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Passengers Stuck Down Under Due to Virgin Blue Computer Meltdown

Thanks to a little bit of an electronic glitch, travelers looking to jet around aboard Virgin Blue are now stuck down under. Over the weekend, the reservation system for Virgin Blue crashed and burned, and as a result everything had to be done by hand. Obviously, this wasn’t the ideal situation, and the travel plans of many were put on hold as passengers entered the world of travel hell.

The airline was begging passengers to postpone travel if they could, and that non-essential trips—we consider all our trips essential—be postponed to today if possible. At least those stuck Sunday night were promised a hotel room for the evening, so there was no need to camp out in the terminal.

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'Indefinite' UK Travel Restrictions Stay While Many European Flights Resume

Yesterday we reported on the tiff between the airline industry and the EU, where airline officials were blaming ongoing big ash problems on bureacratic incompetence. If only the EU's transport ministers could get together, the argument went, they would realize that airplanes can fly around or under the ash thrown up by Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano.

Well yesterday the EU's transport ministers did meet, albeit by videoconference. They went over the situation and decided—wouldn't you know it—that the continued shutdown of Europe's airspace was unnecessary. More than half of the Continent's 27,500 flights are set to take off today, though we're still nowhere near the end of this debacle. For instance Britain's airports remain closed at least through Wednesday, with London mayor Boris Johnson announcing today that travel restrictions could be "indefinite."

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Airlines Fight to Ease Restrictions on Ash Cloud Air Space Shutdown

With international air carriers set to lose $1.75 billion per week because of comprehensive European air space restrictions—'that's billion with a capital "B"—airline officials have politely begun to ask EU bureaucrats wtf is going on. Or at least that's what they were doing at the end of last week. Having received no satisfying answers over the weekend, and with literally half of Europe still shut down because of the unreliable computer models, flying below and around the ash is a viable option, and European governments are too slow and incompetent to adjust to actual conditions. There have been test flights since the eruption, with pilots reporting "perfect" springtime conditions. That EU Transportation Ministers are functionally unable to organize a conference call to update their heavy-handed flying restrictions, insist the airlines, is outright "embarrassing."

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The Five Most Humbling Photos of Eyjafjallajökull Volcano's Ash Cloud

Are you trapped far from home due to the massive volcanic ash cloud covering Europe? Relief is on the way, but for now, you can only rest up and prepare for the final slog.

Since we're several days into the mass flight cancellations now, hopefully everyone has realized that this is the eye at the center of the storm. It's the period just after widespread confusion and before flights get back up even to half-power, when a rush on airports and available seats will begin. We suggest understanding what exactly is keeping you grounded, and so we kept our noses to Twitter and news and dug up the Five Most Humbling Photos of the Ash Cloud, just to put things into perspective. Yelling and crying at the airports won't help, because no airplane wants to fly through this.

Check out the snaps, after the jump

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Volcanic Ash Clouds Cause Mass Flight Cancellations For Britain, Northern Europe

Update 1:30pm EST: United Air Lines has cancelled all Europe-bound flights leaving from the US today. They are issuing travel waivers for passengers HERE. As a result, all United flights leaving from LHR/CDG/AMS/FRA/BRU/DME to the US tomorrow are also cancelled. (Because the planes for those are still in the US, of course)

Update 11:45am EST: Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam's Schiphol Airports have closed due to the ash, as well as many other French and northern European airports. First time all UK airports have stopped flights since 9/11.

Flying to London today? Or perhaps you're already in London and attempting to fly elsewhere in Europe? Stop right there and consult FlightStats.com first, because your flight might be cancelled due to volcanic ash. That's right, we said volcanic ash is causing mass international flight delays, and it's not the first time in the last few weeks.

Up in southern Iceland, tourists have been flocking to watch Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupt, ever since it began the fireworks and lava-spewing a few weeks ago. Today however, the volcanic ash clouds have invaded British air space and they're drifting south into northern Europe. The British Airports Authority has suspended passenger air traffic until at least 6am GMT tomorrow, the 16th. All of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Belgium are also putting a stop to flights while the dangerous ash cloud moves on. As expected, the Eurostar Channel Tunnel routes are completely sold out.

Why a volcanic ash cloud is very dangerous to airplanes, after the jump

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Super Bowl Celebrations Lead To Flight Delays And Aggravated Passengers

We tried to warn you about the traffic jam in New Orleans due to the Super Bowl victory parade, but apparently some didn’t listen to our advice. It seems like there were a couple people not looking to party, and they just wanted to get to work for their scheduled shift. After all, it’s pretty important for pilots to punch in on-time.

Last Tuesday a United Airlines flight was supposed to get out of The Big Easy at around 7pm; however, the pilots weren’t able to make it to the airport due to celebration shenanigans that took up much of the city’s streets. The pilots finally got to the airport like two hours later, but that’s when things got even stranger.

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Think Tank Finds Solution To Flight Delays: New Fees On Passengers

Researchers over at the top-ranked Brookings Institution have taken a look at the airline industry and at airport congestion, and they'd like you to know that they're very concerned. They note that airline delays have increased dramatically over the last decade, until now more than one in ten planes is over two hours late. Very true and very concerning, and thank you for bringing that to our attention, though it's hardly news.

Their solution, which is to raise fees in order to discourage travelers from flying during peak congestion times, seems to us much less smart:

The researchers said much of the problem is due to heavy concentrations of short trips between big cities, but they also cited an "ill-equipped" air traffic control system and other factors. They suggested increasing high-speed rail service to offer travelers alternatives to short flights. They also recommended letting busy airports charge fees on rush-hour flights to make airlines spread trips more evenly through the day.

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Air India Needs To Build A Better Mousetrap After Rat Sneaks Aboard

We’ve seen our share of airline delays due to weather, mechanical delays, and even wacky passengers. However, there aren’t too many delays caused by furry critters. Well, that’s exactly what passengers of an Air India flight had to deal with as they were stuck to wait things out for about 11 hours.

Apparently a flight with over 200 passengers from Amritsar, India was supposed to head out to London over the weekend. Early on Saturday morning passengers spotted a rat on the plane, and then the rest of the day was spent searching for the little stowaway. After all, it definitely didn’t go through security.

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Mathematics Might Be The Secret To Fixing Airline Delays

We’ve all been there, and we certainly have done our share of complaining about them: the dreaded delayed airplane. For the most part it has just become one of the many fun features that are now part of the travel experience. However, there are some researchers trying to crack the code behind these inconveniences, and the smartypants scientists feel that a little math might help everyone out. If academics can help aircraft land on time and leave on schedule, we just might head back to school.

Computer scientists at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland have created a system to use runways efficiently to reduce delays and to conserve fuel use. Their plan uses the size of aircraft, fuel efficiency of the plane, and number of passengers aboard to figure out the most effective way to move the birds around the airport. Their new math also looks at the amount of suitcases on the planes to ensure baggage handling delays are kept to a minimum. Unfortunately, there’s no mention of preventing baggage loss—too bad.

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Delta Takes The Cake For Ridiculous Tarmac Waits

Have you ever been in an airplane traffic jam? We imagine that it looks something like the picture above, and judging from the latest numbers from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, a healthy number of Delta passengers have been enjoying this view lately.

In terms of airlines whose flights have had more than two hours of Taxi-Out time, or "the time elapsed between departure from the origin airport gate and wheels off," Delta ranks first with a hefty amount of their 105,430 flights suffering such a delay in just the first three months of 2009. For 31 of those flights, the planes sat on the tarmac for over 180 minutes, awaiting their turn at their skies.

Knowing about this now, we can better prepare for future Delta flights, especially the one we've got tomorrow. Just remember the major rule of pre-flight comfort: fully charge iPods, Kindles, cell phones, and electronic handheld Sudokus. Perhaps bring a bag lunch just for the plane; it's a shame pizza can't be delivered to the airport tarmac.

Related Stories:
· Taxi-Out and Other Tarmac Times [BTS]
· Airline Delays Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: matt.hintsa]

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Prepare For Delays If You're Flying Delta Today

There’s nothing worse than flying on small commuter jets, except when those jets aren’t flying for the day and you’re stuck. That could be the scene today as Atlantic Southeast Airlines, which usually flies Delta connection flights, has grounded about 60 regional jets to check out their engines.

Apparently an internal audit at ASA raised some questions as to whether the company was checking out what they were supposed to be checking out. It sounds like they weren’t following manufacturers guidelines, and like good kids, the airline reported the problem to the FAA and took the initiative by grounding these planes. Only ASA’s Bombardier CRJ200s are currently affected, so your plans aboard a commuter jet aren't totally ruined today.

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Winter Storms in the U.S. Leave Snarled Flights and Snarling Passengers

Snow, sleet, and rain in the Midwestern and northeastern United States grounded hundreds of flights this weekend, majorly screwing up travel plans for thousands of people and giving news outlets a timely opportunity to run their annual holiday travel chaos stories. Airports in Detroit, Chicago, and even Las Vegas had rampant delays and cancellations, while Milwaukee's General Mitchell airport shut down entirely to focus on snow removal. Things were pretty grim in the New York area as well, with more than 500 flights canceled at LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark airports. Since New York is such a major airline hub, its delays and cancellations caused ripples throughout the entire country, making more people than usual shake their fists in anger at the Big Apple.

We're actually kind of surprised so many flights were cut, because it didn't seem like we got that much snow. It came down pretty steadily yesterday, but ultimately left only a couple of inches on the ground and coat of ice on the plastic crocodile (pictured) that Louie, our landlord, keeps in the garden. Sub-freezing temperatures must have compounded the problems, because what's on the streets now isn't going to be melting on its own any time soon. If you're flying this weekend, Google your flight number to see if you'll be making it to Grandma's house before Monday, and pack a good book just in case.

[Photo: Victor Ozols]

Related Stories
· Storms Snarl Flight Schedules in Midwest, Northeast [USA Today]
· Retreat! Retreat! NYC Snowed In [Jaunted]