The volcanic ash chaos a decade ago was just a warm-up for the coronavirus travel shutdown

I have had to adapt swiftly to a new professional life as non-travel correspondent since the near-complete closedown of the entire tourist industry, writes Simon Calder

Heathrow airport is empty after the coronavirus brought the travel industry to a grinding halt (PA)

Travel, as you know, is all about encounters. On Good Friday I was glad to make the acquaintance of Linda, Paul and Annie. Sadly, though, not in person.

Linda, in Buckinghamshire, asked me about her rights after a family Easter trip to a property in Norfolk was scuppered by the coronavirus lockdown (I said the arrangement was a “frustrated contract” and she should be able to secure a refund).

Paul is in Auckland, and contacted The Independent about whether he had a hope of transiting Singapore between New Zealand and the UK (not before early May, I told him).

And Annie was concerned about a neighbour who is stranded in Spain and wants to come home (my advice: if it’s the mainland, make for Madrid and fly back on one of the daily flights to Heathrow).

Almost 26 years ago, The Independent kindly took me on as travel correspondent. Since May 1994 I have taken the title as literally as I possibly could; even in early March I was hitchhiking and busing through Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel en route to Egypt.

But since a (painfully expensive) repatriation flight from Cairo to London Heathrow on 17 March, my passport has been furloughed.

I have had to adapt swiftly to a new professional life as non-travel correspondent, because the near-complete close down of the entire tourist industry has triggered far more incoming questions than any other event.

The volcanic ash shutdown of airspace a decade ago was, it turns out, merely a warm-up for the surge of questions ranging from the heartbreaking (“How can I get back from Athens for my mother’s funeral?”) to the frankly trivial (“My travel firm refunded my holiday to my credit card, but I would prefer it in my bank account”). I am answering as many serious questions as I can, and extracting the key issues for The Independent.

I am also watching which companies are behaving decently (take a a bow, Jet2, the UK’s second-biggest holiday firm) and those which are compounding an awful situation by misrepresenting travellers’ rights. And I am trying to predict the future: when, where and how will we ever travel again?

Yours,

Simon Calder

Travel correspondent