My wife and I had planned our anniversary trip to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, leaving April 30 (to the UK, since its the only direct flight from our hometown) and then traveling to Denmark. Then, we fly between those places, leaving Sweden May 14 to London, to return home the 15th of May. I'm seeing a lot of talk about Europe as a whole running out of jetfuel, so of course, I have concerns that we could potentially be stranded on any leg of that trip. Is this a true concern to have, or am I overthinking this?
Posted by
Oregon 🌲
534 posts
This is an on-going thread on this topic: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/possible-jet-fuel-shortages
Posted by
Freedonia
18842 posts
You won't be stranded. You may be moved to a different flight but you won't be stranded. The airlines will find ways to get fuel.
According to Reuters, Europe imports 30-40% of its jet fuel from outside Europe with about half coming from the Middle East.
Posted by
Freedonia
18842 posts
This Reuters article from yesterday may set your mind at ease...
Takeaways....
--Europe gets about 15-20% of its jet fuel from the Middle East. They are looking at buying more from the US.
--IAG, the parent company of British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia and others says they don't have any shortages but see rising prices
--EU sees no sign of widespread flight cancellations in coming months
--the EU sees no shortages through June. Past that and some may occur. Some, not all.
Posted by
Chicago
4291 posts
I’ll be leaving for Denmark and Sweden 2 weeks after you. I try hard not to worry about things that are out of my control. And if I believed everything that is reported in the news, I would probably never leave my house.
Look at all the tours that Rick Steves and other tour companies are running in Europe. They are not panicking and cancelling all their tours.
Enjoy your trip!!
Posted by
Washington DC
30601 posts
Your travel within Scandinavia may be manageable via ferry and train rather than flights, if need be.
Posted by
OP
15 posts
Yall are seriously the best to help put my mind at ease! It’s been a pretty tough year (not for us, but for circumstances), so we’ve obviously been looking forward to this quite a bit. It sounds like the worst case scenario will be some switching of flights, which obviously would be inconvenient, but ideally doable.
If trains had to be inlay, wouldn’t that take 10+ hours just to do something as simple as Copenhagen to Bergen?
I will focus on what I can control!
Posted by
Oregon
115 posts
Thank you Frank II for that encouraging article. We leave in two weeks and weren’t worried about the flight going to Europe, but wondering how our return flight home May 31st could be affected. But who is ever in a hurry to leave Europe? We figured if our flight got cancelled or delayed, we would just get to enjoy an extended stay.
Posted by
Bay Area SF & Uppsala Sweden 🇸🇪
1659 posts
Hi there, I actually answered your inquiry inside that thread about jet fuel shortage (wayyyy down in the thread.) Here it is again, with some edits -
A) You're flying to LHR, then onto CPH, which under most circumstances would not be cancelled, though that flight LHR to CPH might get some 'consolidation' with other flights. CPH is a large airport, hub for SAS, so that's the good news. Assume you're not flying on a discount airlines that final leg.
B) You have a lot of ferry / train alternatives once you land in CPH, worst case scenario. You could even take the train / ferry from CPH to Oslo & onto to Bergen, the latter of which is considered one of the most scenic train trips in Europe. And then take the train from Bergen to Stockholm, though it would take some time, I would plan a night in Oslo along the way, which by the way is a beautiful city. Hope it works out!