who has got family stranded by the volcanic ash?

[MrsShu]

me ! easy jet have cancelled return flight

dh was due to fly today and virgin have told him thursday is the earliest they can get him on a flight
he is then due to fly to cape town the following monday

andiem, you could see if there is an alternative earlier flight (ie BA etc) that he can go on Virgin will give a full refund as the flight was cancelled and he chooses not to take their alternative. Will take 6 weeks to get refund.

andiem - He would have to pay for the alternative himself and book it himself, but at least get the refund from Virgin later. New flight has two be purchased for both ways (ie as a return), if he only buys the outbound he won't be able to use the return section on the Virgin flight. Virgin will cancel both outbound and inbound. A no show on the outbound, automatically cancels the inbound. Does that make sense?

DH is still stranded in Shanghai . He is hoping his flight will leave tomorrow morning, but he won't know for a few hours.

latest from DH is he won't now make the eurostar tonight from Brussels as German rail system completely overloaded, has been stuck in Cologne for 2 hours. No idea when he's going to make it back. They're thinking about trying to get a train to Calais...

Pollyanna
if you are anywhere near Geneva, let me know if you need help in any way

Munich airport is apparently closed. No news yet on Switzerland

Swiss airports closed till tomorrow morning

DH probably driving to Munich with a colleague tomorrow.

What a nightmare.

DSs 1-3 and DH all stranded in Germany, ment to come home today, Ryanair will offer alternative flight in the next 30 days.... - useful, NOT!

They have booked a ferry to Newcastle tomorrow night, home (in Scotland) by Sunday lunchtime.

And there I was congratulating myself how well I had planned their flights to come back a couple of days before school started again to allow them to calm down get ready in plenty of time.

Gah!!

I find myself really frustrated that I cannot reasonably be angry with Ryanair as I am sure it was not them who made that vulcano go off, I don't think .

oh no - hope dh doesnt have to wait till next week for a flight back from athens - i'll be demented by then!! and he'll stink - he's only got clothes for 2 days with him!! nice excuse to buy himself some new stuff!

thanks Mmelindt - we are in saas fee but are flying out from Geneva on Monday. Really hoping things get back to normal by then!

I've just seen on Twitter that Ryanair have said no flights until Monday 1pm. Ryanair website confirms this.

www.ryanair.com/en/news/ryanair-expects-current-flight-cancellations-to-continue

"Ryanair, today (Fri 16th April) confirmed that based on current meteorological forecasts, and the continuing emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere over Iceland, it has decided to cancel all scheduled flights to/from the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, Northern France, Northern Germany, Poland and the Baltic States until 1300hrs on Mon 19 April."

Green Light for Scottish flights

... confirming what I said earlier when I wrote about the 3 flights coming in to Glasgow from Iceland (whose internaitonal airport has styed open thorugh this!)

I'm 10 mins from Brussels airport and have a spare room if anyone is stuck.

DH managed to get a very late Eurostar from Paris last night - we still don't really understand how. He said the Gare du Nord was insane with the queues of people trying for a ticket. Anyway, he's back - sounds like he was very lucky.

PacificDogwood - I have no issue with blaming Michael O'Leary for the volcano . Somehow, he has to be behind it.

@ Hassled.

I was trying to be reasonable... but Michael O'Leary is a vulcano-exploding twunt - there you go!

I am trapped alone at home with 5 week old DS4; I need them to come back so somebody will speak to me, wail!
I. Am. Bored. Looking after new(ish) babies is so overrated...

If anyone is missing a Scottish dh, who had a meeting in Brussels yesterday, and is now on the over night ferry from Zeebrugge, and won't get home til tomorrow afternoon - I am very sorry for inconsiderately calling that meeting! I wasn't even very nice to him. I am feeling mean today......

Thanks for links to ferries. I am sat here trying to co-ordinate DH's return from Granada. I was meant to be joining him yesterday for first break away from DS since he was born 2 years ago. On the plus side, it's been raining a lot in Granada.

So what does DH do? I suggested he take bus to Madrid (cheaper than train and a bit faster!) adn express train to Paris (big bucks, cheapest is Euros 166 for shared sleeper) and then train to ferry ports or maybe queue up in paree for a eurostar. But they're all booked up until monday. And if he doesn't book for monday now, I reckon he'll find them booked ahead for days when he gets there.

He and some other UK people at conference thuoght they might 'charter a coach' to drive to French ferry port. Sounds a bit Italian Job to me.

Ferry from Bilbao? Sounds less hassle, and possibly cheaper.

lol reshape thats desperation at its most creative! perhaps they could hire a fishing boat instead

Is bilbao or santander not a useful option?

I think him setting off for Paris is a good aim, don't book further trains while you book him onto one of the ferries or eurostar for monday. That would give him Sunday to get from paris to the ferry port

I managed to get the last train to Paris last night and despite being told they were all booked up by SNCF, my travel agency etc, my husband managed to buy me a ticket yesterday afternoon to get a Eurostar to St. Pancras this morning.

Anyway, the carriage I was in had at least 6 spare seats in it, despite being told at Gare du Nord that all services were full. I suspect that some companies / parties were block buying and people found alternatives and not turning up but shocking that they were telling everyone all sold out - they could have at least had some sort of policy to use the spaces. Though to be fair not sure how this would be executed.

I really really feel for everybody affected. Two things though:

1. Clearly MN rocks at times like these with everyone pulling together.

2. I have an insane urge to whistle Colonel Bogey at the thought of everyone creatively making their way across Europe to return home.

OYBK - there is something quite gripping about it - and it's great for the ferry companies!