Air strike is over but chaos continues

The French air traffic controllers strike has been called off, but the news will not be of much use to the thousands of stranded holidaymakers still trying to get back home.

The strike that caused hundreds of flight cancellations was called off after two days because air traffic controllers said that the French government recognised the ‘importance of investment in the sector’.

Passengers had reported nightmare scenes in airports in Spain and Portugal as flights were cancelled with no warning, and took to social networking sites with their complaints. Some passengers claiming they were being given little or no help by the affected airlines. One complained they had paid  £144  to change a booking when they tried to rebook a flight that had been cancelled, even though Ryanair had claimed passengers could rebook ‘free of charge’. The airline has now confirmed that a refund has been issued.

Delayed and cancelled flights caused thousands of would be travellers to sleep on the floor of Spanish, Portuguese and French airports, some face being grounded for a week as they wait for their flights to be rescheduled.

To add to the turmoil, flights were cancelled with no prior warning and families are left frustrated with the lack of information they are being given. Airport staff were unwilling, or unable to give out news on scheduled flights without any guarantees that the flight would actually take off.

During the strike, which was expected to last until at least Monday, airlines had to provide accommodation for stranded passengers, amid angry holidaymakers, some of whom have to deal with small children in the midst of the chaos.

French airline authorities blamed striking staff for holding them to ransom and have asked staff from other countries to manage French airspace during the crisis, and have asked foreign flights to be grounded rather than take up air space.

To add to the problem, Belgian air traffic controllers also went on strike on Tuesday.

Over the first two days of the strike, EasyJet cancelled over 300 flight, Ryanair250 flights and British Airways over 30.

Marketing chief of Ryanair, Kenny Jacobs, said EU governments had to step in and stop French air traffic controllers ‘holding people to ransom’ with their regular walk-outs: ‘It’s a disgrace,’ he said. ‘The French need to sort this out. Ronald Reagan had the right idea when he broke the air traffic controllers’ strike in the USA by sending in the military to run it.

‘Strike action by air traffic controllers should be made illegal. And if they do go on strike, neighbouring EU countries should be able to operate the airspace over France to keep planes flying.’

A spokesman from Easyjet said: ‘We have booked around 2,800 hotel rooms to date and some passengers will also have booked their own accommodation and will claim it back from us.

‘We are advising passengers on cancelled flights to either claim a refund or re-book after the strike period has finished.’

UK airport queues were less affected as airlines had ‘pre-cancelled’ most of the affected flights and warned passengers in good time to stop them from making their journey to the airport.