According to the London Times, UK airspace is to open beginning 22:00 London time, tonight. A "long stream" of long haul flights are expected to land at London airports in the morning.

Let us hope that sticks and the flights land safely.

I wish everyone good luck! Safe travels. I leave for Paris on May 25th so hope that all is well by then.

We have tickets to fly to BCN thru LHR on April 26/27. We should probably just cancel, and give the backlog a chance to get caught up ... but I'm thinking that will void our travel insurance, if the company doesn't go bankrupt, paying off all the claims. (The cynic in me imagines they'll just call it an act of god anyway ... ) Still, at least it's my choice.

Sorry baladeuse, it seems to me that you are still in Canada, but as Heathrow has just opened then hopefully you will make it soon

just27 - I had several conversations with the company that is insuring our trip - TruTravel -_and we are covered if our trip is cancelled and will not leave for 24 hours or the airline cannot get us on a flight to our destination within that time period. If we have to stay overnight, a hotel is covered and if the airline takes us to a different destination, e.g., Edinburgh rather than London, they will pay for transportation to London via the least expensive means available. Weather related conditions are part of our policy and is how the company defines the present situation. All of this of course is up to our pre-chosen limit of the policy. However, if we choose to cancel on our own outside of the policy conditions, the policy is void.

Check directly with your insurer.

basingstroke, that is exactly the terms I got from our travel insurance... "our trip is cancelled and will not leave for 24 hours or the airline cannot get us on a flight to our destination within that time period".

We do have a cap of $2,500, but at least our cc has something!

My airline is not going to make any friends, because it announced that all tickets between April 16th and April 22nd are officially cancelled and fully refundable. Passengers who held tickets for those dates and who still want to travel are invited to buy new tickets at the applicable fares. It will not resume flights from Paris until Friday. That's all!

just27, as you have booked tickets for next week your airline will probably give you priority over anyone trying to re-book a missed flight from the past 7 days. The worst of the backlog should be gone by the weekend; by all means check with your airline, but unless there are any further disruptions, you should be ok.

I'm definitely feeling like things are looking up !

We are a week out... now we need to re-focus on the packing.

This crisis just reconfirms the 'pack light, carry it on' mantra.

We fully expect to leave for Granada tomorrow, connecting through Madrid. I cannot even fathom the chaos that will reign there when we arrive and possibly even a week later when we are scheduled to return.

It would be best to ensure that your doctor's reason(s) are actually covered - as most travel insurance coverage is limited to an illness that "prevents or substantially interferes with your ability to travel". Just because your doctor advises you not to fly does not mean that the adjusters will agree that it is a "covered reason". I'm just saying you may want to verify coverage before cancelling just to be sure.

Note also that the reason cannot be changed/modified once your claim is submitted.

Basingstoke, thank you for posting this! We insured our upcoming trip with them, it's comforting to know they actually offer help!

Got an e-mail this morning from Orbitz that they got airline to agree to recredit us & cancel due to doctor's orders, set forth in detail in the letter signed by the doc which was submitted in support of the cancellation. I agree that cancellations can't be lightly made, but it is something to consider when the doc does order the trip cancelled for serious health issues, as ours did.

Our tickets are for next Thursday, April 29th into Rome. If we were flying back out of Rome, I would certainly take the risk. However, our return is out of Pisa to London on May 10th, then out of London back to US three days later on May 14th. No one has the answer for me, but I have obsessed endlessly and need to vent to other travelers whose eyes I cannot see glazing over.

These are frequent flyer seats. If the agent understood my questions, and if I understood her answers, we can re-bank the miles without paying any fee. (However, I am sure we would pay booking fees again when we re-book, but that is minimal compared to what most people caught in this mess are dealing with, of course.) All hotels except one in Italy have accepted cancellations. Probably jumped the gun on that one, but I am confident I can find a place to stay since it is still relatively low season.

What to do? What to do? This will be our 9th trip to Europe, and this trip is mostly to re-visit some favorite locations. Yesterday, I was convinced we should cancel. Today I read the headlines, look at my stack of books, the clothes set aside for our trip, and have started thinking we should go.

We have planned our last 7 trips through Fodors. Guess I felt compelled to spill my questions here. PJK

Hello PJK, I can sure understand your confusion but here is my thoughts.

If you do get stuck in Italy or London for a matter of days will your budget allow you to book hotel rooms for additional nights and cover food cost and any additional expenses that you would have without feeling panicky about the additional money your are spending?

If you take any medications can you get additional amounts so that you are not having a medical problem?

If you are retired there is no worry about a job but if you have pets or children and have set up the care for them would the people who will tend to your pets and that will be watching your children be agreeable to continue to do so while your are stuck in Europe.

If a job is involved will that create a problem with the boss?

No need to answer here on Fodor's but I think if you can mentally answer the questions I believe it would help you make the proper decision.

I sure hope the trip works out for you if you feel comfortable and relaxed about taking it and if you don't I hope that you can reschedule when the time is right. Best regards.

PJK, we are in a similar situation. The flights thing depends upon the airline.

We are also on ff flights - departing PHL the 28th for LHR. We are scheduled to return from CDG - PHL on May 9th.

Yesterday, I was extremely concerned. Our airline has a travel advisory through April 25th. I offered to move to a flight to CDG on the 28th and free up seats on the 28th to LHR (they are right now rebooking people for May 1st, so they need the seats).

I was told (by more than one agent):

1) If your flights are within the travel advisory, you can move to any other open coach seat to an 'alternate' nearby city (ie. CDG). They are not worrying about the class of service or ff level of miles. They are just worrying about getting you on another coach seat. (note: most agents looked at class of service first, but when I inquired that I had heard they weren't worrying about that, they backed off that statement and all said any coach seat is fine).

2) If your flights are not within the travel advisory, you can't do anything without paying the $250/seat change fee. If we wanted to change to CDG, we would have to pay the $250/seat + higher miles because the class of service exclusion doesn't apply. (We did find the same ff level seats to CDG if we connected through Frankfurt... I don't think so).

3) To totally cancel our flights, since we are outside the travel advisory, we would still have to pay the $250 ff redeposit fee.

Not sure if this helps or not, but means that our options are limited. I'm worried less about getting home the 9th than I am about getting there - they are still working through the backlog now and it will be sorted out by May 9th.

hth!

Thanks for responding LoveItaly. Good questions for all of us in this situation. We are in the fortunate position of being able to manage the issues you raised without dire consequences if our return is delayed. What I can't determine is whether or not my nature will allow me to relax and enjoy the trip. PJK

Come on people if the planes are flying, let's not change plans or panic. Let's show some spirit and not change our
lives. The time for action is now.
If we panic and let this situation disrupt and change our
true wishes, then the Volacano won.

Volcanoes always win.

We were scheduled to be in Ireland 4/21-5/2. Our Continental flight bought with FF miles was canceled. The good news is that Continental waived all penalties and fees which means our miles are being re-credited and the overage amount we paid will be refunded. We prepaid for only one thing, a medieval banquet, and they agreed to refund our money. So other than the disappointment of not being able to go, we did all right.

Plus, I sensed the trip was a no go and, as a result, I hurriedly put together an alternate trip to the Utah national parks for the same period of time. Never planned a 12 nite trip in 6 different cities in 36 hours. So unlike me not to trip plan to the nth degree, but oh well. I'm writing from Moab where we visited Arches yesterday and Canyonlands today. Wow!! Beautiful, beautiful.