AF strike 23 March 2018

Old Mar 17, 2018, 9:17 pm
  #31  
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Originally Posted by NumbThumb
Agreed but as this is a leisure trip and the first day in Vancouver is a bit of an in-between day, we could easily arrive the day after and still get to where we need to be when we need to be there. For us, flying J is not so common and still something we look forward to. It's part of the experience and journey and we love it. Having half of one's outbound journey lessened in quality/experience isn't ideal. That said, not getting to one's ultimate destination anytime soon is less ideal...



Why would I opt to arrive later or why would I be entitled to compensation? If it's the former...because every other option I've found thus far puts me into YVR at least 5 hours later than our existing itinerary. If it's the later, because I've never encountered this situation before.

As for calling AF/KLM regarding Calgary, it was more for advice from you guys who are far more frequent travelers than I. Going back to the whole experience aspect, we were really looking forward to experiencing AF's J as we've done KLM's (and DL for that matter) and will do so again on the inbound as it's a direct to AMS. I guess I'm just looking for some advice even though I know no one can give a definitive answer wether or not our flight would be on the chopping block. Plus there's only 2 J seats showing up for AMS-YYC on the 23rd so I guess I should call and play it safe.
Beware that you should not do your own travel arrangements; they have to be done by AFKL (or the TA who issued the ticket).
Until the strike becomes "official" for AF, they will not be willing to waive change fees. That typically happens 48h before strike. But with ATC strike, that will be a big mess. I assume that it is a paid ticket not an award.


But when AF systems are aware of the strike (usually a couple of days early), be ready to propose a good rerouting after having done your own research.
Also be ready for some surprise regarding the ac and its BEST equipment.
In those chaotic strike days, you might end up with another ac type or old seats.

Last edited by brunos; Mar 17, 2018 at 9:26 pm
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Old Mar 18, 2018, 1:47 am
  #32  
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AF has now posted a notice on its website:
https://www.airfrance.fr/FR/en/commo...air-france.htm

it will accept free changes for any flight on 23 and 24 March.
It would indicate that a strike is likely
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Old Mar 18, 2018, 2:40 am
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Originally Posted by brunos
But when AF systems are aware of the strike (usually a couple of days early), be ready to propose a good rerouting after having done your own research.
Also be ready for some surprise regarding the ac and its BEST equipment.
In those chaotic strike days, you might end up with another ac type or old seats.
Well I think that answers that, thank you for the reality check. Now let's see how much luck I have with agents...
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Old Mar 18, 2018, 3:12 am
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Well that went well. The agent was surprised as, apparently, I'm the first one to call regarding the strike. I'm still curious if I'll be entitled to compensation (if the original flight is canceled of course) as we arrive 5 hours later than planned. No harm in trying I suppose.
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Old Mar 18, 2018, 3:46 am
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I rebooked my flights yesterday, for the 22nd and 23rd.
In this way I could luckily fly around France the 22nd through FCO from AMS with KL and onwards also the 22nd with AZ (which normally would be the 23rd) Was to fly all with AF. Spoke with Dutch AF(KLM) agents. The first only knew about the strike on the 30th. Im glad they would rebook me on the 22nd, this wasnt stated in the options on the site. I had to help the second lady a bit by quoting the flights. She first told me that there was nothing available anymore.
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Old Mar 18, 2018, 6:19 am
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Originally Posted by NumbThumb
Well that went well. The agent was surprised as, apparently, I'm the first one to call regarding the strike. I'm still curious if I'll be entitled to compensation (if the original flight is canceled of course) as we arrive 5 hours later than planned. No harm in trying I suppose.
No, you won't be entitled to compensation. You might be entitled to compensation if you hold a reservation and ticket on a flight which has been cancelled. This does not happen if, before the flight is cancelled, you change your booking to another flight.
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Old Mar 18, 2018, 6:50 am
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Originally Posted by NickB
No, you won't be entitled to compensation. You might be entitled to compensation if you hold a reservation and ticket on a flight which has been cancelled. This does not happen if, before the flight is cancelled, you change your booking to another flight.
Thank you for clarifying.
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Old Mar 18, 2018, 7:31 am
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Originally Posted by kevinvdwal
I rebooked my flights yesterday, for the 22nd and 23rd.
In this way I could luckily fly around France the 22nd through FCO from AMS with KL and onwards also the 22nd with AZ (which normally would be the 23rd) Was to fly all with AF. Spoke with Dutch AF(KLM) agents. The first only knew about the strike on the 30th. Im glad they would rebook me on the 22nd, this wasnt stated in the options on the site. I had to help the second lady a bit by quoting the flights. She first told me that there was nothing available anymore.
Not sure I understand your "fly around France".
There will be a French ATC strike on 22 March. This also affects flights over France such as AMS-FCO.
Lots of lights will try not to go over France, but the surrounding air space will be saturated.
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Old Mar 18, 2018, 7:55 am
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I was flying IAD-CDG on the 24th with the family (party of 4). The ticket was DL marketed, so I called Delta and they re-booked us (at no cost) on DL-operated flights.
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Old Mar 18, 2018, 9:40 am
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Originally Posted by Mcflyneo
It seems i can change my ticket and swap 2 segments in eco for a direct c class flight, for free. To bad it screws up my MR segment count, otherwise...
Too bad its not new rules, 15XP instead of 2x5 :-)
You could still invoke credit as originally ticketed rule.

Originally Posted by NumbThumb
Well that went well. The agent was surprised as, apparently, I'm the first one to call regarding the strike. I'm still curious if I'll be entitled to compensation (if the original flight is canceled of course) as we arrive 5 hours later than planned. No harm in trying I suppose.
Even if holding tickets to a cancelled flight, youd still hadnt won. ATC strikes are force majeure, for example. AF could argue a general strike was out of its control

Originally Posted by brunos
Not sure I understand your "fly around France".
There will be a French ATC strike on 22 March. This also affects flights over France such as AMS-FCO.
Lots of lights will try not to go over France, but the surrounding air space will be saturated.
Not sure how typical it is, but my FCO-AMS flight missed France completely, going as far east as Innsbruck and up Germany.
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Old Mar 18, 2018, 2:48 pm
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Originally Posted by Fabo.sk

Not sure how typical it is, but my FCO-AMS flight missed France completely, going as far east as Innsbruck and up Germany.
Same here, from Naples. We flew practically straight-north.
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Old Mar 18, 2018, 6:13 pm
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Originally Posted by Fabo.sk


Too bad its not new rules, 15XP instead of 2x5 :-)
You could still invoke credit as originally ticketed rule.



Even if holding tickets to a cancelled flight, youd still hadnt won. ATC strikes are force majeure, for example. AF could argue a general strike was out of its control



Not sure how typical it is, but my FCO-AMS flight missed France completely, going as far east as Innsbruck and up Germany.
Of course, flying over France can be avoided all together. But remember that French ATC extends quite a lot, including over oceans.
France is very central in Europe so it affects a lot of flights departing from neighboring countries. I don't remember the statistics discussed during a previous strike, but the number of flights normally overflyin France without landing there is huge, even lots of longhauls. UK is very affected for its flights to Southern Europe and Africa.
Part of that traffic can be diverted (with delays), but other air spaces get saturated and many flights cancelled or delayed. That seems the experience with hard French ATC strike.
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Old Mar 20, 2018, 3:58 am
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I have seen in the news that some (small) HOP unions are also calling to join the general strike on 22 March.
Probably won't have much impact as HOP will have to cancel quite a few flights anyway due t the ATC strike.
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Old Mar 20, 2018, 12:10 pm
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Thankfully I knew about this in advance so I'm flying in to LYS on a long haul Sunday and fully expect the flight to be on time and SNCF to be working reasonably well that day. I think the French public is well aware of this strike and they are dealing with it well. However I spoke to an AF hostess a week ago who is based in Montpelier and due to fly CDG-LH on the 23rd. She herself wasn't sure what she was going to do.
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Old Mar 21, 2018, 10:52 am
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Originally Posted by stimpy
...Sunday and fully expect the flight to be on time..
Sure hope so! and for my fight on Saturday as well..
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