Claire Berlinski
Claire Berlinski, Ed. · Dec 19, 2011 at 6:17am
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Il Messaggero is reporting today that Alitalia is in merger talks with Air France. I assume their business goal is a solid 100 percent cancellation rate owing to strikes. From the Easy Travel Report, a sample of recent strike alerts:

15, 16 December: Italian General Strike

16 December: Airport personnel at Milan and Linate airports strike

12 December: Strike by three main Italian unions, CGIL, CISL and UIL. 

31 October: More long hauls cancelling today, see Air France flight attendants page. 

10 October: Air France flight attendants are to strike 29 October to 2 November. 

6 September: Italian General Strike across the transportation sector. 

26 July: Air France pilot strike is still on for next month.

greve

19 July: First French pilots gave strike notice. Travel between European cities maybe cancelled or severely delayed. Same for domestic travel. French flight attendants will strike from Friday July 29 to Monday 1 August.

16 June: Air France strike by mechanics still going on. Some rescheduling 

of some long-haul flights operating to Paris Charles de Gaulle in the night of June 16 to 17.

23 February:  Alitalia and Air One pilot strike

Mind you, even if their personnel don't meet the target, France's airport security staff will make up the shortfall.

Now, in fairness I should note that this story has nothing to do with Air France, and that everyone I know likes Qatar Airways, but somehow just entering French airspace makes things like this happen:

CRS RIOT police were called in to take angry passengers off a plane that had been stuck at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle Airport after a technical problem delayed it for more than 24 hours. 

The Qatar Airways Paris-Doha flight had been due to take off at 15.00 on Saturday but passengers were told there was a problem and, after five hours on board, were taken off the plane and put up overnight in a hotel. However, when they were taken back to the Airbus 330 on Sunday morning they were told there was another problem - and they were left on the plane for several hours before CRS police were called in to clear the aircraft. 

Passengers said they had been given little food or drink and there were also reports that an air stewardess was "molested." 

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show Scott Abel's comment (#1) ←

Joined
Jul '11

Re: Alitalia, Air France in Talks to See How Many Vacations They Can Ruin

Scott Abel

Wow, that airline would probably have connecting flights to the 7th Circle. If there's a major airline with a worse reputation in Europe than Alitalia, I would like to know what it is. 

Edited on Dec 19, 2011 at 6:56am
show tabula rasa's comment (#2) ←
tabula rasa
Joined
Jun '10

Re: Alitalia, Air France in Talks to See How Many Vacations They Can Ruin

tabula rasa

This sounds like a merger between the athletic departments of Penn State and Syracuse.

Edited on Dec 19, 2011 at 7:44am
show Foxman's comment (#3) ←
Foxman
Joined
Dec '10

Re: Alitalia, Air France in Talks to See How Many Vacations They Can Ruin

Foxman

My first trip to Italy was business.  We flew Houston to Milan via Amsterdam.  On our return trip the Italian pilots staged a work slow-down and we arrived in Amsterdam after our flight to Houston had departed.  We were unable to find another flight until the next day, so we had to stay in Amsterdam for the night.  There are worse fates.

show Mike LaRoche's comment (#4) ←
Mike LaRoche
Joined
Oct '10

Re: Alitalia, Air France in Talks to See How Many Vacations They Can Ruin

Mike LaRoche

I recall an old joke about "Alitalia" being an acronym for Always Late In Take-off, Always Late In Arrival.


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