Family Affairs

ARE YOU STILL STRANDED?

I am safely back, but many people still are not. I was hearing a horrendous story about stranded passengers at Bangkok airport. My friend just got out of there yesterday. Via Vienna. The amazing thing is that it was only yesterday that Reykjavik airport has been closed for the first time since the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull brought Europe’s aviation industry to a standstill.

UK airlines are seeking volunteers to give up seats so the thousands of people still stranded after the volcanic ash disruption can get home. British Airways has asked customers who are booked on long-haul flights up to 2 May to make way for those who were stranded and Virgin Atlantic says many such volunteers have contacted the airline. But many airlines’ long-haul passengers still face weeks of delays, with re-booked returns stretching into May. This is NOT GOOD ENOUGH. WHY aren’t the airlines putting on extra flights to get everybody back? They can’t just squeeze people here and there on to already fully booked flights and you can’t have people strolling on to planes before those that have been stuck somewhere for days and days. It is totally unacceptable and highly inefficient and what is going to happen when the next, much larger volcano erupts? Apparently Europe might be shut for three months then – last time it erupted Europe suffered the coldest summer ever and it is thought that the volcano might have been previously responsible for the potato famine and indirectly the French Revolution. “We are becoming quite adept at exporting our catastrophes” was a recent quote I read about Iceland.

Earlier BA rejected suggestions it was prioritising new passengers over those stranded abroad. But of course they are. All the airlines are doing that. That’s why there aren’t any flights available for days. Tens of thousands of people are still stuck overseas.

According to a BBC report there are still this many British citizens stranded abroad:-

Egypt: 10,000
Florida: 9,000
India: 8,000
South Africa: 5,000
California: 4,000
Thailand: 2,500
Malaysia: 2,000
Other significant regions: Caribbean (especially Antigua, Barbados, Cuba); Dubai; Maldives

And what about all the people who have got stuck on their journey home?

HOME AGAIN

We are finally home.

From our adventure in Dubai where we have been stranded for 7 days. We were at the airport all day yesterday but luckily for us a lovely member of the Emirates Ground Staff looked out for us. She got us on a flight to Gatwick but it was all very touch and go until the last minute. Never before have I been so pleased to receive three boarding passes. Everybody was the same, clutching their passes like they’d just been given Willy Wonka’s Golden ticket.

We all held our breath during the flight. It was like leaving a war zone. I have never seen a flight so full of young children and women and old people. They were shipping out the most needy and in our case the ones that were costing them the most amount of money. Everybody was calm but until we actually landed at Gatwick there was a tangible nervous tension in the air. Were we going to get through the ash cloud in one piece? Were we going to get diverted to Madrid? Was our flight going to get cancelled like the one before us? Once we touched down, their was an audible sigh of relief. The applause started erupting from the back of the plane and spread like a mexican wave through the plane. It was a very emotional moment.

We were very fortunate to get out so soon. Others weren’t so lucky. Because we were in transit and were on one of the first flights to have been turned away from Heathrow we were a “top priority” but still, I think Emirates have been amazing and have looked after us extraordinarily well. They paid for all six of our nights in a five star hotel AND all our food AND our wifi AND an international call home per day. You really couldn’t have asked for more than that. It’s hardly surprising that the bill for the airlines so far is approximately 1.7 billion – although I gather not all the airlines have been so generous and supportive in looking after their passengers.

My son’s operation went well and he will be back with me later today. The kids have gone to school which is very impressive considering we didn’t get home until 1am. They will be enjoying the drama no doubt.

It’s good to be home but now what am I going to write about??

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A WAITING GAME

We got a call first thing this morning. Emirates wanted everybody at the hotel to go to the airport. We were given three deadlines. The first was to leave within half an hour. There was no way. We had unpacked as if we were going to be staying for the next month. Total chaos in our room. Took two hours to squish it all into suitcases.

We have now been at the airport for over four hours. Not much is happening. Some people have got on flights. We are waitlisted for a full flight to Heathrow but so are 90 others. Not much hope of that then.

Others have been waitlisted for flights through the night. No idea if we are going to get on a flight today or not. If not, we have to find more accommodation and I very much doubt Emirates will be prepared to cover that.

Perhaps we should have stayed at the hotel for another day. The airport seems quite quiet mind you. Not too many stressed passengers hanging around. Fingers and toes crossed. My son is having his operation as we speak. Waiting to hear how it went. Doubly anxious as a result.

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DAY SEVEN

DAY SEVEN
L and her two children are in the bedroom. Her son is sitting on the floor playing on his ipod touch. She and her daughter are on the bed. Reading and watching the news. Daughter is shouting at him to turn it down. Son turns it down but starts [...]

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VOLCANIC EXILES – WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE YOU?

So fellow volcanic exiles – where in the world are you? There are loads of us all round the world. Let me know your story, just so that I don’t feel so alone here. I have one friend in Bangkok, one in Portugal, one in New York and friends of friends in Uganda. I’m in Dubai, with two of my three children.

I have been going through lots of different emotions of late. Initially shock and then anger, a few flashes of acceptance and calm but at the moment I feel frustrated and anxious again. I’m resigned to our wait but it’s mixed with sadness and confusion. There is nobody here to help. Nothing much on the horizon. Every day there is some hope and then the next moment it is dashed. My lovely friend with cancer has just texted to say that she’s been admitted to hospital. She’s really unwell. My father can’t stop vomiting and I don’t know what they’re going to do about that. My son is due for an operation tomorrow. Ten people from our hotel are being put on a flight later today but we are not on that list AND I’M GETTING REALLY PISSED OFF.

We are lucky in many ways. We have a hotel room. We are in a lovely place. There are many things to do and see. But we are far far away from home and Builder Bloke’s ridiculous idea of driving to get us suddenly doesn’t seem so mad. People seem to be prepared to launch themselves on increasingly mad terrestrial routes home. Flying to Athens, taking a ferry to Bilbao, hiring a car, getting on trains, taxis, boats. I am hearing of £3,000 taxi rides. All a total nightmare with my two children in tow. Better to keep calm and stay put. Or is it? We have only been given a short visa. What happens when that runs out? What happens if the whole of Europe gets covered in ash for an indefinite period? WHERE ARE THE MILLIONAIRES WITH A BOAT MOORED IN DUBAI WHEN YOU NEED THEM? Or helicopter pilots with helicopters? They won’t mind a bit of ash I’m assuming. Or what about camels? We could start trekking across Saudi Arabia on camels. Although I’ve got quite a lot of bags.

I can’t resist doing a lot of “what if’s?”. I cannot believe, given the subsequent chaos that we were turned away from Heathrow at the last minute. Officials have begun to acknowledge flaws in the computer models that led them to ground and turn away thousands of flights. They would have gone ahead under US aviation standards apparently AND WE WOULD HAVE BEEN HOME. This crisis is affecting nearly 7m people and the ripples go far, far beyond that.

We are so unprepared for mother nature it’s ridiculous. We have become so complacent about air travel that gets us anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours that we have been reduced to quivering wrecks in its absence. What a mess. My friend is building me a boat as we speak, but it could take many years.

Remind me to buy shares in shipping companies when I finally make it back home.

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“VOLCATION” CONTINUES

The latest word on the stranded street is that huge numbers of us are currently on “volcation”. Good word. I have made lots of new friends in the spirit of Dunkirk. We all roam around the hotel stopping and chatting in hushed tones about the latest news. There is a man here from Australia whose father’s funeral is in two more days. There is a couple who need to get back for urgent medication. There is a man who I have discovered lives 5 minutes away from me. There is a woman on her honeymoon who told me her life story yesterday – her destiny was to marry her cousin, she has endured female circumcision, a hunger strike, an escape from her father and his subsequent disownment of her. Incredible. The power of the human spirit and here she is happy and free (albeit temporarily stuck) with her lovely new husband. So many human stories.

Whilst the Emirates website says this morning that some UK airports will open today, the latest report from NATS does not look nearly so good:-

Statement on Icelandic volcanic eruption: Tuesday April 20, 0245
Since our last statement at 2100 yesterday, the volcano eruption in Iceland has strengthened and a new ash cloud is spreading south and east towards the UK. This demonstrates the dynamic and rapidly changing conditions in which we are working.

Latest information from the Met Office shows that the situation is variable. The information shows that Scottish airports should be available from 0700 and more airspace over England may become available from 1300 although not as far south as the main London airports.

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STUCK IN TRANSITION

I am trying not to think too much about missing my son having his shoulder operation on Wednesday. It doesn’t look like we’ll be back in time. It feels completely wrong not to be there with him as he goes under a general anaesthetic and then needs looking after post op. Also, [...]

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