NickB

Tomorrow is a major strike day but you should be OK on the 20th if you are just flying through Paris (as distinct from needing to take a train within France, which is much more dicey).

thrwwrtlvsn

18th is strike? I didn’t get any notification from AF

NickB

No, 17th.

drjeffrock

Flying into CDG on the 23rd. Looks like I will take the AF navette instead of the RER into the city...

Just noticed that some of the metro lines are not functioning at all. Hopefully the French love for holidays will overpower the desire to continue striking through Christmas...

mlin32

Many of the larger labour unions representing the SNCF and RATP plan to continue their industrial action thru the end of the month, with no respite for Christmas. Understandably, the big worry here is that people won't be able to get home or visit family during the crucial holiday travel season, as the trains are by far the most effective way of criss-crossing the country in just a few hours.

But the continued strike action is just mostly for the SNCF and RATP- regardless of how foreign media portrays it. I doubt other secteurs will see a big strike action during the holiday weeks; and really, people just cope with it.

AurelAF96

Don't worry the "tourist metro lines" are still working, but also the bus inside Paris.
Less workers will travel during this period with metro and bus so it will not be a problem for you

BTW: "The French love for holidays" ?? What do you mean by that?
If i'm getting it right, please stop with the cliche, Thanks.

San Gottardo

Well.... many of the lines are not running, including some that serve tourist hot spots. And the ones that are running are completely overcrowded, people have to wait a long time on the platform to get on, find it difficult to get off, and there are numerous cases of people losing conscience, etc. Not fun.

Not a cliché. Sociological research has shown that in France people value free time more than in other OECD countries - both in terms of fewer working hours and more vacation during the active part of their life, as well as number of years being retired. I am not judging it, but just stating a fact. Which by the way doesn't prevent other countries to have more days off.

AurelAF96

Yes currently, do you really think the 24th/25th/26th their will be that same amount of person? I don't think so. First because it's christmas, second because it's also holidays in France.
Moreover they are overcrowed during rush hour not at 10h 11h when all the tourist take the metro/bus.

To be clear i'm not very happy about the strikes in fact totally against it but i was responding to someone we'll be in Paris during a period where less people will take the subway and the bus that's it. In fact if He will come to Paris this week for example, well... good luck for him

Well i'm not sure he thought that way. But value free time more sure, and i think it's not a problem. Less hours at work, well French are still more productive that the other europeans workers so not a problem (see some study about that, easy to find on internet).
More number of years retired, in fact, but it's more true for the people who work in public administration not everyone.
Just stating fact also

mlin32

^Agreed. The French actually work on average more hours a week than their neighbours- the Germans, Dutch, and Italians all work fewer hours. And trust me, people from those countries love their days off and travelling too. And like most strikes related to pensions, the public sector (particularly public transit) employees are making outsize noise because they're the ones with special exceptions and will lose the most.

drjeffrock

You are definitely not getting it right. What a ridiculous reply.

1) I am French from birth. I own an apartment in the 4th. I have family all over Paris and France. I'm very happy to hear that I won't have any problems because the "tourist metro lines" are working. After all, I will be visiting family in the tourist hotspots of Issy-les-Moulineaux, Boussy-Saint-Antoine and Villeneuve Saint Georges lol

2) The French loving their holidays is not an insult. I wish people in America had a similar attitude towards work/vacation delineation. If you paid any attention over the past 40 years: strikes during the holidays are generally not executed in full force. Or perhaps take a look at how many places are open for business on Christmas or Bastille Day? How many notaires and bank employees are not in the office due to it being la fete de Saint _________?

lily23

Latest AF update - looks like additional strikes are called for on the 19th....

Klems

FYI I landed in CDG yesterday, and Uber was readily available and not as expensive as I thought. It was around 8pm and took me an hour to get to Boulogne (just outside of Paris on the west side), 70 euros. So it's good to know that there is at least an alternative to the RER, and I've been told that taxis have a 3X pricing (don't know if that's true from the airport too, I didn't even try).

AurelAF96

Did you check my profil? I think it says i'm living in Paris... I know as you how think works, in fact i'm living near your family, and of course it's very annoying all this but i'll not have problem to see my family for christmas. BTW i'm talking about people who wants to enjoy Paris, with not other choice to take the public transports. I think, you, have other options, and you know better than them how to move in Paris. If not i can help you

The only think i said is: if he think we're always in holidays, that not true. I think their is a misunderstanding here

San Gottardo

"Taxis have a 3x pricing" - no.

What there is though is a fare matrix that works by time/destination: three fare types, A, B and C, each with a different price per km or hour. Fare A is used within Paris Monday-Saturday 10-17H, other times it's fare B. "Near suburbia" is fare B almost all day except late evening/early monring, when it's fare C. Further out is C. Sundays and public holidays are in B or C at any time. And so on. The drivers switch from one fare to the other when they move from zone to another (for instance a taxi going from Paris downtown to Nueilly switches from A to B (or B to C) when crossing the Peripherique, which is the de facto limit of Paris inner city. For airports there are fixed fares from/to inner city Paris, but not suburbs.

So yes, there are fare differences. But these are not surge fares like UBER, where prices go up when it rains of something like that. Whilst the final taxu fare may not be predictable (except airport rides), fare types are predictable.

sonal_hk

Just to provide a data point: I landed at CDG on an early morning flight earlier this week, and had to go to Paris 7th.
Taxis were plentiful, no queue at all, and the standard 55€ fee. Uber had a surge in place, around 85€, and 8-10 min wait. It took close to 2 hrs instead of the usual 35-45 min.