Spanish airports authority AENA reports that striking air traffic controllers have now started returning to work. More than 50% of Spanish airspace has now re-opened, with the remainder expected to open in stages between now and 6pm.

However, an immediate resumption of flights is not expected. Widespread disruption and cancellations will continue until at least tomorrow, with the knock-on effect perhaps lasting for several days. Around 20,000 Britons are believed to be amongst the 250,000 to 300,000 passengers so far stranded in Spain.

Flights to Portugal and Morocco which use Spanish airspace are also subject to disruption.

David

The threat of industrial action in Spain looms once again, this time to coincide initially with the Easter holidays, with further strike dates planned for the summer months:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12682293
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/spanish-airport-strikes-qampa-2236591.html

Air traffic controllers and baggage handlers are not involved at the moment, but other ground staff such as firefighters are.

David

Spanish strike talks break down

Talks aimed a preventing strikes that could ground flights to Spain over Easter and the summer have broken down amid accusations that the Spanish government is not taking the threat seriously.

Reports in the Spanish press said no-one from the government attended the talks with unions and president of the airports authority Juan Ignacio Lema only attended the meeting for 15 minutes.

Unions are threatening to bring Spanish airports to a standstill during peak travel periods unless they receive written guarantees that workers jobs and conditions will be protected following the impending sale of several airports including Barcelona and Madrid.

There are 22 days of industrial action planned which are: April 20, 21, 24, 25 and 30

May 2, 14, 15, 19 and 20

June 13, 23 and 30

July 1, 2, 3, 4, 15 and 31

August 1, 15, 31

With permission from Travelmole

I'm after some advice. If this strike goes ahead on the dates mentioned, it will mean that I'll be lucky enough to have departed for Spain the day before the first day of action. My worry is that I'm due to fly home a day after one of the planned strike dates and that cancellations or delays from the day before will have a knock on effect for my flight. Am I right in thinking that flights scheduled for a certain day get priority over flights that have to be rescheduled from previous days? i.e. provided there is no strike action on the day of my return, my flight should get off at the planned time or at least on the planned day or would they maybe cancel our flight in order to get the people that should have flown home the day before away?

I'm sure I read somewhere during the ash crisis that flights scheduled for any particular day get priority. Can anyone put my mind at rest please?

Can anybody help please?

Does anybody have some advice for me regarding my last post please?

Id be interested in hearing the reply too Shirley. We fly out 2 days after a proposed strike and fly home the day after another one.

We fly to Benidorm on May 14th...a strike day
And to Palma on 2nd July to pick up the ship for our silver wedding anniversary cruise

At this moment in time I'm not in panic mode as I've a feeling things wont go that far....Spain relies heavily on the tourist trade and strikes such as this will have a huge effect on their economy so I've a feeling the government will step in at some point and either arrange for others to take the place of the strikers or come to some arrangement via negotiations maybe not to sell the airports off as planned....
Hey ho

Anyway my question is....if these strikes do go ahead how do we stand re getting a full refund if a strike takes place on the day we are due to fly....how long can the travel company keep you at the airport before they have to offer you an alternative flight/holiday

Lorraine, check your travel insurance under "Abandonment". Some are only 12 hours before you can abandon the trip and claim a full refund. However you may have to call the insurance before you abandon the trip.

luci

shirley h wrote:

I'm after some advice. If this strike goes ahead on the dates mentioned, it will mean that I'll be lucky enough to have departed for Spain the day before the first day of action. My worry is that I'm due to fly home a day after one of the planned strike dates and that cancellations or delays from the day before will have a knock on effect for my flight. Am I right in thinking that flights scheduled for a certain day get priority over flights that have to be rescheduled from previous days? i.e. provided there is no strike action on the day of my return, my flight should get off at the planned time or at least on the planned day or would they maybe cancel our flight in order to get the people that should have flown home the day before away?

I'm sure I read somewhere during the ash crisis that flights scheduled for any particular day get priority. Can anyone put my mind at rest please?

Can anybody help please?

We were in Benidorm when the ash crisis was happening, and our booking stood firm. As it happens it was the first flight out after the cancellations. There were no long queue's, the flight was on time too. We were told that booked flights took priority over ones that had been cancelled, although obviously they were trying to get people out with extra flights and such.We flew with Jet2, and the website provided info on what was happening.
The day before our flight the website said that flight would be going as normal.We fly to Spain on 26th April, and that's the day after the proposed ones so I would imagine the same will apply.

Thanks Luci....I have done and yes it is 12 hours.....If we have to cancel both holidays because they can't fly out on time then we'll probably get a last minute holiday for our anniversary and then do Vegas later in the year

Thanks for your reply Linda.

The day before our flight the website said that flight would be going as normal.We fly to Spain on 26th April, and that's the day after the proposed ones so I would imagine the same will apply.

That's the date we fly home on so I hope all will go to plan for us both.

shirley h wrote:

That's the date we fly home on so I hope all will go to plan for us both.

Me too!

Hi guys,

whitewineandsoda wrote:

shirley h wrote:

Can anybody help please?

We were in Benidorm when the ash crisis was happening, and our booking stood firm. As it happens it was the first flight out after the cancellations. There were no long queue's, the flight was on time too. We were told that booked flights took priority over ones that had been cancelled, although obviously they were trying to get people out with extra flights and such.We flew with Jet2, and the website provided info on what was happening.
The day before our flight the website said that flight would be going as normal.We fly to Spain on 26th April, and that's the day after the proposed ones so I would imagine the same will apply.

This is reassuring - I'm due to fly to Spain right in the middle of all this! My flight to Spain is on May 1st - there is a strike day before on April 30th and a strike day after on May 2nd!

It's been bothering me as it's only a 2 day short break, I'm due to go May 1st and come back May 3rd, so I've been worried in case this all blows up in my face and we end up not even being able to get out there in time for our return flights

Flying to cape Verde on one of those proposed strike days and did wonder if this route would be affected by the Spanish dispute?

Well it seems that the strike has been averted.Confirmation due this afternoon but looks like that's just a formality. Here's a link to the Spanish newspaper, if this is not allowed mods please remove.
http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_29637.shtml

Well the unions have agreed but they now have to put it to the workers. Let's hope they see sense and then we can all rest at ease.

Thanks for that link wwas.

Wow, fingers crossed! Thanks for the heads up

And a further link

http://www.thinkspain.com/news-spain/19319/preliminary-agreement-between-unions-and-aena

According to Madsue's link, there will be no decision on the strike until the latter part of next week. I've got my fingers crossed.