brunos

AF website is announcing an industrial action by French air controllers.
Can the locals assess what is the likely outcome. Hard to get info from Asia.

Goldorak

It's the "same" strike that was canceled following to the Germanwings crash. Hard to say how it will be several days in advance, but I'm guessing it will be as often : long-haul not or marginally affected and some cancellations for medium-haul. Or possibly, as the government will likely say amen (as usual ) to all their requests, the strike can be canceled one or 2 days before.

orbitmic

I won't comment on what I think of the air traffic controllers as the word coming to my mind would be considered very, very rude...

bodory

I won't comment either because it would be too sarcastic. Humour noir has its limits.

San Gottardo

In France It often happens that strikers "kidnap" the bosses and don't let them out of their office.

Maybe one day a couple of airline guys and passengers should get together and mount a blockade that keeps the ATC guys locked in. Without supplying food obviously ;-)

orbitmic

True to the "good" old 'a strike will only work if we scr*w everyone else's life' tradition, the Independent reports that there are currently 9 days of strike planned:

- 8-9 April
- 16-18 April (Easter school break for two of the three zones)
- 29 April- 2 May (1 May weekend)

I'm supposed to fly back to France via AMS on 18/4 and fear the worst...

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/...-10156903.html

PS: could I suggest that the thread title be edited to reflect this expanding striking ambition of our beloved air traffic controllers?

Zembla

Hm. So far the only flight I have planned within in the strike windows is a CDG-NRT. Crossing my fingers that long haul will barely be impacted as was usually the case with ATC strikes...

Verboten

I'm booked to travel (via CDG) on 8 April.

airfrance.de already put out a notice on their front page.

The nasty thing is that confirmation of the strike will only be made "on Tuesday, April 07th in the afternoon" (by which time I'd have already done OLCI, and been waiting for an uneventful flight...).

I'm now proactively searching for rebook options (via AMS, FRA, MUC etc.).

brunos

Indeed, they wish to strike at the start and the end of the 2-week school holidays to maximize disturbance

JOUY31

Done

brunos

Just a quick objection.
I was involved in a French ATC strike not long ago and the impact on longhaul was far from marginal. Foreign airlines like CX with two daily flights were asked to cancel one. There were long delays and a few cancellations for AF longhaul flights. A significant number of short and medium haul cancellations announced day before, plus very long delays and a few cancellations in late afternoon/evening flights.

We all have different definition of "marginal" and "some", so I would not argue about those terms as most pax managed to reach their destinations. But it certainly was quite painful for a large number of pax, especially foreign pax not used to these events. As my family is expected to travel back and forth between Europe and Asia on strike days, I hope that it will be cancelled.

Zembla

I actually agree. It's all about perception. Fact is that I only ever had issues with domestic flights during ATC strikes. Hence, my comments above.

Crossing my fingers for my CDG-NRT all the same!

San Gottardo

Very well summarised. There is a discrepancy between a number on a sheet of paper ("66% of our short haul flights did leave") and what it means for people being stranded in a country they have no visa, being late for work appointments they have spent months to prepare, being late for job interviews and funerals, missing a day or more of a vacation they have saved for since a long time.

During some free time this weekend I was browsing the website of the French ATC union to figure out what it is that they are actually striking for/against. Call me dumb (or just inexperienced with labour union websites and their lingo), but although they were many big fat red exclamation marks, raised fists and tabloid-style applause lines, it was actually difficult to figure out why they feel they must go on strike. What I gathered:

• The government and management do not talk to the union when they want to talk about how to organise the ATC job. The union gets a fit for not being taken seriously (imagine a little child that badly wants something and loses his nerves when his parents just smile at him)
• They have to work until the age of 59, aparently they are the only country in Europe (is that true)
• In a pamphlet of the Aix section, I could also read that they were against having to badge when they arrive at work/leave from work, being tested for English, having to renew their licence.

Not sure whether these really are the reasons, does someone know more?

In any case, I'll update my April Fool's Day newspaper headlines with something like this: "Soaring demand for babysitters in North-East Paris as parents abandon their kids to actually turn up for ATC job they're being paid for"

Zembla

Okay. So. It seems that Wednesday the 8th 40% of flights must be cancelled. This is the official request to airlines by DGAC. That's pretty bad...

Zembla

And 50% will be cancelled on the 9th. For tomorrow you can already check if your flight is scheduled to be cancelled or delayed on the AF website.