Neetse

Can anyone confirm whether there will be a strike of air traffic controllers on May 28th? We are scheduled to arrive in Rome that day via Brussels Airlines. When we called the airline, they said that they had no knowledge of a strike in their system; however, a friend received the following email regarding travel on May 28.

"Ryanair regrets that the Italian Air Traffic Flight Controllers employed by ENAV (Ente Nazionale di Assistenza al Volo) have informed us of an 8 hour strike between 10:00 hrs to 18:00 hrs local Italian time on Saturday 28th May 2005. This strike will regrettably cause delays and many cancellations of Ryanair flights operating in and out of Italy."

If this strike does take place, will it affect all airlines? Any suggestions on what we might be able to do to prevent this from delaying our arrival in Italy?

P_M

I know you're not flying British Airways, but I looked up the info on their web page and I'm afraid you might have a problem. I will copy and paste what I found. As they recommend, call the airline to make sure your flight is not canceled. Here's the blurb from British Airways:

Following notification of pending industrial action by Italian Air Traffic Control staff on Saturday 28 May, some British Airways services to/from Italy may be affected.
All airports in Italy are affected by the industrial action with the exception of Turin.

If you are travelling to Italy on Saturday 28 May 2005, we recommend that you check the status of your flight, before you leave for the airport, using our online arrivals and departures page.

Neetse

That is disappointing news. I'm hopeful that this issue will be resolved and the strike will be avoided, but I'm not sure if that is realistic. Is there ever an 11th hour resolution on planned strikes in Italy?

Intrepid1

Interestingly enough, EasyJet, which flies from London Luton to Turin, has apparently cancelled all flights between those two cities on 28 May.

Intrepid1

Do you have a back-up plan for possible delay one day or for ground transportation on the 28th?

P_M

Neetse, I looked again at the web page today, hoping there has been a resolution and your trip can carry on as planned. Unfortunately that's not the case. If you could post back to this thread and let us know what you ended up doing, it might help others the next time there's a strike. Good luck, I hope your trip still goes well.

amberkat

I guess this may affect my flight also. We arrive on the 29th via Amsterdam. I guess we could get bumped because of overbooking due to the cancellations on the 28th.

bookchick

It seems this strike is scheduled for certain hours on 5/28; see this web page for details:

http://www.whatsoninrome.com/strikes.php

I, too, am supposed to be arriving in Rome on the 28th, on a non-stop flight from my hometown. I've checked the airline website, however, and there's no indication at this time that my flight is being cancelled.

Good luck, everyone, and buon viaggio,
BC

Richard1148

We will be flying into Rome on May 28, so I did some checking. In addition to the website posted by bookchick, I found info on the strike on this one: http://strike.skynetblogs.be/

Apparently, the strikes begin no earlier than 10:00 AM, which relieves me, as we are scheduled to land at 8:55 AM. I think that most flights from the US arrive in the morning, hopefully before 10:00 AM, for other travelers to Italy on May 28.

Neetse

No luck for us. Although we are flying from the U.S. we have a layover in Brussels, which doesn't put us into Rome until 11:30 am - during the strike. So far, the airline has been unable to offer us any information. We are planning to go as scheduled, but fear that we may end up camping out at the Brussels airport for 8+ hours.

LoveItaly

Hi Neetse, one time when I flew from SFO to Amsterdam on KLM I was not advised of an aircontrollers strike in Italy. I arrived in Amsterdam to discover my flight was not going to leave on time on time for Venice It was then I found out about the strike.

Sooooo, I sat around the Amsterdam airport for hours. Had coffee, had lunch, wandered through the shops, sat and read a book, had a few glasses of wine. When the strike was finished I do have to say KLM got us on the flight to Venice without any problem. And the waiting area at the gate was packed with people. Guess they flew the planes out in the order they were suppose to originally fly out.

It really was not as bad as it sounds. And at least you are prepared so that is good. Maybe bring an IPod so you can listen to music, a good book etc. The joys of travelling.

Scarlett

Bookchick,
I refuse to believe that after all you have been through, that you will have one problem on your flight to Italy!
I am hoping all of you get a Last Minute Reprieve by the Air Traffic Controllers..

italyss

I just returned from Italy last week. There were so many strike scares, you could not believe it. However, May 28 will be a terrible strike day, because they postponed a stike from May 22 to combine it with May 28. The reason I know this is because I was scheduled to fly out of Milano Malpensa on May 22, and no one was willing to reconfirm my flight. The biggest hassle in Italy, is that NO ONE in Italy or the airlines has any idea what is really going on! I finally called my friend back here in the states to check the websites for me about airline stikes in Italy. The best websites (in Italian) are www.sea-aeroportimilano.it for Malpensa, where you can type in your flight info to see the status of your particular flight. Somes strikes may not affect all planes, which adds to even more confusion. But, May 28 is affecting pilots, attendants, ground crews, and at least two or three other unions. Also keep checking www.infrastrutturetrasporti.it and www.commissionegaranziasciopero.it for stike info. You can also check in English at http://news.airwise.com, but there is general info and no specific flight info. Apparently, they have all gone without contracts for two years, so that is why they keep striking. Believe me, I was so happy to jump on my flight on May 22, you cannot believe. But to repeat myself, no one in Italy or the airlines has the slightest clue, if you call them. Also, remember that when they go on stike, the airlines there don't even answer the phones, according to the concierge at my hotel.