lisa

thanks to current news from always-up-to-date fodorites, i've just learned about summer airline strikes. even if you're not flying the affected airlines, do you have any advice to put my mind at ease? <BR> <BR>i have a flight from granada to barcelona on july 18 (one of the listed strike days) and from barcelona to munich on july 22 (not yet an announced strike day). <BR> <BR>i called british airways (who i booked the flights with--for the air europass deal) and they said i should call iberia to confirm my flights. iberia "says" they don't know of any strikes scheduled for july. but if any of our iberia flights are cancelled, i will be "protected" by british airways. (in other words, they said ba should be able to book me on another flight, in the event that our flight is canceled; does anyone have any idea what other carrier they could book us on from granada to barcelona or from barcelona to munich?) they also told me to call iberia 72 hours in advance to re-confirm our flights. <BR> <BR>is there anything else i can do now besides just cross my fingers and hope it's not too horrendous? should i plan to be at the airport even earlier than 2 hours before check-in? for granada to barcelona, i'm not too concerned because we'll be in vacation mode and will choose not to stress over a lost day or so. however, we will be flying from barcelona to munich on the evening of july 22 for a july 23 morning meeting. as a last, desperate resort, we could try to re-book the bcn-muc flight for a day earlier, with a big fat fee. i'd rather not do this (especially not now, since july 22 is not a scheduled strike day as of yet--i don't want to re-book to another day just to find that the re-booking is on a strike day!), but do you think i should re-book, just to be safe? if so, should i wait until a date closer to our flight? <BR> <BR>overall, i would just like advice on any precautions i can (and should) take. <BR> <BR>ooo... these strikes are so pesky!! <BR> <BR>thanks very much for any input!

John

IS British Airways one of the airlines striking this summer??? If they are it is the first I have heard of them striking! I am leaving in two weeks! Someone with any insight??

lisa

john, please do not have a heart attack. no, british airways is not scheduled to strike (at least not that i've heard of). iberia is scheduled for strike, but i'm seeking general advice on how a an innocent, bystanding traveler should best handle a messy strike and ways to avoid becoming a casualty of the airline strike wars.

John

Ok thanks Lisa.., you had me worried there for a minute!

elvira

My experience with strikes and work slowdowns: <BR>If you can rebook on a different airline, do it. It took us 24 hours to get to Europe from the American Southwest when AA pilots had a work slowdown. Don't take a chance - with so many flights booked to capacity, there may be no flights at the last minute to move you to in case of a strike. Your Barcelona&gt;Munich is the most worrisome; you might end up on a two- or three-legged flight which could add hours and hours to your flight. <BR> <BR>My reco: get a full fare flight; if there's no strike, you can return the full fare ticket; if there is, you've got your full fare ticket and you can probably turn in the BA/Iberia.