FLIGHT DISRUPTIONS: Volcano ash from Iceland hits UK flight plans

confusedroast

We are due to fly out to the canaries on Friday - flight with Ryan Air and accomodation booked seperately - will we be going? I have read that Ryan Air are suspending all flights til Wednesday and we will be able to get a refund

malc_b

andrewmp wrote: »

Has anyone tried rebooking a flight with Easyjet? Their system is awful, it doesn't change the return date so it leaves me with a flight coming home just after I will get there. Also it's saying a flight on Friday is sold out but it'll sell me tickets on their main site!!

I've done this. I opted to move it 4 weeks ahead to let dust settle as it were. First change the cancelled flight to the new date. Then when that is done you have the option to make another change. Do that and it will change the return flight, automatically to keep the same duration AFAIR.

The reason for this is that Easyjet can't know what you want. Do you just want to move the out date and keep the return the same, so have a shorter holiday? Or do you want to move the return to keep the same holiday duration. AFAIK those are your only 2 options. Either keep the same return date, or keep the same holiday length. You don't have an open choice of return flight.

morocha

malc_b wrote: »

I've done this. I opted to move it 4 weeks ahead to let dust settle as it were. First change the cancelled flight to the new date. Then when that is done you have the option to make another change. Do that and it will change the return flight, automatically to keep the same duration AFAIR.

The reason for this is that Easyjet can't know what you want. Do you just want to move the out date and keep the return the same, so have a shorter holiday? Or do you want to move the return to keep the same holiday duration. AFAIK those are your only 2 options. Either keep the same return date, or keep the same holiday length. You don't have an open choice of return flight.

Hi ya, does anyone knows if the ryanair system works the same way ? TA

Well. i tried it but it does not work... i am trying to change my flight from the 20th april to the 7 th May
... as my coming back originally was on the 27 th it says that i should be at least an hour earlier than my departure and no, it does not let me change the return flight.

Here i am on hold... keep telling me 7 minutes.. it is being 15 minutes now.. and still waiting..

Risinfromthegutter

morocha wrote: »

Hi ya, does anyone knows if the ryanair system works the same way ? TA

Well. i tried it but it does not work... i am trying to change my flight from the 20th april to the 7 th May
... as my coming back originally was on the 27 th it says that i should be at least an hour earlier than my departure and no, it does not let me change the return flight.

Here i am on hold... keep telling me 7 minutes.. it is being 15 minutes now.. and still waiting..

I rang Ryanair yesterday ... twice, it took me about an hour to get through each time. After so long the "7 minutes" turns to "shortly", when this message kicks in I was waiting only about 10 minutes more.

They unlock your return flight and tell you to amend it online, though when I tried to do this it was trying to charge me for the return flight... so I had to ring back and the second time they changed the flights for me.

You may be best advised to get them to change the flights on the phone during your first call!! Hope this helps,



Does anyone think I may get any money back for my accomodation?? I'm not getting anywhere (sun 4U), I'm tempted to just get a refund for my flights and book a holiday for later in the year... i'm afraid I have been put off cheap holidays now!!... and cheap insurance for that matter! ... if i manage to get any money back from Sun 4U then it'll be a bonus... after spending friday, saturday and sunday on the phone and email, I've pretty much had enough!

x

morocha

Risinfromthegutter wrote: »

I rang Ryanair yesterday ... twice, it took me about an hour to get through each time. After so long the "7 minutes" turns to "shortly", when this message kicks in I was waiting only about 10 minutes more.

They unlock your return flight and tell you to amend it online, though when I tried to do this it was trying to charge me for the return flight... so I had to ring back and the second time they changed the flights for me.

You may be best advised to get them to change the flights on the phone during your first call!! Hope this helps,



Does anyone think I may get any money back for my accomodation?? I'm not getting anywhere (sun 4U), I'm tempted to just get a refund for my flights and book a holiday for later in the year... i'm afraid I have been put off cheap holidays now!!... and cheap insurance for that matter! ... if i manage to get any money back from Sun 4U then it'll be a bonus... after spending friday, saturday and sunday on the phone and email, I've pretty much had enough!

x

thanks for that, i have been o hold for 40 min.. and a very off guy changed my flights.. he saidi can not have more than 2 weeks apart from my original flight... anyway i tried to change my MIL too and he said no, gave me the phone number that charge £1 a minute, and i tried it and they just hang up on you !!!

Risinfromthegutter

morocha wrote: »

thanks for that, i have been o hold for 40 min.. and a very off guy changed my flights.. he saidi can not have more than 2 weeks apart from my original flight... anyway i tried to change my MIL too and he said no, gave me the phone number that charge £1 a minute, and i tried it and they just hang up on you !!!

Yeah I tried the £1 a minute number was it 090 something or other, after trying the 0871 number for hours on friday, I just got cut-off. Glad you got your flights changed, how you doing with accomodation etc?

sabelita

FERRIES FROM THE NORTH OF SPAIN
In case anyone's thinking of crossing over from the North of Spain to the UK, P&O have just opened up extra spaces on their ferries from Bilbao to Porstmouth. I've just booked a place for one passenger (on foot, 215 euros, ouch!). The journey takes 28 hours and you can book on 902020461.
Good luck everyone!

PhylPho

Salisbury wrote: »

I hope this helps others in a similar situation.

We were due to travel back from Munich to Gatwick on Thurs and rescheduled for Sat. When we saw the weather forecast we realised we could be delayed for weeks and decided to head for the ferry. Eurostar was sold out til Weds earliest.

The good....
We booked a ticket for Sunday for 2 adults and 2 kids to Paris with DB for 350 euros (kids are free). 150 euros from Paris to Calais. Took around 8 hours. All very smooth, but the train was full, so you need to book.

The bad.
Taxi from Calais station to port was 45 euros for a 10 min ride because 'its a Sunday'....

The shocking.:mad:
We tried to book a foot passenger ticket on Friday for Sunday, but the earliest was Monday. I called P&O UK and Germany 3 times and waited, then was cut off. I tried Norfolkline and they said they don't accept foot passengers for H&S reasons ?!? However, they did say that the P&O were accepting passengers on a first come first served basis and it shouldn't be a problem. We arrived at 16:30 and were sailing by 17:45. The shocking thing was they had locked out internet bookings at 48 euros so that they could charge us 195 euros at the port. Some people paid 230 euros for 4 adults! Conversely, a lady we met got her husband to drive onto the Ferry in UK, collect her & 2 kids from Calais and return 2 hours later for less than 50 GBP. Someone needs to do something about this. Its immoral, targets the foot passengers with no other options, is dispassionate and illustrates pure greed. Surely in post bank crisis territory they should have learned a few lessons. I hope the Government stings them for a windfall tax.

The entertaining...
A couple of blokes we met on the train to Paris had booked on Norfolkline for 12 Euros each for a bike crossing, but they had both 'lost their bikes'.;) Not sure how they got on....

The very good.:)
Central cabs in Dover charged us 90GBP to get to Gatwick to collect our car. Their normal rate, which was not escalated to take advantage and at least 20GBP cheaper than anyone else. Many thanks for a great service.

The excellent.:j
We expected to get stung for an extra 3-4 days Gatwick on site long stay parking, but we didn't have to pay a penny extra. A huge thanks for your integrity.

Overall - 15 hours from Munich station to Gatwick, which is reasonable.

I hope this benefits the 1000s of others in a similar situation. Good luck!

Superb post -- thank you for making the effort at a difficult time like this to provide this info.

P&O will already have rehearsed a full set of reasons as to why it is having to charge (sic) foot passengers one-way fares of such seemingly extortionate cost. P&O will also be hoping that those who've paid up in order to be on their way will now stay out of P&O's way in terms of registering a complaint.

Although you will have much else on your mind at the moment, hopefully you'll have an opportunity in due course to not merely write a letter of complaint to P&O but also to your MP, whoever he/she turns out to be.

Hugh_Jass

Expedia's call centre number is now just ringing out! Bad enough I was on hold all weekend without getting through. Why can't they offer an email response service and notify customers how long they can take to get a refund? Luckily I have a 0% purchase card but not everyone is so lucky. My brother got a refund from Cathay but it may take 3 months to process!!

morocha

Risinfromthegutter wrote: »

Yeah I tried the £1 a minute number was it 090 something or other, after trying the 0871 number for hours on friday, I just got cut-off. Glad you got your flights changed, how you doing with accomodation etc?

I am spanish speaker so i rang the hotel in Spain, explained the situation and they agreed to change our accomodation when we know for sure we are travelling at no extra cost. they are great.