How do you propose to get the plane from the ground to 30,000 feet if the ash is covering the airspace around the airport? The ash is up to 30,000 feet. It is safe to fly above that, not below. Today EK put on coaches to bring people to BHX and got the passengers out of there. They did a similar thing last week getting people to NCL from Scotland when the airspace was closed there. If all of the UK airports end up being closed there is not much that can be done aside from getting to an airport on the continent that is open. Still it is a lot easier for EK to take care of the backlog from a hand full of flights. It is not so easy for BA/VS as nearly all of their flights go to/from/through the UK. Of course, as summer approaches and planes are nearly 100% full on all airlines, it is going to be harder and harder to accommodate stranded passengers if this continues for several more months.