Roundup: AirFrance pilot strike Nov. 14-17; EBay pulls inauguration tickets

Good morning, travelers.

Airline news | You have to love the French for organizing their strikes and letting everyone know in advance. They have a national four-day pilots strike schedule to start Nov. 14 (we’ve confirmed it started as of one past midnight this morning, Paris time) and go through Nov. 17. On Friday, 60% of Air France long-haul flights and 50% of its short and medium-haul flights will supposedly be maintained. To find out the status of your flight, check the “Book on line / Flight status” section of the website.

Air France says on its website that it is doing what it can to accommodate passengers.

Here is further info for customers, direct from the Air France website:

> Postpone their trip without financial penalties, whatever fare they have paid. Flights can be postponed up to March 28, 2009 except for long-haul flights during the periods between December 20, 2008 and January 4, 2009 and from February 14 to March 1, 2009

> Change their destination, with the value of the original ticket being deducted from the new one

> If their flight is cancelled or delayed for over five hours, have their ticket refunded in full or be given a voucher for the same amount, without financial penalties

> Be given a voucher for those who do not wish to travel during the strike period, even if their flight is maintained

> If they are transferred to a means of ground transport, be refunded for a car rental (category A only) or a rail ticket in the class of transport corresponding to that on the air ticket. Refunds shall only be made by the Customer Care Dept. on presentation of invoices and itinerary receipt.

Contact: U.S. passengers can contact Air France reservations (800) 237-2747

Inauguration travel | You trust EBay to purchase sports and concert tickets—but with all the scams swirling around the hard-to-get inauguration tickets, EBay has decided to pull the plug and removed tickets to the Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony of President-elect Barack Obama from its websites. Read: EBay removes offers of inauguration tickets

Budget travel | Sometimes picking up the phone can help you get a better rate at a hotel. Read: How to get a low-cost hotel rate without risk

– Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger

[Photo: Air France]

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 14, 2008 at 6:46 am by Jen Leo and is filed under Airline travel, Business Travel, East Coast, Europe, France, Good Morning, News, Tips & Advice, Washington D.C.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.