After strikes caused disruption during the February school holidays, more industrial action is planned by transport workers in the run-up to Easter.
Travellers could face disruption in Spain, France and the UK between now and the busy holiday period.
Read on to find out where and when are walkouts taking place.
If you flight or train is cancelled or delayed, you will be entitled to a new ticket or compensation. Read our guide for full details.
Strikes at 17 Spanish airports
Some of Spain’s busiest airports are facing strikes by unionised workers at ground services and cargo handling company Swissport between now and Easter.
From 27 February to 13 April, they have called for a series of 24-hour walkouts every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
Swissport Handling provides services at Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona-El Prat, Reus, Alicante, Valencia, Murcia, Málaga, Almería, Salamanca, Valladolid, Burgos, Logroño, Zaragoza, Huesca, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Tenerife Sur airports.
Unions will have to provide minimum services, as is required by Spanish law, so it isn’t yet clear what impact the strikes will have on passengers.
Ongoing pension strikes in France
Unions across France have been in an ongoing battle against plans to increase the legal retirement age from 62 to 64.
The industrial action has previously included railway workers and airport staff with 30 per cent of flights from Paris’s Orly airport cancelled on the last day of strikes.
As this industrial action is ongoing and involves unions across France, it’s worth checking if you could be affected before you travel.
Heathrow workers vote on Easter strike action
More than 3,000 security guards, engineers and firefighters who work at Heathrow Airport are currently voting on whether to strike over low pay.
If the workers, who are members of the Unite union, vote in favour of the industrial action, it could coincide with the busy Easter holiday period.
“If our members at HAL (Heathrow Airport) take strike action it will inevitably cause severe disruption throughout Heathrow with delays, disruption and cancellations of flights inevitable,” says Unite regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King.
When is the UK passport workers strike?
Although this strike doesn’t affect any transport services, it could stop you taking a trip.
More than 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) working in Passport Offices in England, Scotland and Wales are to walk out from 3 April until 5 May.
The strike will involve those working in Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Newport, Peterborough and Southport.
The Business Travel Association estimated that more than one million passport applications are due to be processed during the strike period.
German airport workers strike over pay
German airport workers have been taking part in ongoing strike action over pay and unsociable working hours. On Friday 17 March the Ver.di union has called on ground staff at four airports to walk out for the third time in a month.
Industrial action will take place at Cologne-Bonn, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, and Karlsruhe with a total of five cities affected as Cologne and Bonn share an airport. Passengers have been warned to expect cancellations from Friday morning.
All departures and arrivals have already been cancelled at Stuttgart Airport with travellers advised not to come to the airport and contact their airline directly.
At Cologne-Bonn, the way shifts are scheduled means that travel chaos could continue beyond Friday with a full service not expected to return until Saturday afternoon.
Düsseldorf will run a reduced service on Friday with severe disruption expected. Some flights will still go ahead but many are likely to be cancelled. Passengers are being urged to check the status of their flight and keep hand luggage to a minimum in order to speed up queues at security.
Italy airport workers to take part in nationwide strike
On 17 March, baggage handling, security and maintenance staff across Italy’s airports announced that they will take part in strikes.
The time and impact of this industrial action are likely to vary between airports. Security staff at Milan’s Linate airport, for example, will strike for 24 hours whereas aircraft maintenance workers at Rome’s Fiumicino are only walking out from 1pm to 5pm.
This means it is worth checking with your travel provider to find out what impact the industrial action is likely to have on your journey.
Source: Euro News
