Concerns about Paris
 

My husband and I are leaving Saturday evening for Paris. I've been reading up on the riots and read the discussion here about what to do IN Paris if state sponsored museums/places are closed. I'm note really worried about what to do to entertain ourselves or being trapped in "enemy warfare," but I am concerned about transportation.

1- Is Continental in danger at all of striking? Is it possible we could be stuck in Paris (return date is 16 April)?

2- Can I reserve a shuttle from CDG to hotel? Are they striking?

3- TGV to Avignon on Wednesday and back again on Saturday. Are they currently striking or is it possible they will be by next week?

I know it's not a transportation strike, but a youth-involved strike. How much will this affect us? The media's reports are rather fear-inducing (typical), so I don't know how big of a grain of salt to take the news with.

Thank you for the help in advance. I appreciate all of your sagely advice.
beth

Continental is one of the stronger US airlines financially. There's no ongoing labor problem, so I have no idea why you worry about strike on that line.

Delta is about to strike, I believe, but not Continental.
Take a taxi.
There is not much in the way of answers for you concerning if the French will strike next week or on a certain date..it all depends on what they decide to do..Some news sources say that things might be easing a little already, that the protests are " losing steam".

Hi M,

One of the nice things about spontaneous European strikes is that they are announced in advance.

Another good thing is that when the transportation workers strike, they don't shut down the whole system.

The shuttles (eg BluVan, parishuttle, beeshuttle) are private firms and are not likely to be struck. (stricken?)

((I))

You can reserve a shuttle to take you from CDG to your hotel. The name of the company is Paris Connections, a search engine should direct you to their website. I have booked my return trip with them on-line and they are very efficient with English speaking drivers.

Thank you so far for the responses. Anyone else? What about the TGV?

we're traveling same dates, same airline. if you hadn't signed "beth" i would've thought you were one of my traveling companions...
no danger of Continental participating in the strikes, but i've been checking to see how many flights of theirs have been cancelled due to the strikes. answer: none. even if things get bad & they cancel yours, they will refund your $ if you request it. even NR.
CDG-hotel: if the RER goes near your hotel, that may be a good 2nd choice.
like others have stated: even on the "official" strike days, transportation wasn't effected that much, only delays and crowding on trains. air travel was minor delays mostly. and only up to 1.5 hrs- i've been stuck on a tarmack way longer than that! very few flights were cancelled and nearly all those were domestic.
really, it should be no problem. even if museums close, the metro shuts down, there are so many places to enjoy in paris that don't have an admission fee.

fyi, up to date news: the 12 major unions have set a repeal deadline for 4/15. (moved up from 4/17 for the holidays.) the unions will meet 4/10 to decide further action. if you read french, france2 online has really up to date news reports.

WE just got back from Paris and were surprised at all the concern generated by the news report of the protests. We only saw one little one and it was quite peaceful. In France a strike does not impact the transportation system too bad, because elsewise there would be no way for the protestors to get to the protests. Suggest blue vans and you'll be fine. Do not worry about your safety. News reports tend to distort reality. You will enjoy Paris a lot. On strike days you may have to wait a little longer for metro connections, that is about it.

Although it is related to youth employment, there have been more than just youths demonstrating and striking, and there were strikes affecting transportation by those unions. I think about 25 to 50% of the trains/cars were not running on some of the TGV and Corail or suburban train lines, although I don't think the metro was affected. They weren't shut down, but it was affected. Some of the TGV lines were affected in various cities because protestors were blocking the tracks, I think (such as in Lyon and Aix) in March, but several of the unions with SNCF workers also struck on 4/4, as I understand it.

I think the media reports where are live are pretty good and aren't trying to induce fear (few listeners would have a reason to be fearful, anyway, since they aren't there). They just talked a lot about economic and labor issues in France and Europe, in regard to this law and politics. In fact, I've been rather impressed at the coverage of French labor issues on NPR and in my local paper when I wouldn't think that would be of that much interest to a lot of folks. ON one NPR interview program last week (Diane Rehm), they had some editor of Le Monde and some other analyst working in Paris, as I recall, and I thought it was a good discussion.

There are no transportation strikes today that I know about in most of France (including Paris), but there is an anti-CPE demonstration in Bordeaux which is affecting some TGV lines going through there, but they are just being delayed 1-2 hours. There is some minor issue on the regional lines in the midi-Pyrenees, also.

As long as you avoid watching FOX News, which apparently has a network credo to present only negative info about France, you will be fine.

Paris is business as usual, just as it has been throughout the “riots”.