Strikes snare fliers on two big European airlines
Airline passengers in Europe are being forced to navigate disruptions from labor conflicts at two of the continent’s biggest carriers this week.
Labor actions at Air France and Scandinavian airline SAS likely have already disrupted the plans of more than 100,000 combined passengers since Friday. Adding to the mess could be a Tuesday strike of easyJet pilots at the discount carrier’s base in Amsterdam.
On SAS, nearly 80,000 passengers have had their plans disrupted since Friday. On Monday, the airline said it was canceling many of its short-haul flights in Europe.
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The dispute involves the carrier’s Swedish-based pilots, with SAS saying in a statement that “flights, operated with Danish and Norwegian pilots, as well as with our partner airlines, are planned to operate as normal.”
Still, SAS canceled 230 Monday flights in a disruption affecting 27,000 passengers. That’s on top of 50,000 SAS who had already suffered canceled flights during the weekend, according to wire reports.
SAS said most of its U.S. and other long-haul routes would operate as scheduled. Still, U.S. customers planning to connect to other European destinations on SAS should check ahead on the status of their flights. SAS -- a member of the Star Alliance frequent-flier group -- operates hubs in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo.
SAS was waiving rebooking fees for customers ticketed to fly Monday or Tuesday for changes to avoid the strike. Still, the airline warned: "Due to the prevailing circumstances, rebooking is limited if you do not have the opportunity to travel at a later date." Additionally, SAS cautioned response times were lengthy amid a surge of calls to its reservations teams.
“I sincerely apologize to all SAS-customers, Swedish Pilot Union have decided to continue their strike,” SAS spokeswoman Karin Nyman said in a statement. “This affects our passengers and we have done all that’s in our power to avoid a continued strike, but we have unfortunately still been unable to come to an agreement. Our main priority now is to keep taking care of our customers and are working vigilantly to do everything we can to assist passengers affected.”
At Air France, pilots launched a partial four-day strike on Saturday that was timed to coincide with the start of the busy summer travel season as well as the opening of the European soccer championships that are being hosted in France.
The carrier canceled about 20% of its weekend flights, with at least some disruptions likely to continue into the work week. Bloomberg News notes the action by Air France pilots comes amid strikes by other workers in France, including trash collectors and energy workers.
So far, Air France appears to have been able to limit the scope of the disruption. In a statement post to its website, Air France said:
"For .. Monday June 13, we plan to operate 85% of our long haul flights, 85% of our domestic flights, and 72% of our medium-haul flight to and from Paris - CDG. Last minute disruptions are not excluded. Our flight program for June 13 is up to date.
"For ... Tuesday June 14, we plan to operate around 85% of our long haul flights, around 80% of our domestic flights, and around 75% of our medium-haul flight to and from Paris - CDG."
Air France said it hoped to resume a close-to-normal schedule by Wednesday. It also was waiving change fees for certain customers hoping to avoid strike-related disruptions.
"We sincerely hope that your flight will operate as scheduled and apologize for any inconvenience this strike action may cause you," Air France said in an online message to customers.
Air France CEO Frederic Gagey said the dispute will likely cost the company €5 million ($5.6 million) a day, the BBC reports.
And in Amsterdam, pilots at easyJet said they plan to strike on Tuesday on flights between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. local time, reports Travel Weekly. Though fairly limited in scope, the disruption could still snarl fliers traveling on one of Europe's largest discount airlines.
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