WOWair not responsible for the weather

Five Brazilian tourists who had taken shelter in their car from the extreme winds affecting Southern Iceland yesterday were rescued by the residents of nearby Eyjarhóll in Mýrdal. The Mýrdal area was without electricity and telephone connections all day yesterday and Hringvegur, the national ring road, was closed due to the weather. Power was not restored until late at night.  

Two of the group had bookings on the early-morning WOWair flight to Copenhagen today. They tried all night to call the airline to inform them that they were stuck in the bad weather but did not manage to get through until 8am this morning. They were told that they should have contacted the airline online – an impossible task with no electricity or telephone connections.

No electricity, no Internet

With today’s flight to Copenhagen being fully booked, they would need to fly on Thursday and purchase new full-fare tickets. WOWair informed the group that the airline was not responsible for the weather.

According to Sindri Björnsson, resident of nearby Eyjarhóll, mobile reception had been very poor but had improved significantly when GSM transmitters were set up. The transmitters failed, however, when the power went out, cutting all telephone and Internet connections. When power was restored, mobile reception remained insufficient to access the Internet.

“When they called WOWair at 8am, they were told that nothing could be done,” said Sindri. Not satisfied with the response the group had received, Sindri decided to call WOWair himself and was told simply that the airline was not responsible for the weather. The situation was particularly difficult as the group had connecting flights from Copenhagen to catch. Luckily, the other three tourists have bookings on the Icelandair flight tomorrow, so their travel plans will not be disrupted.

Sindri is unhappy with the service received from WOWair. The group had done the only sensible thing to do in this type of hazardous weather: stop the car and wait.

Rescued by locals

The weather had been fine for the group earlier in the day, as they visited Skaftafell and Jökulsárlón. The weather worsened as the day wore on and they decided not to hang around for the Northern Lights as planned, but to head back to Reykjavik. As they passed through Vík, visibility had reduced to zero and they decided to stop the car. Sindri and his wife, Halldóra, saw their lights and came to the rescue. The trapped tourists spent the night at their home in Eyjarhóll. The bad weather has been keeping the rescue services in Southern Iceland extremely busy, as reported on mbl.is yesterday. The strong winds have caused broken windows in several cars and rescue vehicles.

Long stretches of Hringvegur were closed yesterday and did not re-open until this morning, meaning the group of Brazilians missed their flight from Keflavík airport.