It was, and is, well known that volcano ash plumes can damage airplanes in flight to the point of immediate failure. In the (very) few cases of engine shutdown the engines were restarted before impact but there's no reason to believe that was anything other than random chance.

It was known by Sunday that *this* volcanic ash plume could damage airplanes. The KLM exec who flew on a test flight and proclaimed "I didn't crash!" neglected to mention the aircraft that did sustain engine damage, and that KLM had not taken apart their engines to see if they had suffered the kind of damage this ash plume was known to cause.

The problem is that nobody has a map of where the debris will go. Vertical wind sheer means different altitudes have different danger areas, and I don't know if there is any way to detect it remotely. Iceland isn't going anywhere and as long as the Jet Stream is in the region, this can happen - time to fund some research on volcanic debris plume composition and dispersal.

Overall I think the EU authorities made the right decisions for the right reasons, and the airlines are being dishonest and deceptive in their arguments.

Time to repack that travel bag with underwear and socks that can be washed in a sink and dry overnight... I'd not sure there is a "dries overnight" shirt or pants? A week of prescriptions may be to little... ...time to look at that bag again.