stimpy

It worked beyond perfectly for me back in June. ^

brunos

Any information on how sévère the strike will be? I havé changes my European travel to other airlines, but need to have family travel around 28 and AF is only option (hop operated by AF). I have babies grandchildren traveling and don't wish them to be stranded for hours.
One contact at AF said the impact could be significant and that they plan to fly planes half empty to minimize disturbances, as they have both planes and pilots.

San Gottardo

If it was only for my private pleasure travel, that's what I would do, and I have done that in the past and it worked extremely well.

It gets more difficult when I have a "chateau de carte" of trips across several continents with business meetings, many of them dependent on each other, and trying to also find time for family. I can't wait until the night before the flight for AF to tell me whether they plan to fly or not, so I start know asking for meetings to change, booking on other airlines etc. According to some the impact of the AF strike is minimal on me because I'll never be on a delayed flight or booked on a flight that will be cancelled. I just have to reconstruct my chateau de Carte for a 2.5 week period because of a few days of AF strike and cancel some private and business appointments. Happy to hear what words other than "impact" describe this.

Dlougach

Since I have two AF flights on July 29 (ZRH-CDG and CDG-NCE), I am trying to prepare a strategy for talking with them in case one of those gets cancelled. For some reasons it would be undesirable for me to arrive in Nice much later than originally planned. Here is what I have been thinking of so far, please tell me if any of those options will/can/might/won't work:

• If ZRH-CDG gets cancelled, maybe they can put me on another flight same day or latest flight on previous day. In the latter case would they also put me in a hotel in CDG?
• If they cannot get me to NCE on time using only AF/KL flights, can I they rebook me on LX direct ZRH-NCE?
• If they cannot rebook on LX, can I ask for cancellation and refund only of the 2 mentioned segments (thus leaving return flights unaffected) then book one-way on LX myself?

MSPeconomist

Have you checked prices for one way versus RT on LX?

IMO I'd first try for an early ZRH-AMS, AMS-NCE connection on KLM. That's likely to be easier as well as being more likely to get you to Nice on time. What would you do if ZRH-CDG operates but CDG-NCE is cancelled or badly delayed? Would the TGV arrive in time for you?

South London Bon Viveur

First time on AF in a while and this happens- I should have known better as this has been on the cards for a while and I am reasonably well informed about industry things so I have myself to blame. Although nothing has been cancelled yet, AF inform me that they plan on telling me the day before I travel, which is not good enough. As one of the sectors is domestic ORY-BOD, I fear there is a high chance of a cancellation. I tried to call AF to get money back but apparently it's non-refundable (my fault again could have avoided this by booking a higher class). I had to decline offer of re-routing via AMS because the flight arrives into BOD too late. Sh*t day all round really. Nice airline when flying, but there's far too much industrial action, so will avoid in future (or stick with KLM where possible).

jsfr

Depewnding on the day of week, AF have 10 flights a day on this route (plus a further 7 to CDG).

So, yes highly likely that they will cancel some BOD-ORY flights, but also extremely likely that if that happens to be your flight you will be booked on a flight either one hour later or one hour earlier... Hopefully not the end of the world for you - they will also take into consideration any connections you may have.

Normally, if you don't like what they automatically rebook you on, they are happy to change (within reason).

maxvor

Had to fly AMS-CDG-ARN on Friday. Called AF to rebook me on direct AMS-ARN - all done in less than 10 mins, no questions asked. Maybe being FB gold and traveling in J had something to do with it, though.

MSPeconomist

Did you have a FULL J fare or some other completely flexible or refundable ticket?

essexnyc

I eliminated my Paris stopover yesterday. Had booked a wonderful Delta award ticket JFK-CDG-JNB in J with 15-hour stopover in Paris (8AM-11PM on Sat 7/30). Wife and I were going to sightsee, shop, lunch, shop, and dinner in Paris. Now instead we are flying JFK-ATL-JNB and will be spending the money on hotel and dinner in J'Burg. I know the risk to intercon flights is lower, but the downside of missing the first day or two of safari was too high. Security concerns would not have kept us away, but the AF cabin crews will....

maxvor

Yes, you're right. Actually it is a return leg of my itinerary, outbound was in C, inbound is in Z, so I thought that at least one of them was a restricted J, but now I see that both C and Z are fully flexible. Although, I don't think original Z fare allowed for routing on direct KLM flight, and they rebooked me into I, so not sure if this is relevant.

brunos

As usual statistics from unions and management differ. Depends how you account for HOP operated by AF, etc
But it seems that the strike currently does not have a huge impact. About 20% of domestic and European flights cancelled so far; and 10% of lonhaul. Might increase over time/days as the situation ism not easy to manage, especially with crews positioned abroad.

MSPeconomist

Are other unions engaging in labor actions such as slowdowns in sympathy, such as AF check in and baggage handling personnel at CDG, passport control officials, airport security workers, etc.? Any report on how bad the lines are at CDG?

Grouchy

Guess there will be some rerouting going through AMS. However tomorrow one of the unions (FNV) is planning to start actions (ground personell check-in staff , baggage handlers and technicians).
Dont know how many members they have (edit: 4000 from a total of 14500?) and in the beginning (until at least 31 July) they will be public friendly but even if you try to stay away from AF/KLM they can be very annoying as KLM also handle a lot of ground ops for other Skyteam members.

stimpy

KLM ground crew strike.

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archive...y-on-thursday/