason. I have no idea about the trains though.

Let’s not panic just yet. Let’s just wait for the dust to settle

Alright, my flight (which was supposed to be tonight at 8 30) was canceled and now I was bumped to go now next tuesday. So I supposed to leave last thursday, bumped to this tuesday and now bumped to next tuesday. I don’t think i’ll ever get there.

Here’s the deal with the hotels/hostels i’ve booked and made changes to. So far, i have been able to switch the dates numerous times without any charges. 3 of the hotels had no rooms available, so i received 2 full refunds and 1/2 refund on the third. They actually have all been really understanding, so as of right now i am out 2 sets of eurostar tickets. So it could be worse and for those of you traveling soon that are worried, the hotels have been more then accommodating with whats going on. I actually booked everything place at the cheapest price possible. So every place had “no cancelation policy’s”, “ no changes, no to everything and they all waived the policy’s due to this volcano

Good to hear they’re being understanding, it’s good that it is such big worldwide news!

I don’t fly much, so forgive my ignorance. I have a ticket that was bought with airline miles. If my flight is canceled, will I be able to just move it back, or will it really be canceled? Also, if your flight out is pushed back, do you still have to take the same scheduled flight back, or does that get pushed back too?

Also, have we thought of making a sacrifice to the volcano?

Good idea!

Let’s all pitch in for a bunch of sheep as a sacrifice Who’s volunteering to throw the animals in the volcanoe?

Might take more than sheep to appease Eyjafjallajokull

Travellers face new volcano chaos despite lockdown easing

Moo, I think each leg of a journey is separate, but maybe Don or Oldlady know better than I.

why did I take a flight with transit in London …

I’m happy for 2 reasons:

1) I was in Europe in early March before all this happened.

and

2) I traveled to Iceland last July. There was all kinds of talk there last summer of not WILL it erupt, but WHEN. They were predicting last summer that it would erupt within the next year. 9 months later, guess they were right!

Hope everyone’s travel plans worked out in the end!

Looks like all the mental human sacrifices I made to the volcano paid off. Sacrifices will continue until I’m safely on the ground in Paris on May 14, so I advise staying on my good side.

Funny, I had earlier joked about missing out by two days on having a forced stay in Ireland, and now things have turned the opposite way. My brother-in-law was out to ref the Galway-NY game in the Bronx Sunday, and we dropped him off at the airport this evening. We had heard about the ash cloud changing direction with the wind, but kept checking his flight status all day. Sure enough, about 30 minutes after we dropped him off we got a call from him that his flight had been cancelled. As of now they have him booked for Saturday, so the lucky bastard gets an extra 4 days or so “forced” holiday!