Rhodes tomorrow morning

[Dogmatix34]

We are due to fly to Rhodes tomorrow morning- going to Ixia at the top of the island. We are staying 3 nights until moving on to another island. Would you go? The resort is quite far away from the fires but I’m still very worried.

An interview on sky news with a tourist there says people are still being flown in but people are being taken to safe places such as schools with concrete floors rather than their hotels.

Crazy.

I don't understand why this is even a question. It wouldn't matter how much money I lost my family's safety is the main priority.

The fires are moving unpredictable.

Don't get on that plane.

Sky News have just said Easy Jet and Ryan Air are still flying in as normal. That seems so, so irresponsible to me.

@Dogmatix34

www.easyjet.com/en/help/preparing-to-fly/latest-travel-information?link_megadrop

Rhodes - Travel Update
23/07/2023
We are currently operating as normal to Rhodes however we continue to closely monitor the situation. We advise customers travelling to and from Rhodes to check the status of their flights on Flight Tracker.

easyJet holidays, is currently working to comply with requests of the local authorities, and in contact with customers in resort to support them.

Any customers who are booked to travel to or from Rhodes until 29 July can transfer for free to another date or can request a flight voucher for the value of their unused flights, by calling easyJet Customer Services.

The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet's highest priority.

Fly to another airport and get ferry to symi early.

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I just looked at where you are on the map and can see you are very north. That's that area that people are saying is ok to go to but clearly it's not. Why were you evacuated?
I don't understand why the foreign office has not advised against travel to Rhodes yet.

Why? It's a big island....(size of an English county, if not bigger)

There will be Rhodes natives/those with family there might want to fly in/out...maybe those who have made independent accommodation arrangements might still want to travel, there will probably all sorts of other motives. Ultimately people don't just get on flights to go on holiday...

It's very different for the package companies who may have lost accommodation due to the fires.

They will need the flights to evacuate those there , I expect more cancellations.

TUI have cancelled flights until Tuesday. Hopefully, this will mean other companies will follow and you'll be able to rearrange 🤞🤞 Hope you get your holiday, wherever that might be xxx

Olympic don’t seemed to have any consideration for anyone, the poor people of Rhodes and their emergency services/ hotel workers/ bar& restaurant services and whole infrastructure will be in turmoil and Olympic are sending over a plane full of British tourists who will want their holiday experience. Contact your insurance company, they may not want to insure you if travelling into an area that is actively sending people already there home.

OP Easyjet are now saying that anyone travelling in the next week can cancel or move dates if they wish and they are in the process of contacting affected people.
this is good news but presumably tricky for you if you didn’t book through them yourself. Hopefully Olympic will step up and sort on your behalf.

TBH I'd expect Easyjet, Ryanair and the non-package operators to carry on as normal unless/until there's no/zero demand for seats.....

I'm not seeing the requirement for mass evacuation and shutting down of flights that some seem to be calling for, but I can see that some of the IA business might screwed.

I don’t think I would travel. Keep checking the FCDO advice. Speak to your travel insurance company and try negotiating with Olympic, surely if you offer them more money they will reschedule dates or location.

Just seen this on BBC news website if any help.

‘EasyJet says its flights to Rhodes are still running - but it's cancelled all package holidays to the island until Wednesday.
And while flights are operating as normal, EasyJet said anyone booked to travel before 29 July can change their flight to another date for free, or request a voucher for the value of their flight.’

EasyJet are terrible. They won't care.

I think airlines are doing a huge disservice by still flying people there! The only thing they should be doing is bringing people home.

the authorities have their own people to worry about without bloody tourists.

If this helps….
(I’m in UK but have been monitoring various media closely ….)

I wouldn't go OP. I have a friend and her family staying in Ixia. The hotel lobby and grounds is now home to tourists who have been evacuated with just their passports and the clothes they are in. I couldn't 'holiday' being surrounded with that sort of trauma. I would reschedule if you can or claim on insurance?

Thanks so much everyone. Currently waiting on a call back from Olympic to try to change to Kos-Symi- Kos as opposed to Rhodes-Symi-Kos 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

Don't go. Just cut your losses and stay at home.
It won't be a decent holiday for you because the whole island is under emergency conditions. It won't be normal there.

Talking from some experience here.
I went to a place I won't name in south China during the covid years. I was living in China at this time and covid had not fully hit China yet.
The city we visited got locked down and we had no holiday. Had to stay in our hotel most of the time and everything was closed. Endless queueing in the streets for covid tests. We eventually had to evacuate home via another city.
Paid about 700 euro for the privilege.
I learned my lesson. I will never chance anything like that again.

Hopefully OP is busy trying to change their Easyjet flights. If you read the Stuck in Rhodes thread opening post, no way you would reasonably take your family into such a potential disaster.

Good god no I wouldn’t. Apart from the extra pressure the holiday makers are bringing still coming out. My families life is worth way more than any money.

look At the ask me anything board. There is a women on the board over there. The story is horrible with children being separated for their parents. Not a chance in hell I would go anywhere over there at the moment regardless of how close I was. Imagine the chaos at the airport. It only takes the fire to take hold in another place and ur in the firing line.

@TeddyFluff

I think airlines are doing a huge disservice by still flying people there! The only thing they should be doing is bringing people home.

That's what the inclusive lot seem to be doing (TUI/Jet2).

OTOH banning all outbound passengers UK-Rhodes would be a massively inappropriate and would make life very difficult for those not travelling for leisure purposes......

We were in Kalathos when we got evacuated, sorry my other post wasn't that clear.

Rhodes feels suprisingly small when there's a fuck off massive fire our of control. I won't relax and get rid of my headache until we are home.

As horrible as it wld be to cancel your holiday I'd like to think that's what people are doing. Every worker we speak to has family or connections all over the island, they are in pieces. It feels like a very weird place right now. Most people around me are oblivious and having the best time....we slept in an office in a school last night after literally fleeing for what at the time felt like our lives. Its a lot to process.

Please don’t. Holidays are a reason the world is on fire! Stop flying abroad and perpetuating the problem