On Wed 21st, when UK airspace finally re-opened, Monarch seemed to have prioritised by repatriating those passengers that had been effected the longest and had the least chance of sourcing alternative routes home. There were three MON flights from SSH, Egypt that day. All were sent out empty in order to rescue customers that had been stuck there for 6 days, including me! Most people spoke very highly of MON, especially if they had been booked on a Cosmos package rather than flight/accommodation separately. A lot of people were left totally stranded, stressed and much out of pocket by some accommodation only companies. No rep, no help, nothing. The Cosmos rep did a good job in the circumstances in my opinion.
All the pax repatriated on the 3 MON flights that day were also greatly relieved to have been returned to the UK so quickly. ALL flights were full, demonstrating good communications to enable all available seats to be filled.