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.