Iceland volcano worries

There have been a number of other posts on here, generally the response has been that Icelandic will take care of you and that the panic is subsiding because so is the volcano.

In April 2010 my wife & I were flying British Airways from Pheonix, Arizona USA to Paris. The morning of our flight I checked the flight status and found to my shock the flight was cancelled due to volcanic activity over Iceland. It was the first day flights were cancelled because of volcanic ash. The rescheduled flight three days later was also cancelled. British Airways refunded our money for the flight and we rescheduled our trip for the fall. Most B&B & hotels were sympathetic and did not stiff us for the deposit.

On Tuesday, Sept. 3rd we are again taking British Airways this time to London. My biggest fear is getting stuck in England and not being able to continue to Netherlands for second part of our trip or flying back to the U.S. If you have the misfortune of that volcano blowing while in Iceland, you could really be stuck on that tiny island for a while. But as the last person commented, the volcano threat seems to be subsiding. Worrying doesn't really do any good. I would think of contingency plans, check your travel insurance policy if you can cancel for any reason or how much of the trip interruption and rescheduled flights (say from Rome) would be covered, just so you know. Other than making some sacrifices to the Gods of Vulcan, I am not sure what else you can do.

We were in France while Peter was trying to get out of Phoenix in April 2010. We had flown there on Icelandair. Later that month, when we were scheduled to return, most European airspace was clear again but Iceland wasn't. They put us on an Air France nonstop back to Seattle. They were also running nonstops between Glasgow and Boston to help people get across the ocean. The next year we had a similar experience in England and they put us on British Airways flights home. I agree with Nigel, they'll take care of you one way or another.

@Peter -- You won't get stuck in Britain if you try the Eurostar or a ferry to the continent.

When this happened last time we were on our way to Ireland. I though great how could we pick the country almost on top of the thing. Well we were on United/Luftansia and we got there and back without any delays but it was touch and go both ways. And on the way home they literally rushed us on the plane and said if we did not take off in 10 minutes we would not get out. Then had to fly south to Spain and then across to California.