Massive flight disruptions continue in Europe

by Sean McLachlan on

Europe is suffering its second day of travel chaos as a giant plume of ash from an Icelandic volcano grounds an estimated 5,000 flights. Aviation officials say airplanes could be grounded into the weekend.

The skies over several countries are completely closed. These include the UK, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, The Netherlands, Finland, and Lithuania. Parts of the airspace over Sweden, France, Germany, Poland, and Austria are also closed.

Volcanic ash can cause jet engines to seize up, so it would be highly risky to start flights until the cloud has dissipated. It’s unclear when that will happen since it depends on weather conditions and the volcano itself. Officials say the skies over the UK will remain closed until at least one a.m. Saturday local time.

One of the hundreds of thousands of people affected is my wife, Almudena, who is responsible for many of the best photos in our travel series about Ethiopia. She left early in the morning yesterday to attend a meeting in Toronto. She had a layover at Heathrow, and made it just in time to get stuck there. British Airways gave her a hotel and meal voucher for one night. This morning the hotel hadn’t heard from BA, and the airline’s phone lines are jammed, so she has to go back to Heathrow to get another hotel voucher. Since so many people are in the same situation, she’s probably going to have to wait in the biggest line of her life.

Update: No line, because the airport is completely closed. Almudena reports there were no British Airways representatives anywhere, they didn’t tell her hotel to extend her stay, and she’s had to pay for another night out of her own pocket. Thanks BA! Good thing our four-year-old boy is safe with me and not stranded with her.

European flights grounded due to Icelandic volcano

by Sean McLachlan on

The massive eruption of a volcano in Iceland may be turning into a local tourist attraction, but it’s seriously hurting the travel industry. Ash from the volcano is heading for the skies over the UK and Scandinavia and has caused most flights in the UK to be grounded.

The thick, gritty ash can damage engines, causing them to jam, so all airports in Scotland are closed, as are numerous airports in England, including Heathrow. Ireland’s airports are also reporting widespread delays and cancellations.

Other airports in Northern Europe are also closing or experiencing heavy cancellations, including in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland.

Twice in the 1980s airplanes flying through clouds of volcanic ash had their engines seize up. Both times the pilots were able to steer away from the clouds and restart the engines, but needless to say aviation officials don’t want to risk another incident.

Since the volcano is still churning out so much ash that it can be seen from space, as this NASA image shows, it is unclear how long the delays will last. If you are flying to, from, or around Europe over the next few days, call your airline for the latest updates. We’ll keep you posted here at Gadling too.

Senator duo working to ban Spirit Airlines carry-on bag fees

by Scott Carmichael on


The clip of Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza reporting from an overhead luggage bin suddenly makes sense – his plan to introduce carry-on bag fees has reached two senators, who are outraged over the proposal. So outraged in fact, that they are drafting legislation that will prohibit airlines from charging for bringing bags on board.

Senators Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) have created the Cardin-Landrieu Free of Fees for Carry-On Act. The bill covers the following:

  • Prohibits each air carrier operating in the United States from charging any fees for carry-on baggage that falls within the restrictions imposed by the air carrier with respect to the weight, size, or number of bags;
  • Requires each such air carrier to make detailed information about restrictions with respect to the weight, size, and number of carry-on baggage available to passengers before they arrive at the airport for a scheduled departure on the air carrier;
  • Requires each such air carrier to make available to the public and to the Secretary a list of all passenger fees and charges (other than airfare) that may be imposed by the air carrier.

Kudos to these senators for working on behalf of travelers. Of course, the bill is still in such an early stage that it is hard to determine how much support it will get.

Customs arrests man for flying with postage stamps

by Sean McLachlan on

Customs officers are generally our friends. They keep people from boarding the plane with stolen antiquities or live reptiles, but occasionally innocent people get caught in their net.

Stamp collector Markand Dave of India seems to be one of those people.

Mr. Dave tried to board a flight from Sardar Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad, to Frankfurt, Germany, on his way to attend a stamp collecting exhibition in London. In his luggage he had a collection of rare, early Indian stamps. While Mr. Dave is a well-known philatelist and had an invitation to participate in the exhibition, he had forgotten to ask permission from the government to take the stamps out of India and ran afoul of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, which considers rare stamps to be antiquities. He’s due to appear in court on charges of antiquities smuggling.

Mr. Dave is probably not an antiquities smuggler, but as a leading philatelist he should have known better. Collectors should understand the laws that cover their collections and fill out the proper paperwork before they travel.

Besides, he should be thankful he didn’t have his rare stamps stolen by a baggage thief.
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Earn double miles on US Airways this spring!

by Grant Martin on

US Airways just launched a promotion last night awarding double elite and earned miles to all registered travelers between now and June 15.

Elite miles, of course, are the special non-redeemable miles that count towards elite status, awarding passengers special perks like no baggage fees and better seat selection. Earned miles, on the other hand, are miles that can be cashed in for free flights and other goodies.

This means that with this promotion, one would only need to fly 12.5k miles to reach the lowest tier of elite status, silver preferred.

This is a fairly generous offer from US Airways considering that they ran a similar promotion last year. Our hope is that the trend catches on with other airlines and that just like last year, most of the legacy carriers offer double miles at some point.

Passengers need to be registered for the promotion and to book after registration, so scamper on over to US Airways’ promotion site right now and sign up.
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