The Ash Cloud – What A Mess

All I can say is wow to this - such a long disruption in flights! Many major airports across Europe are still closed and major airlines have still canceled all flights. The only carriers that seem to be operating at least a limited schedule are those in Northern and Southern Europe. Iberia was able to operate most of its transatlantic flights, it appears. SAS also ran all of its US departures yesterday, though many flights went to Oslo instead of Copenhagen. Air France and British Airways have also been running some special flights. The EU hopes that about 50% of airspace will be free today.

Unfortunately, those flights aren't nearly enough to deal with all of the pent up demands. It will most likely take weeks for everything to clear out. Travelers are already flocking to other forms of transportation - Cunard has been getting more bookings for transatlantic journeys, and ferries and railways have seen improved bookings. But even that isn't enough - the Royal Navy will be moving some ships to pick up stranded British travelers.

So, if your travel plans are affected - there's really not much to do at this point, as bad as this sounds. If you're canceling your flight it might be best to take care of that online - all of the airlines are basically telling passengers to not call them. Not that they don't want to help you but call centers are overloaded. Taking care of things on your own might be easier. Meanwhile, airlines are also saying not to go to the airport unless you're sure that your flight is leaving.

Hopefully this will improve over the next couple of days. The airlines are fighting to fly, and some have been running test flights successfully.

For those traveling to/from Europe, good luck!