Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland, Eyjafjallajokull

[regi]

I am back from the German Trade Fairs Hannover Messe and Bauma.
Dreadful !
Chaotic, disastrous,...
Many hotels just on 50% during high days.
half of the eating stands closed.
Many booths from Chinese, Indian companies closed.
A major economic disaster.

I could easely park my car immediately near the trade fair, no long walking, no shuttle bus,...
Colleagues from other countries had to cancel their 1 day visits by airplane.
I saw some activity around Hannover airport, but it was a military C-130 I think.

Some Asian visitors landed at Rome ( TG ) , took a night buss to Frankfurt and a train from there onwards...
Some Chinese told me that they camped 3 days at Shanghai airport before departure. 3 days, imagine.

[BRUCPH]

I should have been on the 23/04 SK594 10:40 flight between Brussels and Copenhagen. But, in the middle of the night, I received a text message stating my flight was cancelled. As no alternatives were offered, I called SAS headquarters in Copenhagen (as the Brussels office has been permanently closed). They rebooked me on the SK 1594 17:30 flight.
I asked the check-in agent for the compensation. She told me I was eligible for this, as the flight was cancelled for operational reasons, not for the cloud ash. As this was the only cancelled Copenhagen flight that day, this seemed logic to me. However, as there is no longer an SAS office in Brussels, they referred me to Copenhagen to deal with it. In Copenhagen, I was referred to a phone number. During my stay in CPH I did not work on this. However, during check-in in CPH for the return, I informed again for the possibilities, and they refered me to the website.
Back in Belgium, I'm preparing my file to ask for the compensation. When looking into detail into my rebooking, it was stated that the rebooking was due to the ash cloud. As this was the only flight that day that was cancelled between BRU en CPH, I think this is a trick by SAS to try to minimise the payings? Or just a "default" comment on the rebookings this day?

Would it still be possible for me to claim my compensation?

[regi]

I should have been on the 23/04 SK594 10:40 flight between Brussels and Copenhagen. But, in the middle of the night, I received a text message stating my flight was cancelled. As no alternatives were offered, I called SAS headquarters in Copenhagen (as the Brussels office has been permanently closed). They rebooked me on the SK 1594 17:30 flight.
I asked the check-in agent for the compensation. She told me I was eligible for this, as the flight was cancelled for operational reasons, not for the cloud ash. As this was the only cancelled Copenhagen flight that day, this seemed logic to me. However, as there is no longer an SAS office in Brussels, they referred me to Copenhagen to deal with it. In Copenhagen, I was referred to a phone number. During my stay in CPH I did not work on this. However, during check-in in CPH for the return, I informed again for the possibilities, and they refered me to the website.
Back in Belgium, I'm preparing my file to ask for the compensation. When looking into detail into my rebooking, it was stated that the rebooking was due to the ash cloud. As this was the only flight that day that was cancelled between BRU en CPH, I think this is a trick by SAS to try to minimise the payings? Or just a "default" comment on the rebookings this day?

Would it still be possible for me to claim my compensation?

Just another example of the fact that when something is told to you , you need to get a written back up asap.
I cross my fingers for you, but I have my reservations about a compensation.
Question: why do you need a compensation? Did you have to pay for another flight? Or do you just want to use your right for compensation in case of delays in Europe? ( which is your legal right btw)

[Propwash]

DATE: 27/04/10
SOURCE: Flight International
ANIMATION: European airspace reawakens after ash closure
This animation illustrates the revival of air traffic across Europe following the closure of airspace during the Icelandic volcanic ash crisis.

Source: Flightglobal

[BRUCPH]

Below you can find the answer of SAS regarding my question for compensation after the cancellation of my BRU-CPH flight.

We refer to your e-mail of 27 April concerning the cancellation of our Copenhagen Brussels flight SK594 of 23 April and regret very much the inconvenience you were caused.

We fully recognize the importance of on-time performance to our customers and understand their dissatisfaction when flight irregularities occur. It's unfortunate that we had to cancel flight SK594 as the permission to operate in ash zone 2 was withdrawn by the authorities.

In your letter, the issue of the compensation was raised and we would like to take this opportunity to explain our policy in this matter. According to the EU regulation, the carrier is not liable for cancellations caused by extraordinary circumstances such as weather conditions, strikes, air traffic management decisions and unexpected flight safety shortcomings.

Therefore, in this force majeure context, we are sorry we cannot honor your request for compensation and hope for your understanding.

Again, we extend our regrets for this unfortunate occurrence and hope that we will have the pleasure of welcoming you again on SAS.

Quite strange as this was the only cancelled flight that day.
Anyone who has access to information to check their information?

Regards

Rik

[tolipanebas]

The answer of SK clearly mentions your flight was supposed to operate in zone 2 airspace.

zone 2 means that every single flight needs individual approval to operate in it from the civil aviation authorities, so in this case, it is very well possible that this particular flights was indeed not granted approval for some reason.

Now, obviously, SK might be just pulling this out of their proverbial back as an excuse to walk away from paying any compensation, but the Danish FIR was definitely classified as zone 2 that day (as well as the next few days), so their explanation seems plausible to me.

[Charlie Roy]

Irish air space to be closed tomorrow morning (Tuesday May 4th) due to the volcanic ash cloud:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0503/ash.html

[sn26567]

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has confirmed that the entire Irish airspace will reopen to a full and normal operation from 1300 UK time today.

Check CityJet flight status here http://www.cityjet.com/dyn/pages/latest-update.shtml

[andorra-airport]

But today, May 5th, the majority of Ireland’s airports are to close again.

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said restrictions on flying would be in place at Dublin, Knock, Sligo and Donegal airports from this morning. It is likely that flights from Cork, Waterford and Kerry airports will be grounded this afternoon.

The restrictions on Irish airspace follow a decision by the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to ground flights over Northern Ireland and Scotland from 7am until at least 1pm today.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/bre ... king1.html

So, its not over yet.

[regi]

did somebody get compensated already?
The only thing I heard was that Chinese campe at Shanghai airport and were allowed to take the next available flight on their original booking. Not even a hotel room.

[sn26567]

The cloud is back! Now over parts of Spain and Portugal. The Spanish airports of Bilbao, San Sebastian, Vitoria, Saragossa, Pamplona and La Rioja are closed since 12:00 this Staurday 8 May. The airports of Santiago de Compostela, La Coruna, Vigo, Asturias, Santander, Burgos, Leon, Valladolid and Salamanca were closed earlier in the day. In Portugal, many flights to/from Porto were cancelled as well. No change is expected at least until 18:00.

Many flights to these destinations were cancelled in Charleroi. From Brussels, the SN flight to Bilbao was also cancelled.

[Nevihta]

Ryanair announced that there would be no flights from Marseille from 16.00L

[sn26567]

Barcelona airport is going to close at 15:30 pm local time. Flights will be cancelled today but operations will be back to normal tomorrow.

According to the information available to Iberia, tomorrow Spanish airports will be open again.

Iberia is using buses to take transit passengers to/from the airports affected

Source: Iberia on Twitter

[sn26567]

Barcelona and most airports at the North of Spain will probably reopen tonight or very early in the morning, excecpt for Galician airports.

Source: Iberia on Twitter

[sn26567]

In Spain, the airports of Galicia (Vigo, Santiago de Compostela and Coruña) remain closed. The other airports are open.

The airports of Northern Italy are now also closed. Brussels Airlines and easyJet cancelled the morning flights from Brussels to Milan Malpensa and Bologna. Ryanair cancelled the morning flights from Charleroi to Bergamo, Pisa and Bologna.

Transatlantic flights are also affected. The expansion of the volcanic ash cloud over the North Atlantic is adding some 60 to 90 minutes to flights to and from the USA and Canada, in view of the new routings required.

[sn26567]

Ryanair update: Volcanic Ash Disruption – Italy, Portugal, West of Ireland - 9th May
Updated Sun 9th May: 09:00hrs (Next Update Sun 9th May - 15:00hrs)

SUN 9TH MAY
ITALY, IRELAND (WEST OF) & PORTUGAL - AIRSPACE:
Based on current metrological forecasts Ryanair expects airspace over Bologna, Milan Bergamo, Pisa, Turin and Porto to be closed/ restricted during Sunday 9th May. Accordingly flights to/from these airports may be cancelled as follows – click here for a list of cancelled flights.

The IAA has advised that there is a possibility that airspace over Knock airport may be closed from 17:00hrs today. We expect an update from the IAA at 15:00hrs. Intending passenger to/from Knock should continue to monitor the above list of cancelled flights which will be updated as soon as information becomes available.

DISRUPTED AIRPORTS
BOLOGNA closed from 0800hrs to 1400hrs
MILAN BERGAMO closed from 0600hrs to 2000hrs
PISA closed from 0800hrs to 101400hrs
PORTO 1closed from 0600hrs to 2400hrs
TURIN closed from 0600hrs to 1400hrs

Passengers scheduled to fly on flights which have been cancelled are advised not to go to the airport, but instead change their flight bookings (or request refunds) on line at www.ryanair.com .
Ryanair has added extra Dublin-Tenerife-Dublin and Stansted-Tenerife-Stansted flights for this afternoon/evening as listed below. Additional extra flights will be posted to this page later today.

EXTRA FLIGHTS
DUBLIN – TENERIFE Depart 1400hrs
STANSTED – TENERIFE Depart 1400hrs
TENERIFE – DUBLIN Depart 1910hrs
TENERIFE –STANSTED Depart 1850hrs

PLEASE NOTE: DISRUPTED PASSENGERS WISHING TO REBOOK SEATS ON EXTRA OR SCHEDULED FLIGHTS CAN DO SO BY CLICKING HERE. IF YOU HAVE ALREADY CHECKED IN ONLINE YOU WILL NEED TO CONTACT A CALL CENTRE OR AIRPORT IN ORDER TO TRANSFER YOUR FLIGHT.
ALL RYANAIR PASSENGERS INTENDING TO TRAVEL OVER THE NEXT 48 HOURS SHOULD CONTINUE TO MONITOR THIS PAGE FOR UP-TO-DATE TRAVEL INFO WHICH WILL BE POSTED AS SOON AS IT BECOMES AVAILABLE.

SAT 8TH MAY
SPAIN, PORTUGAL & FRANCE - AIRSPACE:
Based on AENA and metrological forecasts airspace over Northern Spain and Southern France was closed/ restricted during Saturday 8th May. Accordingly flights to/from airports in this restricted airspace were cancelled until 24:00hrs Saturday. In addition all flights scheduled to overfly Northern Spain and Southern France, were also cancelled until 24:00hrs Sat 8th May– click here for a list of cancelled flights.

DISRUPTED AIRPORTS
BERGERAC closed from 1300hrs to 2400hrs
BEZIERS closed from 1300hrs to 2400hrs
BIARRITZ closed from 1300hrs to 2400hrs
BORDEAUX closed from 1300hrs to 2400hrs
BORDEAUX closed from 1300hrs to 2400hrs
CARCASSONNE closed from 1300hrs to 2400hrs
GIRONA closed from 1300hrs to 2400hrs
GRENOBLE closed from 1600hrs to 2400hrs
LAROCHELLE closed from 1600hrs to 2400hrs
LIMOGES closed from 1600hrs to 2400hrs
MARSEILLE closed from 1600hrs to 2400hrs
MONTPELLIER closed from 1300hrs to 2400hrs
NIMES closed from 1600hrs to 2400hrs
PAU closed from 1300hrs to 2400hrs
PERPIGNAN closed from 1300hrs to 2400hrs
PORTO closed from 0600hrs to 2400hrs
REUS closed from 1300hrs to 2400hrs
RODEZ closed from 1300hrs to 2400hrs
SANTANDER closed from 0600hrs to 2400hrs
SANTIAGO closed from 0600hrs to 2400hrs
ST ETIENNE (LYON) closed from 1600hrs to 2400hrs
TOULON closed from 1600hrs to 2400hrs
VALLADOLID closed from 0600hrs to 2400hrs
ZARAGOZA closed from 0600hrs to 2400hrs

Passengers scheduled to fly on flights which have been cancelled are advised not to go to the airport, but instead change their flight bookings (or request refunds) on line at www.ryanair.com .

Ryanair press release 09/05/2010

[sn26567]

Volcanic ash: test flights

At the request of and in agreement with the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC), this afternoon Air France conducted a test flight intended to improve the models used to predict the density of volcanic ash.

The flight was carried out with an A320 which took off passenger-less from Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 5:10 p.m. and landed back at 8:17 p.m. It flew over the Bay of Biscay and the chain of the Pyrenees in clear sky. Special control service was provided during the southern portion of the flight which enabled it to follow a profile defined in agreement with the specialists at Météo France. It was thus able to confirm that no visible ash residue was observed in the zones indicated by the London VAAC (Volcanic Ash Advisory Center).

The additional inspections organized by aircraft manufacturers to confirm that no trace can be found on the fuselage and the engines are currently being conducted by the Air France Maintenance teams.

At this stage, this flight along with the special engine monitoring mechanism set up by Air France is expected to help maintain most of its flight schedule in full safety and in agreement with air traffic and safety authorities.

To do so, Air France relies on the professionalism of all of its technical teams.

Air France press release, Saturday 8 May 2010

[AFApresident]

Any impact on flights to/from Africa (which have to cross the portuguese / spanish airspace)? I'm flying back on 13 may from Dakar to Brussels.

[sdbelgium]

Munich and Stuttgart now also closed.

[sn26567]

Any impact on flights to/from Africa (which have to cross the portuguese / spanish airspace)? I'm flying back on 13 may from Dakar to Brussels.

They fly above the cloud. No impact so far.