Travel anger over Aussie flight ban
Source: Agencies |
June 16, 2011, Thursday
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STUART and Tina Gunn should be with their daughter by now. She is waiting for them in New Zealand, due to give birth to her first child at any moment.
Instead, the English couple remained stuck at a Sydney hotel for a second day yesterday, waiting for ash spewing from a Chilean volcano to clear, and waiting to hear something - anything - from Qantas, the Australian carrier that was supposed to take them on the last leg of their journey.
The Gunns are among tens of thousands of passengers grounded in Australia who have become increasingly frustrated at Qantas and other airlines. Many are having a tough time understanding why some airlines are choosing to cancel flights, while others aren't.
The ash, which can damage jet engines, has crossed the Pacific from Chile, where a volcano has been erupting since June 4. More than 70,000 passengers in Australia and New Zealand have been at least temporarily stranded since the weekend.
In South America, the main international airports in Argentina and Uruguay were closed. That forced Peruvian president-elect Ollanta Humala to take a boat across the Rio de la Plata from Uruguay to Buenos Aires, where he met with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on Tuesday.
Soccer officials, meanwhile, were worried that the ash could delay the July 1 start of the Copa America, South America's championship. "We hope that within five or six days the problems with the ash will not exist," Argentine Football Association President Julio Grondona told Argentine broadcaster Radio 10.
In Sydney, the Gunns have booked tickets on another airline and will use them if Qantas doesn't fly them out today. They said they have spent four hours over two days on hold with Qantas, but have yet to get through.
"You listen to that message until you lose the will to live," said Tina Gunn. She said her daughter, Jacqueline Burt, is due to give birth tomorrow but has already been feeling pains and is getting "very stressed."
Yesterday brought mixed news: Qantas and its Jetstar subsidiary announced they were resuming flights to Tasmania today after four days of cancellations, but it and several other airlines said they were canceling flights to and from the gateway western Australian city of Perth.
Air travel out of the southern cities of Melbourne and Adelaide has been restored, but Qantas service between Australia and New Zealand remains suspended, as it has been since the weekend. Australia's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre warned that flights could be affected for several days.
Instead, the English couple remained stuck at a Sydney hotel for a second day yesterday, waiting for ash spewing from a Chilean volcano to clear, and waiting to hear something - anything - from Qantas, the Australian carrier that was supposed to take them on the last leg of their journey.
The Gunns are among tens of thousands of passengers grounded in Australia who have become increasingly frustrated at Qantas and other airlines. Many are having a tough time understanding why some airlines are choosing to cancel flights, while others aren't.
The ash, which can damage jet engines, has crossed the Pacific from Chile, where a volcano has been erupting since June 4. More than 70,000 passengers in Australia and New Zealand have been at least temporarily stranded since the weekend.
In South America, the main international airports in Argentina and Uruguay were closed. That forced Peruvian president-elect Ollanta Humala to take a boat across the Rio de la Plata from Uruguay to Buenos Aires, where he met with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on Tuesday.
Soccer officials, meanwhile, were worried that the ash could delay the July 1 start of the Copa America, South America's championship. "We hope that within five or six days the problems with the ash will not exist," Argentine Football Association President Julio Grondona told Argentine broadcaster Radio 10.
In Sydney, the Gunns have booked tickets on another airline and will use them if Qantas doesn't fly them out today. They said they have spent four hours over two days on hold with Qantas, but have yet to get through.
"You listen to that message until you lose the will to live," said Tina Gunn. She said her daughter, Jacqueline Burt, is due to give birth tomorrow but has already been feeling pains and is getting "very stressed."
Yesterday brought mixed news: Qantas and its Jetstar subsidiary announced they were resuming flights to Tasmania today after four days of cancellations, but it and several other airlines said they were canceling flights to and from the gateway western Australian city of Perth.
Air travel out of the southern cities of Melbourne and Adelaide has been restored, but Qantas service between Australia and New Zealand remains suspended, as it has been since the weekend. Australia's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre warned that flights could be affected for several days.
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