orbitmic

Zembla

Aargh!!!! I jinxed it. Flight cancelled at last moment :-(

brunos

Good luck

orbitmic

Hope you have left and will only read this after arriving home!

Zembla

Indeed! And thanks. Feet on the table and spinning a record right now. They proposed all sorts of alternatives with no guarantees. Je m'enfou!

Mokshu

Hmm I was upon saying that your flight would probably be cancelled as it's 11:30pm and ORY closes at night

orbitmic

There are times when 'zen' is the only way

San Gottardo

I now understand the difference between "we shall transport all our longhaul passengers" and "we shall operate every longhaul flight". The early morning departure to JFK has been cancelled yesterday and is cancelled today as well.

But that is still better than what some other companies do. American Airlines has as far as I can see cancelled *every* flight to/from CDG.

One thing I do not understand: why doesn't AF give out train tickets to people so that at least domestic destinations and nearby European destinations (LHR, AMS, DUS, FRA, STR, GVA, ZHR) can be reached by train, and possibly other flights be taken from there?

Pretending to support their French partners is the least the Germans could do to make up for being the sole and unique responsible for France's overall economic problems.

orbitmic

Good question. BA don't either and it certainly is a shame in both cases that this is not an option. They'd probably worry that at equivalent class, it is more pleasant to "fly" Eurostar standard than BA or AF economy, Eurostar standard premier than AF Premium Eco, and Eurostar Business Premier than AF or BA C!

More seriously, I imagine that it is essentially due to cost and regulation: airlines have deeply negotiated fares between themselves for mutual coverage during IRROPS but I don't think they have any with rail companies, once you start factoring in the taxis at both ends (as the contract of transportation is from airport to airport) this might become expensive for them, and regulation wise, they have got - under the current understanding of the regulation - to reroute on the fastest air itinerary but rail is not mentioned (and as it is events outside of the airline's control, no compensation is due so the right of care will likely be cheaper than the extra expenses of rerouting faster by train mentioned above).

Interestingly, in the proposals for a new version of the regulation, I believe that train is proposed for shorter itineraries. However, do not rejoice too fast, this is one of the only improvements suggested in a ocean of airlines-lobbied deteriorations to the coverage offered by EC261/2004 and in particular the severe lengthening of the grace period for which no compensation is due, so if anyone knows one of their MEPs, I would strongly suggest that you look at the draft revised proposal and if there is anything that you are not happy with, that you tell them about it in no uncertain terms. It is amazing how airlines which hate the guts of each other manage to join forces so efficiently to undo what was effectively one of the most progressive pieces of legislation in the field worldwide.

jsfr

Indeed several useful emailsabout the status of my flights this week - AF was the first to let me know of the resumption of normal ATC services on Thursday - well done ^

Very scary indeed, Flanby's first big public service strike and he gives in straight away and blames it on someone else (Europe)... and he supposedly prefers the train (although I think that "promise" was very quickly forgotten).

GenevaFlyer

Hi,

Are you sure? A strike is starting at the SNCF from Wed 19:00 through Fri 08:00. Expectation is that only 40% of TGVs will operate on Thursday.
http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/artic...8347_3234.html

Cheers,

GenevaFlyer

stimpy

That's what I heard too. I have a car reserved at Avis for Thursday to get home.

San Gottardo

How could I forget those opposed-to-any-change?

Well timed, they do this when big parts of Europe and especially France are suffering from an ATC strike. I'll never forget how the SNCF retards went on strike during the ash cloud interruptions: people were grounded because planes couldn't take off, and those guys went on strike for something like "the resting rooms at St. Lazare have been moved from track 8 to track 12 and track 12 has 10% more traffic and noise, so this is an unacceptable worsening of 'conditions de travail' "

I changed my entire plan for the week and did some grueling night flights to be back in Europe by Tuesday, and planned the rest of my week around some train trips. Now they are compromised as well (maybe not cancelled, but possibly impacted). But since the ATC chaps decided to go back to the work that they are paid for, there is a chance there.

So I have a choice between taking the plane and hoping that the morning after the strike things are fully back to normal (how likely is that?) or taking the train and hoping that the one I plan to take not only runs (likely) but also isn't impacted heavily in terms of delays (how likely is that?)

San Gottardo

According to Le Figaro news flash "up to 3 out of 3" flights are cancelled. Impossible to find out for which airport or which airspace this is.

Watch flightradar24.com, the French air space looks scarily empty compared to what it is normally.

Mokshu

DGAC asked airlines to cut down additional flights. So compared to standard schedule, the cut down is equivalent to 75% (3 flights out of 4).

SNCTA says nearly 100% of ATC is on strike.