llamalady

Here I am again with another BA quandry!
IF (Heaven forfend) BA does go on strike at
the end of August AND we find ourselves at
LHR with no way to finish our BA flight to
Toulouse what would be the best thing to do
(besides whining) to get there by other means? I know Air France, KLM & Lufthansa
depart from LHR but I'm thinkin' there will
be a whole pile o' people trying to get on
them......would Eurostar be an option? Does
anything leave from Heathrow that would save
us some schlepping?? O aidez-moi, for I am
old and bewildered!

Already I've fretted over the miniscule
luggage allowance in cabin and the possibility of not getting to Gatwick in
time for the (perhaps imaginary) flight to
Blauvac - and now THIS!

Thanks in advance for any ideas from the
Old Folk at Home. :-s

P_M

Gee, llamalady, that is quite a panic attack you have going, although I must confess to doing the same when I first heard there might be a strike. All I can tell you is to monitor the situation, then if it happens, (and that is a big "if,&quot contact BA immediately so they can arrange something for you. They will send you on another airline if necessary, at no extra cost to you. I know this because one time my BA flight was delayed, causing me to miss my connection to Dublin, so they flew us on Aer Lingus, as all the BA flights were booked. You might get there late, but you WILL get there.

Here's another thing that might help. I am flying to Geneva on BA August 11, via LGW. If you will say a prayer that day to the travel and luggage gods on my behalf, I will do the same for you on the day you fly. Just tell me the date, then we will both be doubly insured that we, and our luggage, will all get to our destination as planned.

ira

Hi lady,

See if BA can put you on an Easyjet flight out of Gatwick to Toulouse.

elaine

Hi
I have heard that when there's an airline problem (canceled flight, or whatever) it helps when you go to other airline counters if you have real tickets in your hand, as opposed to e-tickets.

P_M

I also heard that, Elaine, but AA told me that the issuing airline must endorse it before you can trade it, so it's no worse to have an e-ticket. Either way you have to see the issuing airline to get something trade-able.

CarolA

The only time having a paper ticket will allow you to go up to another airline counter is if your ticket is a full fare ticket. Since most of us attempt to book during fare sales on don't book the full fare, we are stuck getting the orginal airline to write us over to the new carrier.

llamalady

...Hi folkettes - thanks for the ideas.

Ira: I got the Easyjet schedule and it
looks doable from Gatwick so I feel
better 'bout that. P_M - I'll put fresh
flowers on my portable Traveller's Shrine for you that day! :-s
Elaine - we're on points and e-tickets
so that idea's a no-go (literally)!

I've been going to Europe for over 40
years now - you'd think I would have
learned to punch with the rolls by now!
It's the getting there that's part of
the experience. Right?

Christina

A lot of these strikes don't cause as much trouble, even if they occur, as you might fear.

Aside from the other flight suggestions, yes, you can take a train there. Take Eurostar to Paris (I think 3 hrs, maybe 4 with the time change), and then the TGV to Toulouse takes a little over 5 hrs. That TGV leaves from Montparnasse, but you can easily get from Gare du Nord where the Eurostar arrives to Montparnasse. There is a TGV to Toulouse around 2 and 5 pm, and probably one in the evening. There are also slow regular trains that take about 7 hrs.

llamalady

......thanks, Christina - I've added
your information to my panique file!