Lift Up Your Hearts!

We recently returned from a lovely two weeks in Switzerland (with brief side trips to France, Germany, and Italy).  I hope eventually to post more pictures and stories, but here's a start.

Just over a week before our scheduled departure from the U.S., the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, threw a spanner into the works for European flights.  Porter wrestled for a while with changing our itinerary to go through airports less risky than Amsterdam's Schiphol, but with the ash cloud as unpredictable as it was, decided the best course was to hand on to what we had.  We did what we always do when there's nothing else we can do (and even when there is):  we prayed a lot.  Unlike that of our friend who needed to get to her brother's funeral (she made it), this was not a critical flight, but the primary purpose of the trip was to attend Janet's end-of-school recital, and we would have been very sad to miss it, having not yet heard any of her grad school performances.

The airports gradually opened, and we had no problems on the flight over.  (Side note:  Schiphol is a lovely airport, and very friendly to English-speakers.  I believe there is more English in Amsterdam's airport than in Miami's, and the announcements are much clearer and more easily understandable than in several American airports of my experience.)

The flight home two weeks later was another story.  Getting from Basel to Amsterdam was uneventful, and all appeared normal as we boarded the flight to Philadelphia.  We were upgraded to better seats, and soon learned why:  Porter's Preferred status with Star Alliance, plus the fact that we were on a different plane from that which had been scheduled.

That was the hint that not all was well.

We were using a different plane because Eyjafjallajokull's ash cloud was forcing the planes to take less direct routes, and unlike the 757 originally assigned to our flight, the 767 could make the journey without a refueling stop.  The difference in planes turned out to have even more significance later on.

We had a new plane, but we were still waiting.  And waiting.  The 767 has a different set of kitchen equipment, and the caterer had to take back the old and bring in the new.  From somewhere off-site.  And got snarled in a long security line for getting back onto airport grounds.  Finally, we were stocked and ready to go.

Except that while we were waiting, the entire North Atlantic airspace had been closed, and all flight plans cancelled.  Ours was to take us north of the ash cloud, and thus was still a good plan—except that everything had to be re-filed and re-evaluated, I'm guessing because the controllers had to give priority to dealing with planes that were already in the air when the airspace was closed.

However, our alert and savvy pilot re-filed his plan immediately, and thus we were the first transatlantic flight given permission to leave Schiphol when the time came.  The three hours on the tarmac in Amsterdam, plus the longer flight time and further delay because we missed our connection in Philadelphia, were more than compensated for by the view afforded by our new flight path, which took us spang over the middle of Iceland.  There are much better photos of the volcano available, but nothing beats the personal experience.  The picture came out better than I thought it would, but you'll need to click on it and look at the bigger picture to discern much of anything.

Here's a video Porter took that shows things a bit better.

I was, by the way, more than impressed with USAirways.  The entire crew was cheerful, helpful, patient, and gracious through the delay and uncertainty, and the pilot particularly savvy and helpful.  He was definitely on the ball when it came to getting us off the ground; he made a point of helping us find the ash cloud; and before we even left Amsterdam had the reservations desk working on rescheduling connecting flights, so that our new boarding passes were waiting for us, along with meal vouchers as we deplaned in Philadelphia.  For those who were unable to get flights that day, USAirways not only provided hotel vouchers, but made all the hotel arrangements.  True, for no discernable reason and without warning they downgraded our seats on the Philadelphia-Orlando flight as we were boarding, so that we were many rows apart, and also mangled one of our suitcases (note to self:  fly with full suitcases and don't try packing one inside another).  But overall, I think they did a commendable and above-and-beyond job in difficult circumstances.