I don't know but there is something really suspect about the entire thing; I think incompetence rather than conspiracy since I can't work out the "why?" answer to the conspiracy question.
And we'll never know - unless a plane now crashes due to ash infestation.

The same here. I've been scratching my head for six days. No volcanic ash fall reported anywhere across England...that flies directly in the face of the satellite pics which showed huge swirling clouds of the stuff supposedly right above us and travelling the length and breadth of the country.

A terrorist threat? Independence Day? Close Encounters of The Absurd Kind? Didn't the final sequences of that film have a giant spaceship hovering over a dormant volcano?

Or have we just watched too many movies?

more like a giant scam.

checked the price of flight I wanted a week ago-$900..today's price quoted on Emirates : $11,000

The volcanic ash was never expected to fall on us, and that was the problem. It stayed in the air in pockets posing a possible hazard to aircraft. Safety precautions were probably a little exaggerated but the thing about flying is that you can't just pull into the side when you get engine trouble, you tend to come crashing down.

It's been a reminder of what we take for granted, and that not everything in life is going to go to plan. Stuff happens and it's not always somebody's fault.

excellent comment JC :
"but the thing about flying is that you can't just pull into the side when you get engine trouble"