Guess who is in Sao Paulo, Brazil instead of in Buenos Aires? That’s right, Marine Steve, myself and hundreds of other stranded passengers. United Airlines #819 was only one hour from this mornings destination of Buenos Aires, Argentina and I was happily watching the air map when I the little air map plane began heading east instead of south. No worries… Perhaps the air map had just gone kablooey…
Oh no, the dreaded pilot announcement. “A volcano erupted in southern Chile on Wednesday spewing ash high into the atmosphere and the ash is now drifting towards Buenos Aires airport which has closed.”
This is not the way to Buenos Aires!
flying over Sao Paulo, city of 25 million people
So, here we are in Sao Paulo (pop: 25 million), along with all passengers on United Airlines 767-300 and all other aircraft heading to Buenos Aires today.
Calbuco volcano is the second volcano in southern Chile to have an substantial eruption since March and this triggered a red alert. Plumes of volcanic ash are an aviation safety hazard. It can impair visibility, contaminate fuel and water systems, jam gears and can make engines flameout as well as lead to total engine failure. Swell… That is a certainly a good enough reason for United Airlines or any airline to divert a flight.
Sao Paulo Airport, Brazil
Passengers are fast to complain about airlines but United Airlines did a fantastic job quickly executing a back-up plan.
We were handed a “transit” card leaving the aircraft which sped us through Immigration (no visa or stamp necessary), picked up luggage, exited customs where two buses waited to take passengers to the Bristol Hotel. Check-in, given lunch, dinner and breakfast vouchers and told a bus will drive passengers as a group back to the airport at 6:00a for an expected 8:00a departure to Buenos Aires. Great job United!
long passenger lines checking into Sao Paulo hotel
Let’s hope this doesn’t escalate into anything like the Eyjafjnallajokull, Iceland volcanic eruption in 2010 when air travel was disrupted across Europe for six days. Arghh…