irishal... congratulations! I think it will be less "no man's land" than you think. I can't imagine the restaurants and shops closing down.

To cruiseluv and all: Up until check-in time, Delta was showing our flight 114 from ATL to BCN as OK. As mentioned above, phone reps gave the same info. Just as we were returning to the website to check in, it was posted in red: "CANCELLED!" Other itineraries were offered. However, as we were in the process of searching, a couple of the flights were "Closed". We called the Delta Skymiles International Dept. and were able to book a flight out on the 29th, to arrive on the 30th. In fairness to DL, we will say that the agents were very courteous and helpful. But why DL waited 'til the 11th hour to communicate remains a mystery. Our itinerary is different from the original, now from Detroit through Amsterdam to BCN. At this point, we're somewhat disappointed at having our trip cut a day short, but relieved to avoid the possible chaos in Spain on the 29th. And kudos to the company European Destinations, as our agent has been very solicitous, and immediately offered to contact our hotel to cancel a night and rearrange the airport transfer.

We'd recommend that anyone else with a flight on DL scheduled to arrive in Spain on the 29th check in as soon as you're able, and if your flight is affected, re-schedule quickly as seats are very limited. Good luck to all in your travels, and thanks for all the helpful input from Fodorites.

Well, I´m glad that things seems to be working for some of the people travelling to Spain today. Specially glad about irishal, because you don´t want to be looking for transport and deal with missing luggage when coming to a wedding and with two small kids ( btw, weather forecast looks good for Saturday ...). And of course, tomarkot, who managed to get changed to the following day, because earlier this morning taxis weren´t able to get to Barcelona airport, so going into the city was going to be difficult.

I feel that the strike is a bit a hit-and-miss. Most everybody is here at my work place, at least people in the office, not so many in the factory. We arrived to work in 25 minutes, when usually it is a 45-50 mns drive. Madrid buses are not working, but the metro was running this morning at a 50% capacity, so the city wasn´t really blocked down. Right now in the news there are more talks about skirmishes around the main Corte Ingles stores (that would be the main focus right now, trying to keep it closed). I have spoken with friends working in the city center, and everybody has arrived without problems. The worst of the strike has been on the big factories and in the long-distance transport (almost no trains running and only 20% of flights, more or less).

Hope everybody is safe, rgds, Cova

" We called the Delta Skymiles International Dept. and were able to book a flight out on the 29th, to arrive on the 30th"

I'm surprised this flight isn't also affected. We originally were due to fly out tonight and arrive the 30th but were able to cancel 6 weeks ago and reschedule because of the strike. We ended up rebooking for a week later... Will flights departing on the 29th not be affected?

FWIW, we got an email from Travelocity yesterday warning us that our itinerary might be affected. So, they let us know the day before. (Freaked out for a second because we cancelled those flights 6 weeks ago -- and confirmed this with our tripID number -- but considering this strike was pretty well publicized a little more notice would have been nice)

The English version of El Pais said there were only minor disruptions through the country with the worst in Barcelona.

What are people's impressions?

well.. friends saw the protesters grab a girl from catching a taxi.. many places had to close because of the animosity of the protesters on the streets. they broke windows at corte inglés in some city. in Barcelona one police car was burned and the anti-establishment pups took advantage of the situation to raise cain (sp?).

Cafeterias full of people were emptied with threats. Even the Chinese stores all closed to avoid problems.

If picket lines were INFORMATIVE, no problem, but when they are menacing and threatening.. seems illegal to me.

It is being said, depending on which station you listen to , that this has distanced the people from the syndicates. The liberated syndicalists ( the reps in each company and administration) enjoy non-working privileges and are not punished for not going to work the strike day ( they receive full pay always).. so..I just hope the government stops subsidizing these organizations and forces them to live off their memberships. (If so.. they will quickly disappear unless people's attitude changes drastically).

Bad time for strikes. Too much suffering all around. I think they got themselves more detractors than friends yesterday.