Nom (or lack of it) de Plume

[hairyears]

Well, the trip to Ireland for my father's 80th birthday party was a bust; no flights and an abortive attempt to get to Holyhead overland and take the ferry only served to reinforce my dislike for the town of Crewe

Comments

[feanelwa]

On the other hand if I owned a boat on the South coast right now I would be posting my phone number all over the internet and planning what to spend my thousands on.

[feanelwa]

Ah. Jon Snow did, and Calais port officials told him to stop.

[feanelwa]

I am reliably informed by actively listening to what my eyes tell me that it was Dan Snow, not Jon Snow, which seems rather more plausible.

I don't know...I suspect it's to do with immigration and customs.

[fluffymark]

Other rail companies are not putting on extra trains because they don't need to, at least on some routes. The train I got from Edinburgh to London yesterday was far from being full. I suspect the only major overcrowding is occuring on the rail lines to sea ports.

[djw]

One reason for this, I think, is that NE do not allow passengers standing all the way down through the carriages - only in the vestibules. So if you don't have a booked ticket, they may not let you on at all.Not true - how could they

[skorpionuk]

Some extra data from over here (nr Toulouse, France):
flights from Toulouse and nearby are also grounded. It looks like they may run a reduced service to Paris and Madrid tomorrow, but I guess that's subject to change. Meanwhile, apparently there's a strike on the French trains! And Eurostar has been a no-go zone for days - let's hope that those extra trains materialise.

My plan is now to to go back in a hire car that's coming down from London tonight (delivering others who live here), on the ferry from Boulogne. I understand that the ferries are not taking foot passengers, only cars; I expect I'll take foot passengers if the situation looks tricky at the port.

Further comment...

[hairyears]

The US had first-hand experience of routing aircraft around a volcanic plume when they had less than half the air traffic they do now; and far, far more airspace than Europe.

Our airspace is crowded: spotting a gap in the ashcloud and getting a single flight above the debris, and down again, proves very little beyond the fact that transiting a less-dense region is safe. Admittedly, that's useful information: it means that aircraft can reach a safe altitude, and return, some of the time. But there aren't enough gaps all of the time to fit all of the traffic, and the gaps are a moving target

[_nicolai_]

It's not just about the economics of a less fuel-efficient flight profile; I suspect that long-haul aircraft simply do not have the fuel capacity fly the first 500 miles at 15,000 feet before climbing to an efficient altitude. I would be grateful if a qualified pilot or Flight Despatcher could 'do the numbers'I am not one of those, but I would like to point out that aircraft operating long-haul flights regularly hold at 10000-15000ft for an hour in situations of significant ATC delay, yet still manage to complete long haul journeys. The aircraft can do it, but will not have as long range (often not an issue, most aircraft don't fly their maximum range and pax/cargo weight can be traded for fuel weight in most cases) and might have to tech stop on particularly long routes

[hairyears]

Turboprops can fly at any altitude: their fuel curve is less sensitive to altitude. So they can fly under the ash. The gas turbines are, of course, just as sensitive to ash as those in a jet engine or a bypass flow turbofan

[djw]

FWIW, London to Amsterdam and Köln are both trivial rail journeys that can be booked with virtually no notice. The only way things will really improve is if we join the Schengen Area.

[naath]

It's a full day (or night) to cross the N. Sea to Holland. The ferry is very pleasant though, and well connected to the rail networks on both sides (plus the tickets are cheap).

The train from Amsterdam-London has only one change, which is pretty good for going that far; it takes about half a day (I suspect you could do it in less if you like cutting things finer than me, especially if we joined sodding Shengen and cut out the customs faff).