Stranded in the US - should we fly to Spain?

ailuro2

San Francisco is much cooler, honestly! The holiday inn round the corner from Union Square would be my choice if I were stuck there.

It's doable on foot and cable cars, which means you won't have to hire a car. Public transport in LA is bad or non existent.

Take the kids to Alcatraz!;)


eta, Good Luck with getting home. Take a note of what happens and when, and names of anyone you deal with. Keep all your receipts. I know it's BA, but just in case....

scottiepaul

Stay put. Flights are going transatlantic and many operators, such as Continental, are using bigger planes and trying to add additional flights to their Schedules to clear the backlog.

Contact your airline at least once a day (if you are in the area in person at the airport is better, although the queues will be a nightmare) to see if there is any space on an earlier flight direct to your final destination, or via a stop elsewhere in Europe.

At the worst you are stuck until the 30th, but you may well be able to get a space on any additional seat or flight that becomes available if you remain in contact with your airline.

Obviously this is only what I know from having family flying with Continental stuck in New York (they have shifted things around and have put several trans-atlantic flights onto one size up of aircraft), but I think other airlines are using this approach to, as for many the priority is now firmly on its long-haul operations.

Do NOT accept a flight to Madrid and then make your own way. It will take you pretty much as long, if not longer, and be less comfortable and more stressful to go overland than it will be to sit tight and get a flight straight home. Particularly if you are lucky enough to be with an EU carrier who will cover your costs.

stagey_2

Stay put - and get the flight on the 30th - BA are putting their long haul customers first - read the BBC website look at the map showing the dust cloud it is moving away from UK now - true it could drift back and anothe volcano could go up - but as of this moment aim for the 30th.

JennyB

Just to add - really good advice to stay put and keep calling. We were moved forward to Monday 26 at first (from 30th) and then today, to today's flight - sitting in departure lounge now. From my experience, to anyone else in this situation, I would suggest calling the airline a lot. If we hadn't called them so much we would still be waiting to fly home on 30th - they didn't call us...

socks_uk

Pleased to hear that you are on your way today. I rang Air Canada this morning but we still couldn't get anything any earlier than the original re-scheduled flights for Saturday.
Have a safe journey home.