Clients Affected by Volcanic Ash Grounded Planes

Updated April 16, 2010

U.S. travel agents are starting to report that their clients are being affected by Iceland’s volcano as flight cancellations and delays spread further into Europe. Though a handful of airports originally affected by the volcanic ash cloud have reopened to limited air traffic, disruptions are expected to continue into Saturday, and possible beyond as the massive ash cloud moves south and east.

Eurocontrol, the European air traffice agency, said only 11,000 flights are expected to opearate in Europe today, rather than the usual 28,000.

As quoted in an A.P. article Brian Flynn, Eurocontrol spokesman said, “There will be significant disruption of air traffic tomorrow.”

Yesterday all flights over Britain, Ireland, France, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Belgium were grounded. As the cloud moved further east, flights were halted at 11 German airports including Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne.

As of today, much of Europe’s air space is still closed, however Ireland reopened airports in Dublin and Cork, and France has allowed some planes to land at Paris’ three airports. Though Sweden and Norway declared skies in the far north to be safe, flights in Stockholm and Oslo remain grounded.

Poland, Switzerland, Croatia and Slovakia have also now closed their air space.

Shirley Copeland, CTC, president of Jensen Travelon, told Travel Market Report she spent an hour yesterday cancelling a client’s FIT vacation. Cancellations included hotels, rail tickets and air tickets for the clients who could not get out of the U.S. — they were bound for Paris.

“Delta is going to refund their ari tickets, two of the three hotels have cancelled without penalty and I’m waiting to hear back from the third that was prepaid,” she said. The rail ticket is also refundable, but Copeland will have to mail back the tickets.

The worst part, “No compensation for us, of course,” she said.

Trafalgar told Travel Market Report its tours are operating normally at the moment, and the company advises gusts to contact their airlines regarding any upcoming flights.

According to a spokesperson for the Globus family of brands, all Globus brand vacations are also operating as normal.

“While we’re doing our best to assist our customers and agents who are impacted by this situation, the best course of action is that customers scheduled to travel within the next few days contact their airline directly, as they have the most up-to-date information.”

Globus family of brands has established a helpline for customers and agents at (866) 397-6593 for further assistance.

Original Article

One day after an Icelandic volcano erupted, its resultant plume of ash has drifted into airspace across much of northern Europe, effectively grounding all (but emergency) flights in and out of dozens of airports and wreaking havoc on travel schedules worldwide.

The ash-and-dust cloud, currently wafting across the continent at altitude levels normally utilized for air travel, has reportedly already halted flights out of Britain, Norway and Belgium, and resulted in major flight cancellations at major hubs in Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and France.

Specifically, it was noted British airports were closed by mid-day, with no clear word as to when flights might be able to safely resume. However, numerous sources have gone on record as stating the problem could well go on for days… if not longer. Much depends on how long it takes the plume to dissipate and/or settle.

Though no U.S. agents are reporting to Travel Market Report that they have clients currently affected, some suppliers are caught up in the situation.

“We have one departure out of Paris affected,” said Bruce Rosenberg, vice president of marketing for AMAWATERWAYS.

The sailing is scheduled to depart on Sunday but passengers usually fly in early, as many will have pre-cruise stays arranged. Right now guests are having a hard time getting into Paris.
 
“We’re working with every single passenger on an individual basis,” Rosenberg told TMR. In many cases, clients are being re-routed to Frankfurt where there appear to be less problems. For those who purchased transfers from the company, AMAWATERWAYS will pick them up in Frankfurt and transfer them to Paris.

Although the line does not anticipate a delay in the scheduled departure, it is keeping an eye on the situation and will move the ship to be near an open airport if necessary.

“As of right now, the impact is minimal,” a spokesperson for Tauck said. The tour operator has four departures of different itineraries in Europe scheduled to start between April 17 and 20, so is monitoring the situation closely.

Agents are watching the situation as well.

“We are very lucky, we do not have any clients visiting that part of Europe that will be arriving or departing today or tomorrow,” said Roxanne Boryczki, president of AZ Trails Travel. “I’m hoping it clears soon however, as we do have clients traveling to that area next week.”