The Bees Knees

Hi All,

I'm useless at searching so apologies if this question (hypothetical, at this stage) has been done to death.

There are four of us on a redemption booking to France on one of the upcoming ATC strike days. Scheduled arrival time is around midnight so I don't fancy our chances of the flight leaving Heathrow.

As there are one or two football matches going on in France at the time, options with Avios availability are now non-existent. So I just want to be reassured that, if the flight is cancelled, we will we be put on the next available option rather than forced to wait for a flight with Avios availability.

Is there anything I can/should be doing in advance or just hang tight until the inevitable happens?

Thanks!

corporate-wage-slave

Best not to fret over things you can't change!

But easier said than done I know. It may be worth thinking of plan B, but if the air services are disrupted I imagine the TGV will also be en panne. Depending on the location you could think about car hire, bit difficult to advise more without specifics.

But to answer your direct question, if you have a redemption and it is cancelled then it will be treated like a revenue ticket and rebooked on to the next available BA service. The only difference I can think of is that for revenue tickets BA may re-route on other airlines, reluctantly, but on Avios that doesn't normally happen. However if it's the only way to get you somewhere then even this rule is disregarded in extremis.

BERbound

Go to Ba.com and click on the information tab, and then Travel news. There is information there on a strike on 26th May and also some dates in June where a french strike may go ahead. BA will allow you to rebook on another service where seats are available. I did last week during the last strike onto a more punctual flight.

Tiger_lily

Given the apparent fuel situation, a hire car might not work if a long drive is involved

Faethepit

Booked ABDN - LHR - MAD on Sat 4th June and have just heard that there may be a further round of French ATC strikes.

Re-schedule is not an option as hotel in MAD is paid for and non-refundable.

What are my options, are BA likely to re-route?

corporate-wage-slave

For flights to MAD there are long ways around French airspace, so you should be OK, though doubtless there are potential cancellations on the card but there are a lot of services to MAD and they can deploy A321s or even longhaul jets on that route. All you can do is watch the situation. There were rebooking options available (ahead of travel) for France, BCN and MAD on 26 May so I would expect they may also allow that on 4 June, when we get a bit nearer. It will allow you to rebook on days around the strike days, which in your case start on 3 June, thereby easing inflexible ticketing. Not all strike days in France take place, and some have relatively small impacts.

The other thing to bear in mind is that airport staff - not telephone agents - have more rescheduling options, including using non BA / IB services. You can't play one off against another, you're normally only allowed one "involuntary change" unless reality bites, but it is worth bearing in mind as to how you handle matters.

Faethepit

Many thanks. Have just checked flightstats and only a couple of cancelled flights yesterday, a couple on time and 4 delayed between 6:15am and 3:50pm. I'll keep an eye out as to what is happening.

corporate-wage-slave

I think that's all you can do. Plus check what your travel insurance would allow, assuming you had the policy before the strikes were announced.

The Bees Knees

Many thanks all.

Cymro

I've been to Spain twice in the last few months during a French strike - once involved an hour's delay, the second time there was no strike impact but everything was crap from check in onwards.

France of course: could be awkward!