What are your recollections of the Iceland volcano ash cloud flight disruptions in 2010?

[JustPassingThyme]

I was a tween when it happened, my family and I got stuck abroad. I recall it being quite an adventure. To me it was an extra week of holiday.

I was talking about our experience recently. I just found out that the Navy were sent to get us and that it was considered quite a serious international thing.

Did anyone get back to the UK on a Navy ship? That sounds far more exciting than my very delayed flight home!

I was at home on a teaching placement for uni and my parents, grandparents and siblings were abroad. The class teacher was also abroad and so I was left ‘in charge’ of the class. It was amazing at the time, being given charge of a class of my own! Probably wouldn’t happen now.

I spent a lot of time booking flights for my family only for them to be cancelled. In the end they used a variety of taxis/trains/boats/car hires to get home as my gran had leukaemia and she was due her blood transfusion so it became quite urgent. I can’t remember now how long it took them to get back but they went through various countries! I think had my grandparents not been there, they’d have gladly stayed soaking up the sun in their resort until it cleared!

DH was in Ukraine, inches his way home over several days on trains, buses, ferries etc. The ferries had no more space for foot passengers but they had some for cyclists. People were going to cycle shops & buying cheap children's bikes. They had to cycle them on to the ferry to be eligible for the ticket😂

Ha! I now have a mental image of people acquiring unicycles to get home 😆. This is all absolutely fascinating to me.

It suddenly became a reasonably popular party trick to be able to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull. My time to shine 😆

I worked in the business travel team for a large corporate and there were around five of us trying to get thousands of employees back home. We had all these excel spreadsheets of information and we were the go-betweens for the employees to our travel agents (as lines were constantly blocked for them). It was bloody exhausting and we worked long overtime hours to help people. Of course there were some emergencies, such as one guy trying to get back for his wedding, another person who needed critical medicines. Then there were the twats, such as one partner who was on holiday with his family in an exotic location, and he thought one of our team should be dedicated to him and getting his family home - preferably first class on BA! Sod all the thousands of others, some of whom had no accommodation and were in third world countries.

I knew someone who was a pilot. He got stuck in Germany and there were a couple of unaccompanied minors on his flight. He had to take responsibility for them and look after them in a hotel until they could be reunited with their parents (no idea how).

DH was about to check in to fly to Europe when he got wind of all flights being suspended. He immediately got return tickets for the Eurostar and turned in the opposite direction.
Good call!

I remember the gritty dust scattered on my car windscreen.

A girl I knew had her wedding ruined when none of the guests could get there. Well, some could but most were flying over (it was in NI)
I remember she was in the local paper talking about it. My friends were meant to attend but couldn't.

My best friends mum met partner at the airport being stuck because no flights were taking off. They got to know each other over the days and are now married!

We were living in Hungary and visiting my parents in Ireland and got stuck there. Which was fine. DS was quite happy having extra time off school. My dad started referring to us as the volcano refugees and wondered if he should charge us rent.

DS’s school in Hungary booked a coach to get staff who had been on holiday in the uk back and some families got spaces on the coach too. DS was very relieved we couldn’t get to the uk. Well we could but decided to stay put.

My family were visiting me as I was working abroad. They left for their hotel in the capital to go home the next day but it was cancelled due to volcano. They ended up with another week in the country although I never saw them that week as they were far away and I had work. For most of my family it was a nice relaxing week but one of them had an exam when they got back and so had to study in a busy hotel which was a little stressful. No navy ships though. Just a flight a week later.

Was supposed to go to Belfast for the weekend which obviously didn't happen. Saved me from accompanying my mum to a rod Stewart concert so wasn't all bad 😀

I lived on a flight path at the time & was so used to the planes they never registered. Until they weren't there. It was quite unsettling. I remember being so excited when I heard the first one back & phoned my (ex) partner - he didn't get my excitement, probably one of the many reasons he's an ex

My work had a conference in Italy and there was a lot of bitching in the office among those who hadn't been invited to attend (which included me). Turns out that all the flights were cancelled, and the head of the company arranged for a mini bus to drive from Italy to the UK, and said that anyone who didn't take up the offer and couldn't get back to work when they were due in would be forced to take annual leave.

My boss was on the bus, and to this day refuses to speak about it. All I know is that the two VPs of the company had to be forcibly separated at one stage.

I turned up at Gatwick for a flight to Spain to find it had been cancelled and the airport was in chaos.

Managed to get out the next day, it was a last minute booking as my Dad had a stroke abroad

I think this was in the second round of eruptions

A colleague seemed to find it much harder than most to get back from New Zealand, where she'd been on holiday. I think she was 5 weeks late back in the end. No one believed her but afaik nothing was done.

I’d gone to the Caribbean with a mate leaving DH in charge of two small children. She was going to a conference in Florida the day before I was due to leave, so when I got the call to say the flight was cancelled, it was just me (which actually made it easier…)

DH had a big job at the time, DH had already taken a couple of days off and was due to fly out to the phillipnes. I was due at work too - patients booked in, kids were 3&1, my mum was looking after my dying father, my MIL is useless with the children.
then DH called to say that he thought DS1 had broken his arm….
BA were amazing, I managed to get back within 36 hours, incredibly convoluted flight.

(DS’s arm wasn’t broken, just sprained).

I was supposed to be flying to Reykjavik to visit a friend living there, and instead got stuck in the ME.

I remember it as a happy time, where for once we had peace and quiet and cleaner air. We live under the Heathrow flight path and the difference in noise and our quality of life was huge. I was gutted when the flights all started up again.

Was the air cleaner? I seem to recall we were living in a dust cloud

I was living abroad, due to fly home for a holiday, and once I'd done the stressful bit of booking a ferry, had a great time with other people in the same situation staying in the local youth hostel then getting the very long ferry home!

Also under a flight path, and simply loved the quiet!

We were living in Paris and had lots of friends who couldn’t get back staying with us! One hired a car and got the last flight west to New York where his wife was about to give birth!

A colleague had taken a large group to Disney Florida for a holiday and then had to pay for an extra week to the tune if thousands of pounds. I think it was in refundable as there's a clause in the insurance for natural disasters or something. I'm sure we were all quoting it!

DP had to drive to Switzerland as he was helping to (not) make black holes and had to get on shift.

I was a manager at the time and a very annoying staff member got an extra week in Greece. I did not miss him.