Iceland’s volcanic ash cloud has silver linings

The airline industry has lost 1.7 billion dollars.  Hundreds of thousands of passengers were stranded.  Richard Branson (owner of Virgin Atlantic airlines) wants his government to pay for loses sustained by the shutdown.  Icelandic farmers are mired in ash.  It’s a good old-fashioned natural disaster.

The good side?  What always happens in a crisis?  People come together.

Virgin Atlantic reports it’s receiving “many calls” from travelers offering to give up their seats for fellow passengers who have been stranded.  The Ski Channel interviewed one such passenger who was stuck in Paris for a week.   Mary Joy Pigozzi of Washington D.C. was on a business trip (related to educational emergencies! www.aed.org) when her flight was canceled.  She and other strandees at her hotel met together at night for dinner so no one would have to eat alone.  All of them different Nationalities.  Pretty cool.

Travel agents have come out of this crisis veritable heroes, with so many thousands of passengers leaning on them for advice and help.

How many fatalities were caused by this volcano?  Zero.

Iceland itself is having a fair amount of trouble- a recession, inflation and some political corruption scandals. However, the Iceland Review online reported that while there wasn’t much great to say about the volcano itself and the mess it has caused, that at the very least watching the rest of the world trying to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull provided some welcomed comedic relief.