There are ash clouds on the horizon and this time they are not over Europe. Flyers from South America to Australia are suffering through flight cancellations and other disruptions due to a volcanic eruption in Chile that shows no signs of waning.

Airports in Uruguay and Argentina were heavily affected earlier in the week but the ash plumes have dotted the South American skies over Brazil as well. While flights have resumed after hundreds were cancelled over the last few days, experts warn that the continued eruption of the volcano could pose a threat to aviation for months to come. It all depends on how much ash is spewed and how high in the atmosphere it goes. The higher up, the farther it could travel; and it already has.

On the South American continent, the largest airlines, LAN (Chile), TAM and Gol (Brazil) have been the most affected by disruptions. But the trouble has made its way across the Pacific. Flights out of Australia and New Zealand have also felt the effects of the ash cloud threats with numerous flight cancellations, particularly by Australia's Qantas Airways and subsidiary Jetstar. Though flights are slowly resuming, the backlog of stranded passengers could take days to clear. Qantas officials warn that wait times over the phone could take as long as 3 hours. Qantas says that it is providing hotel rooms for stranded passengers and allowing them to rebook or obtain refunds.

Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand have largely been able to avoid cancellations by altering flight paths to avoid the fine ash particles in the atmosphere. Qantas indicated that it has been unwilling to make such changes, telling the Associated Press that it would not send flights through them, under them or around them, referring to the ash clouds.

Passengers traveling throughout the southern hemisphere should be on alert for any flight disruptions. Plan ahead. Contact the airlines and ask them what their policies are for changing tickets without penalty and for refunding tickets. Rules regarding passenger protections vary and in some regions of the world, they are sorely lacking. Your fate could be left up to the airlines and any hope for just service or fair compensation could be buried under a cloud of ash. That is unless the airlines step up their service commitments under these circumstances. Can ash clouds have silver linings too?

Here is some food for thought. Chile's chain of about 2,000 volcanoes is the world's second-largest after Indonesia. Some 50 to 60 are on record as having erupted, and 500 are potentially active.

Sources used for this article: The Associated Press