British planes all grounded

due to a volcanic eruption in Iceland all British planes are grounded with the air pollution, the volcanic dust is moving south and shutting airports down all over the UK,not good if you are travelling today im afraid

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8621407.stm

Yes , and also airports in Denmark , Norway and Sweden

All Ryan Air flights in and out of the UK have been suspended until Monday . Lithuania , Latvia and Estonia are closing their air space . Milan airport will close too . Lufthansa has announced the cancellation of all flights throughout Germany . I just spoke to my mother and the BBC are reporting that the ash cloud is heading towards Spain now ... Aaaaaargh .

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304910604575187230144617648.html

nice article, I have friends stuck in northern London. Now no plane no train (in strike in France for 10 days already) and today start of school vacation so holidays hit the road

yesterday last night, pickup my son at Montparnasse by car, usually takes me 30-40 mins took me 3 hours, everybody trying to go by train,but the deal is no deal, stuck. Patient is the only word for now.

My house guest is still here .. his flight from Madrid to Paris cancelled again today . Most flights in the UK have been stopped until 1am Sunday morning now ...though some domestic flights may be able to leave and arrive from Scotland and Northern Ireland .

they are stop in Paris airports until today at 20h at last report. But the weather map shows the ash trail moving inland until tuesday of next week,so all need to keep an eye on the official information. Its chaotic here all over air, train,roads, all areas hit school vacation over the weekend so it makes it harder for all.I am holding on until midweek to get out with my family on the road again.

My house guest has has had to change his flight from Paris to Chicago to Madrid-Chicago but almost nothing is moving out of Spain . 15 airports have practically shut down . UK airspace is effectively closed until 7am Monday at least . British Airways will make a test flight with their CEO on board today .
The Finnish airforce flew fighter jets into the cloud and the planes were damaged . The cloud is heading East and even Moscow is having problems . The real nightmare will be if the second volcano erupts ( much bigger ) as experts are predicting . The first volcano has melted the glacier and is steadily revealing the other big volcano . Apparently , when that last erupted , it lasted for 2 years ( gulp ! ) .

i heard airports in spain are open but the chaos to catch up that i see on tv will be tough for a few more days.Its all over Europe.I have friend coming over next Friday from the US going by london and paris,so far, it does not look good.

Air France/KLM has run several test flights with empty planes (with success) to try to force the issue with the government. Good luck.

northern England airports should have re-opened this morning,but due to another eruption they have been put back and are assesing again this afternoon,my sister in law is in Malaga and should have come back last thursday, they have been put up in hotels luckily they were on a package tour, and this morning they are taking them to lloret for an over night stay then coaching them to Calais tommorow,then i suppose they will have to get in the massive ques for the ferry home, looks like a long tireing journey

Seems all domestic flights are working here in Spain .. but flights to Germany , Italy and the Uk have been cancelled . My house guest has a flight to Miami today at 11am ( 9 and a half hours ) and that is scheduled to take off and only a 20 minute delay . Since he has a connection to Chicago I´m pleased that he won´t be stranded in Madrid .
I also read that a huge 500 million pound ( sterling ) new cruise liner is now en route to Bilbao to pick up 2000 Britons , and that the government has now approved the use of Royal Navy vessels to pick up other stranded people .
Since I´m not "technically" stranded .. I´m not sure if I qualify for a Royal Navy escort .. but I´ll check with the British Embassy and consider a flight to Bilbao .
Easy Jet have said that I have the option of a full refund .. BA have said nothing yet . ( I´m supposed to be travelling BA from London to Toulouse .
The new , bigger ash cloud is moving South and East .. not good news for London airports !

So, as far as you know, your friend's flight from Madrid to Chicago did take off? Have you checked his flight online - IF you had the flight number, that is.

Even flights which travel from Europe (even Spain) to, say, New York City USUALLY do the big loop up north, literally flying over Iceland and down the US East Coast, so I wonder if/how they're altering their flight route.

I do hope YOUR flight takes off as scheduled, and safely(!), but it's not looking good for departures anytime soon.)

Saludos, MadridMan

My Cuban friend flew from Barajas , this morning , to Miami .. that flight ( the last I looked ) was just 20 minutes delayed .
When I´ve done many flights to NYC and Canada we always love the views of Iceland and Greenland .. but remember that Iceland's airport ( Reykjavik ) is open !
No , I don´t think i´ll be going to London . Maybe I´ll fly directly to Toulouse .

We all hope you're on your flight to London as I type this, steve robinson.

Anyone else know off-hand what the status is of to/from U.K. airports?

Saludos, MadridMan

they are not running to capacity yet, hardly any planes overhead and i normaly see loads coming in first thing on a clear day(and its been clear for a few days now) in Manchester, all flights were originaly canceled and people have to re-book flights,a few airlines are running skeleton flights whilst all there pilots and crew who were scattered around the world come back to base, some airlines are just going to certain places and not to schedule, they say it will be sorted in a few days before things are back to normal

Just saw a headline on TV that airports in Ireland are closed because of another ash plume from the Icelandic volcano. Is there any additional news in Spain regarding the volcano? I will finally be in Madrid a week from today(11th).

Has anyone ever had to make a claim after purchasing trip insurance? I don't usually purchase it, but I did this time. Hopefully a claim will not be needed and there will be no problems arriving in Madrid.

some in northwest Spain and Porto ,Portugal too, the ash is coming back. So far France is spare. HOpe everybody gets home on time and safe.