I hate Eyjafallajokul :(

[agi]

I hate this volcano.

A friend of mine from Sweden was going to come and visit me on Wednesday. Now we don't know what is going to happen.

Even if they open the air routes again, I heard it will take days until the flight timetables are back to normal.

[minij]

Hope you get to see your friend soon.

Hubby and I are meant to be going to Tunisia for a week on Wednesday but like you said Agi, I somehow don't think it will happen

[Kute Kitty]

My brother's meant to be flying NY - UK - Prague and back again next month. He has difficulties every time he flies (in the past these have included dogs eating his passport - no, seriously - and a typhoon as well as the inevitable lost luggage that happens to everyone at some point) so I'm really hoping the situation has cleared by then so he can get over in one piece.

[SusanF]

I wonder if Mabel will be affected by this - I don't know when she was planning to come back to the UK from Holland? My son's friend was due to come home from a holiday in Spain on Thursday and has now been told it could be next Thursday before they get back

[XandraS]

My dad loves it, he was at his holiday place in Spain, but due to fly back to Norway on Friday so now he got a few extra days have a few other friends suck in various location.

Didn't Mabel get the boat over? There might be few places on the boats but if they booked they should be fine.

[agi]

I hope she has booked the boat - all boats and trains are full I heard.

[Slinky]

I'm supposed to be going to NYC on Thursday ....

[dollystitcher]

My son-in-law was supposed to be flying over from their home in Spain but his flight was canceled too. He has managed to get his flight transferred though, so he will come over in a couple of weeks instead.

[freelady]

I'm sorry about that, Agi. It would have been so nice for you. I am really sorry for all those stranded where they don't want to be. It must be awful to be at the end of a holiday, you've spent all your money, and have to stay longer.

[*barb*]

oh, so this is the culprit that has grounded the planes and hence the airmail..does the volcano not know about stash coming from overseas

[Nina]

oh, so this is the culprit that has grounded the planes and hence the airmail..does the volcano not know about stash coming from overseas

I agree

[nettie]

I have no one affected by the volcano but I do hope all your family & friends get home safe and sound!

[maggs]

I have no one effected yet by the volcano but they are worried that there is a bigger one not that far away from the one thats spewing that may also go, in which case things could get worse.

[ali-cat]

Our friends daughter and two uni friends are stuck in Tenerife. I've told my friend to see if they can even get as far as France and we'll look after them till they can get back to Northern Ireland. She's worried sick as no one knows what is going to happen or how long airspace is closed and that they might get thrown out of the appartment they are beng allowed to stay in.

I know it's impossible for any one to say when things will improve - but I wish the airlines would just say 'ok, that's it, we're closed all week' or something and at least then people wouldn't be waiting for news every minute of the day and could at least try to find an alternative way home. We could have the girls here in a day (flight to Spain and train to us) but they keep holding off in case something happens.

p.s. plese excuse writing - the cats lying asleep half way across the laptop!!

[frankattleborough]

I think I read someone posing the question "Why do they not fly lower as the problem is apparently at 30,000ft"

My Nephew told me that it is because they use less fuel at that height, so my thought is "cut the number of flights and get these people home".

Or is that too simple a solution?

I heard on the news that there have been some test flights with no problems, so things may get sorted soon.

[XandraS]

Flights have been flying in Northern Norway for about a day and a half now, but that's because the ashcloud passed by there quite quickly.

I think the main problem is that they don't know enough about how the ash affects the engines, and they'd rather not take any chances.

[ali-cat]

I wouldn't like to be the person who has to say - "ok, let the planes fly now". To have so many lives in your hands - you'd need to be darn sure it was safe.

[wombat]

I think I read someone posing the question "Why do they not fly lower as the problem is apparently at 30,000ft"

My Nephew told me that it is because they use less fuel at that height, so my thought is "cut the number of flights and get these people home".

Or is that too simple a solution?

I heard on the news that there have been some test flights with no problems, so things may get sorted soon.

It's not just because of the fuel - radar can't detect low flying objects, so to have planes all flying lower at 300-400mph and not knowing how many other aircraft are close to them could result in collisions....!!!

[Sarah Gixxer]

One of my colleagues has been to Dubai on holiday - he was due to come back a couple of days ago, but he's stranded there. He emailed some of us at work, saying he's over the moon, hahaha! Looking outside at the pouring rain today, I can't blame him.

This must be a pretty awful situation for many thousands of people though, I keep seeing updates on the news.

[Becca]

My parents are stuck in Rome. They only went for a few days and were due back last Thursday. They have their flight rebooked for tomorrow but I'm pretty sure that one won't be going so i'm just waiting for the airline to announce it's cancelled so I can rebook for them again. They're trying to look for train and ferry routes back but everything is so booked up and expensive. I feel really bad for them because it's costing them so much money and they were supposed to be back at work today, but I have no idea when they will eventually manage to get home.