lreynold1

I guess the odds are low that another fodorite will be in my situation, but I have just learned that tomorrow morning, the Air Traffic Control staff will strike at the Lisbon airport. The strike is announced for 7-9 a.m. only.

I don´t what it means for planes for the rest of the day, but I assume there will be some disruption. For me and my 6:55 a.m. flight, it means going to the airport at 4:25 and getting out before the strike starts. At least that´s what the travel agent told me.

So, if you know anyone going to or leaving from Lisbon tomorrow, pass it along.

I wonder what the odds are that I will make it back to the US tomorrow. ????

lowcountrycarol

Thanks for the info. I have been in Portugal for a month and have not read anything about this in the local papers but did hear from the United rep at the gate in Newark when I left the US. Apparently these strikes have been ongoing, but at least there is some advance warning.

Knowing that there is often a lack of efficiency here after many years of traveling 2-3X a year to Portugal, I would expect to have a delay. I do not think we have ever pulled out of the gate or off the tarmac (years ago with bus boarding) on or before the posted time. I would not be sure that they will get you out but maybe you will get lucky.

Just wondering, are you flying direct to the US and what flight goes out that early in the day? We have been using whatever can get us out of the NY area which we fly to from Savannah, but have been searching for alternatives as the recent prices have gone so high. Next trip in Oct will be TAP out of Miami to Lis then on to Faro with a good fare. Hope you get home in good time.

lreynold1

Hi, carol,

My flight goes to Madrid, where I was originally going to get the Iberia flight non-stop to Chicago. It leaves around 11, I think. But when the Iberia pilots started their sporadic Monday and Friday strikes a few weeks ago (which are now over, I believe), the travel agent changed my flight from Madrid from Iberia to American. The American flight she was able to get me on doesn´t leave Madrid until 1pm and goes to Dallas, which is a LONG way from Chicago. And from Dallas I´ll make my way north. So I basically will have a lousy day even under the best of circumstances. The best case scenario is that the flight leaves Lisbon before 7, gets to Madrid around 9 Spain time and leaves me with 4 hours in the Madrid airport. I don´t even want to think about it.

I have flown a few times into Portugal on Continental, either from Newark or Boston, and those were great flights!

lowcountrycarol

It was interesting to read that you are going to Madrid then on to the US. We come over, having a place in the Algarve, two times a year and are always looking for bargains or to use mileage which has become difficult.

I think we just got the last of the 33,000 miles (each way) for Portugal with this last trip. My husband had the points and Continental put him on TAP for the Newark/Lisbon portion...I flew on United/Continental in order to build miles. Fortunately we both are returning on United. For the future I will start to keep an eye on flight prices to Madrid and then figure how to get to the Algarve. There is Ryan Air but as we always bring luggage that really can bump the price up and any savings can disappear.

Good luck with your long day of travel.

lowcountrycarol

This strike is also scheduled for May 17, 18 and 25. Yesterday's stike created quite a few problems with some flights diverted to Seville.

lreynold1

Well, though I made it to Madrid, and then to Dallas, in Dallas I sat for 3 hours while thunderstorms went through. So, from the time I got to the LIS airport till I arrived at my home airport, a whopping total of 25 hours had passed. I know that's not a big deal to many frequent flyers, but I'm used to around 15 in a home to Europe typical flight.

Sher, on this forum, has also suggested SATA airlines. I know that their schedules are season-sentitive, but I think they have really good prices sometimes.

I think these strikes are going to be increasing rather than decreasing as the austerity belt continues to tighten.

Sher

Hi girls.
We usually hit either Newark, if we are flying Continental. Or we hit Philadelphia if we are flying US Airways. Both of these carriers usually connect with TAP.

This year I took a chance on SATA out of Boston.
Flights BOS-LIS were $800 return in August. But I didn't want to deal with two different itineraries. One from PIT-BOS, and then BOS-LIS. With my luck something would have happened to the PIT-BOS leg and SATA wouldn't honor their flight. I ended up paying $1150 on Orbitz PIT-BOS-LIS return.
So maybe look at SATA the next time. It may or may not help.

What I want to know is what happens if there is a strike when I am there. I guess since SATA is a Portuguese airline it will be easy to get information from them in Portugal. It is sometimes difficult to get information about flights in Europe when you are there from our US carriers like Continental or US Airways or maybe that has just been my luck. When I was in Italy last year US Airways was clueless and kept saying all was well when those storms hit the East Coast.
I like the SATA flight to Boston because it does not leave Lisbon until 2:30. I know it seems late but for Mr.Sher it is great. He HATES early flights. We get home about 9:00 but the travel time isn't dragged out. We get home later but we leave later. This may even be a plus for you Carol, coming from the Algarve.
So I will let you know how the SATA flight is. Our friends in Lisbon tell us that TAP stands for Take Another Airline! So I will see.
Let me say something else about SATA. You call a US telephone number and they connect you with a person who speaks very good English. She had much better language skills then some of the outsourced reps on our US carriers.
Carol. I didn't have luck with miles on Continental even before they were United. Waited too late I guess.