I’m from Florida, so what I know about volcanos comes from the news. When they’re not active, they’re referred to as “dormant,” and when they wake up, look out. And if they wake up angry, better get out of the way because all that lava and dust and churned up mess could be headed for a town near you. That’s the extent of my knowledge of volcanos. Other than my sister’s amazing trip to Pompeii, (surely we’ve all heard of that one), I never really gave them another thought. Until 2010…
Enter Eyjafjallajökull. Full disclosure here – I had to Google it. Can’t spell it, don’t ask me to pronounce it. Eyjafjallajökull decided to wake up in April 2010, and while it was considered “a relatively small event” as volcanic eruptions go (really, how do you measure that?), the second and largest eruption caused huge, ice-covered areas of the volcano to melt, flooding southern Iceland. It resulted in misery and chaos in several countries and hit the airline industry hard. In fact, not since 9/11 had there been such a disruption of air traffic. The plume of volcanic ash went as high as 33,000 feet, causing the closure of most European airspace for 7 days, cancellation of 100,000 flights, and left 10 million people stranded or unable to board flights.
At the time I led a team responsible for moving hundreds of crewmembers around the world on a weekly basis, either to join a ship or leave a ship to head home for a well-deserved vacation. At that point, we had a pretty good system figured out for efficiently moving a small army around the world. Nothing really prepares you for a curveball courtesy of Mother Nature.
I was incredibly lucky. Our team was a group of people dedicated to the care and well-being of the crew. We took it personally and the mantra became “What if it was your son, daughter, father, brother, sister? We can’t leave them stranded.” The troops mobilized!
First order of business – find out how many flights were affected by the closed airspace.
Second order of business – if they hadn’t started traveling yet, postpone their trip.
Third order of business – determine who would be delayed joining or on the way home and make new arrangements.
Fourth order of business – arrange hotel, meals and ground transportation for anyone delayed or stranded, which could be anywhere in the world.
The team spent a lot of hours running of reports, canceling and rebooking flight tickets, working the phones, fielding countless emails, and arranging and re-arranging hotels and buses. We communicated with staffing agencies and crewmembers all over the world to make sure everyone knew what the plan would be. While I don’t remember exact numbers, I do remember it was a team effort to account for every crewmember and ensure their comfort and safety. We accounted for every single crewmember, and it was business as usual for the thousands of guests joining the ships for the busy spring break season.
No one slept in an airport. Mission accomplished.
At the end of April 2010, Eyjafjallajökull went back to sleep. I hope it’s a long, deep sleep.