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I agree with you there - additional TA flights could only help everyone involved!
Volcanic Ash Cloud
- Thread starter Dont call me Shirley
- Start date
Flying extra TA flights would have been great if more of the airports had been open and/or travel within Europe was easier. If the problem had been more specific, ie only UK or German airports closed, it could have worked.
We probably could have put people on a plane to Madrid or Barcelona given enough time to let people know it was going and was open. Problem is for a lot of them once they get there, they're still going to be stuck. We had a couple of seats open to MAD and BCN this week and offered it to some people who were going to southern France or Portugal, but for those going to the UK or Germany, Spain was still quite a bit away for most people to say put me on the plane. Once they get to Spain the uncertainty of when/if they could get to their destination made many people just decide to wait it out here where they had a place to stay (even for those not departing now until the 1st or 2nd of May).
For many of the people we had today going to FRA we even offered next weekend to Zurich vs 3 or 4 days later to FRA direct and the families with bags and kids still said no due to the logistics and not knowing what was going to happen between now and then.
Also with the changing conditions over there, it could have been worse if we did add an extra flight and then the winds changed and now that was canceled too. Today they didnt decide if things were going until almost noon. We had a lobby full of people waiting to find out what was and wasnt flying. We were told DUB was a no go and then tonight at 5 or 6 were told it was going. Great, but we had already been told it wasnt and sent everyone home. I would hate to have added an extra flight and sent people to the hub to go to a place they didnt really want to go to only to be told that was now canceled too.
We probably could have put people on a plane to Madrid or Barcelona given enough time to let people know it was going and was open. Problem is for a lot of them once they get there, they're still going to be stuck. We had a couple of seats open to MAD and BCN this week and offered it to some people who were going to southern France or Portugal, but for those going to the UK or Germany, Spain was still quite a bit away for most people to say put me on the plane. Once they get to Spain the uncertainty of when/if they could get to their destination made many people just decide to wait it out here where they had a place to stay (even for those not departing now until the 1st or 2nd of May).
For many of the people we had today going to FRA we even offered next weekend to Zurich vs 3 or 4 days later to FRA direct and the families with bags and kids still said no due to the logistics and not knowing what was going to happen between now and then.
Also with the changing conditions over there, it could have been worse if we did add an extra flight and then the winds changed and now that was canceled too. Today they didnt decide if things were going until almost noon. We had a lobby full of people waiting to find out what was and wasnt flying. We were told DUB was a no go and then tonight at 5 or 6 were told it was going. Great, but we had already been told it wasnt and sent everyone home. I would hate to have added an extra flight and sent people to the hub to go to a place they didnt really want to go to only to be told that was now canceled too.
