Mr. Roboto

If you were flying south of the Spanish-French border, wouldn't you already be in Spanish airspace?

dav373

How come CO cancelled the BCN flight tonight when the airport is supposedly open? I would imagine the flight path is similar to MAD.

SirRagnar

BCN have been closed for most of the day. It have just recently re-opened.

http://spanairinforms.wordpress.com/...t-information/

sbm12

With the 752 the normal BCN routing is pretty much at its limits. If they try for the southern ETOPS path it probably doesn't have the legs, particularly for the return. I suppose they could put a bigger plane on that route instead of EWR-MCO-EWR but CO makes the decisions they do.

EWR-BCN is ~3800 miles. EWR-GRW-BCN is over 4,000 (GRW is in the middle of the Azores and is relatively close to where the routing would take the plane).

EWR-GRW-MAD is still only 3,700 miles so well within range.

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=ewr-bcn...d&MS=wls&DU=mi

Mr.Nuke

It is pretty much the same situation as yesterday. The airport was shut down for the entire morning and only reopened in the afternoon. By that time, CO had already canceled the flight.

Mr.Nuke

Based on what has happened the past couple of days, I don't think this was the issue, as I doubt a 752 (even though the listed aircraft) would've been making the flight.

rkkwan

I noticed that the flights coming back from LIS and MAD today were not full. Those who were stranded elsewhere in Europe could have found some ways to get to Iberia... like buying a car and drive there...

Mr.Nuke

It makes sense when you think about it. Their would have been more people at EWR desperate to get on any flight they possibly could to Continental Europe than people sitting in Lisbon or Madrid trying to get back.

thaliajen

Here in London they're saying that more European airports will open tomorrow. None in UK airspace, but certainly some I could get to via train.

I'm confused about the reports that the trains are full- I just heard that they're adding more trains to help with the situation. I hope so- as I don't see my Heathrow-EWR flight getting out on Wednesday as scheduled.

It's really becoming a dilemma- do we wait in the UK for flights to open or do we take chances on trains to destinations that are open one day and closed the next?

I can't even get through to CO at this time so I don't know what my options are for the flight home. Will they accommodate us if we pay our way to a destination where they are flying, or will we be charged for new tickets?

I know this is all new and unprecedented, but I hope everyone keeps their heads about them. Personally I just want to get home to my 10 month old son. I don't think I'll ever leave him to travel this far away until he's grown!

I'm reminded of that book "The Secret". Didn't it say we should envision what we want and it will happen, or something like that? Well, I'm envisioning myself in BF eating an ice cream sundae as I fly toward Newark.

sbm12

Based on what logic to you perceive asymmetric demand??

Mr.Nuke

Considering the fact that CO has only flown 2 or 3 of its routes to Europe the past several days, I'd expect at this point there are a lot more CO passengers at EWR that are willing to get to anywhere they can in Europe and then go from there, than there are CO passengers in MAD or LIS trying to get out of Europe. Plus those routes have operated relatively normally. There shouldn't have been many stranded passengers from route disruptions on the other end. You have the equivalent passengers of 100 some flights on one end and maybe 5 at the two airports on the other end.

If a situation develops were this is a prolonged event, then yes I'd expect the demand to level out, as people stuck in Northern Europe migrate South to get out. That being said, I think the results show their clearly was asymmetric demand last night, and like I said, it makes sense that there was.

crnk

At last night's mini-DO, one of CO's very own indicated that they would have flown more flights to southern European destinations that were still open, but there are issues with things as simple as getting hotels for the crew! I think that going forward, that might be an issue if, for example, the UK opened up and there were still restrictions in other countries like Germany. This whole mess will clearly take weeks to clear up.

thaliajen

CRNK- did anyone mention what the best plan is to get out of the UK to the US? I mean, what route is considered the most stable? I'm not sure if I should head to Spain or to Italy, or even if something as close as Paris will open up.
Also, anyone know if CO is going to allow us to change our tickets from LHR to Rome or wherever they're flying from?

Also, I can't get through to CO on the Plat Elite line- it's on hold as would be expected. I don't want to spend a fortune using my cell phone. Is there a local number we can call from the UK?

sbm12

Sure, but if there are planes flying the passengers from other airlines are likely to try to get on any flight they can, including the CO flights, right?

rkkwan

I don't think there are scores of passengers standing by at LIS or MAD or FCO for flights across the Atlantic on any airline. There are plenty of them in UK and northern Europe. Problem is that unless they're driving, they can't get to LIS/MAD/FCO as all trains and buses are filled up heading to/from Iberia and the Italian peninsula.