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 getting married and was so stressed that my friends from overseas wouldn't make it, or that we wouldn't get to go on honeymoon. Thankfully both were fine in the end but someone I knew who was getting married a few days before me had loads of people missing from her wedding. She said it kinda ruined the day for her. The airspace closed again while we were away on honeymoon but thankfully opened again for our flight home!

Got stuck in Morocco for two weeks. I just chilled by the pool and ordered another cocktail.

I can remember waiting with a friend who was worrying because she'd bought a horse in Europe and the horse was stuck at the airport.

My only thought is how the heck was that 14 years ago!!

My overarching memory is this guy.. 😂

Awful tbh it was the end of my relationship with my father which was already strained. He left our family for another woman and had another child when I was very young. It left us in a really bad financial situation to the point that we didn't have food in the cupboards and it was the start of my anxiety problems.
I was a young adult and decided to go away with them (paid for by myself) I don't know why I thought it was a good idea but I wanted to build bridges and be a part of a family I suppose:
The holiday itself was quite hard work especially watching him with his child treating them to new things and generally being a father which he never was to me. Generally managed to put on a brave and happy face but couldn't wait to get home ! We were leaving the day all the flights were cancelled. Shipped off to a hotel by the airline but no come back as far as accommodation was concerned because they had booked it all separately and I had paid them. Had to put the hotel on my credit card that my mum had suggested I get incase of an emergency it was over a thousand pounds. My dad and his wife were very wealthy. I didn't expect them to pay for me but if they could have loaned me the money it would have meant I didn't get into so much debt paying off the credit card.
A few other things happened that are probably a bit outing and won't go into. I didn't really see him again until he was on his deathbed which was the first time in my life he ever told me he loved me.
So the ash cloud is pretty triggering tbh.
My life is totally different now but on a recent holiday my flight was cancelled and I went into a huge panic even though i could easily afford to cover whatever the cost was.
It's funny how things work out really!

I had recently left a fairly ghastly corporate job and I remember meeting up with ex colleagues and they would be bitching about the people they felt didn't make "enough effort" to get back from wherever they were. It reminded me why I had left!

I remember how my flatmate’s mother still managed to travel all the way from Romania with sheep’s head for orthodox Easter. I don’t recall the details, but vividly remember opening the fridge in the morning to see a (cooked) sheep's head on a plate there.

I was in an industry which was trying to help people.

Taught me a valuable lesson: if you require lifesaving medication, do not go away for 7 nights with exactly 7 nights worth! The number of people running out of insulin, heart medication, etc on their first day of delay was ridiculous.

Also got yelled at by a lot of people who didn’t seem to understand the concept of all the planes being grounded. Obviously we should have put one on just for them…

I don’t remember any dust cloud in London. Wasn’t it much higher in the atmosphere? The air seemed cleaner on the ground and indeed it would have been, provided there was no ash.

Please tell that to our local Integrated Care Board, who’ve now become so tight with medicines they’re literally counting each tablet and preventing you ordering any earlier than the computer says, even by a day. Wow betide you if you mislay a strip of meds or need to order more than usual for a holiday. There’s no concept of keeping a spare in the cupboard in case you’re too ill to go out when your script’s due. I can’t imagine they’d ever let you order more for a holiday than you strictly need.

My friend didn't make it to Spain to see her mum before she died. I remember her calling me from the airport just sobbing.

We're near Heathrow as well and I was at home with small children - I remember days of quiet, loads of birdsong, clear deep blue skies, wonderful!

Not intending to derail the thread - but was it really 2010?? Good god, I thought it was about 8/9 years ago😱
Sorry OP

We were in Tenerife, booked with Thomas cook who were brilliant. We got an extra week in an all inclusive hotel

We were stuck in Benidorm. Quite stressful as the hotel were mad keen to chuck us out,work were hassling us, and we had pets at home to worry about.

I was due to fly to Norway that morning, meeting another friend flying from Germany. We were very annoyed!

I flew from Atlanta to NY that morning. Everything was working as normal......Ended up getting stuck in NY for 3 nights before getting a flight back down to ATL to then stay with my dad another 4 nights.

Got a free week off work!

My H at the time had an affair and I kicked him out. He went on holiday with the OW and got stuck out wherever for another week. I was not impressed obviously as he was meant to be back to look after our two little children so that I could go away with girlfriends. I obviously couldn’t whilst he got an extra week with OW! Can’t believe it’s 14 years ago. I would have said 10 maximum.

I had travelled to London and was on an open topped boat on the Thames when we saw the first planes flying overhead. Everyone sat looking upwards trying to spot them.

Me and my friend had young kids and we were saying we were going to blame the dust in our houses on Icelandic volcano ash.

My brother lives overseas and was in Paris wren it happened. He couldn't get home, but I spent hours online and named to get him a eurostar ticket to the UK from Paris. He came to stay with us until he could get home. So happy memories for me.

We were finishing a holiday in Rome , had checked out of our hotel and only found out about the crisis when we arrived at Fiumicino Airport.

DH absolutely had to get back to work but it was impossible to get a train, rental car or bus. It was a nightmare! The hotel we had stayed at kindly found us another hotel . His partners had to substitute for him, haha. We got an extra week in Rome, entirely paid for by our credit card travel insurance! We were very lucky.

We were visiting the UK from NZ and our flight home was cancelled. It was a really strange time and at one point, we were thinking of sailing to New York and then flying from there! Our insurance company picked up the tab for everything except the car hire.

I think we were around 2.5 weeks late arriving back in NZ. I was so pleased to get home as at one point they were advising that it could take months before it was safe to fly.

Sitting in my office in Germany with the phones ringing their arses off, while looking at several computer screens and conversing with people worldwide who were also desperately trying and failing to find a way to reroute aircrafts, along with rejigging cargo etc.
It was a long, long couple of weeks.