Heathrow's Terminal 3 Departures on a good day.
Photo ©2009 Aaron Saunders
Flights to and from many Northern European countries are still in chaos this morning after a volcanic eruption in Iceland on Wednesday.
BBC News reports that flights could be grounded well into the weekend, backing up a system already clogged with displaced travelers.
Airspace in Denmark, Belgium, The Netherlands, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is closed to air traffic entirely. Partial closures still exist in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, Poland, Austria, and the Czech Republic.
Passengers are encouraged to check with their airlines to determine if their flights will be departing, or to make alternate arrangements.
Eurocontrol, the regulating body that oversees European air traffic, said in a statement that on a normal day, over 300 transatlantic flights arrive in Europe in one morning. Yesterday, less than 120 made it across.
What makes this so dramatic - and affecting - for potential cruise or land travelers trying to reach Europe is just how far they'd have to deviate in order to do so. With London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, and Frankfurt's airports all closed to air traffic, getting to many places in Northern Europe is next to impossible at the moment.
Tomorrow we will have a feature article on what you can do if you are faced with a massive airport shutdown like this, and how to ensure you get your money back if you can't reach your destination.
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