Next big France strike date: March 7 & 8 (and beyond)

Thanks Kim, for the update and being our eyes and ears!

Thank you, Kim, for posting this info. The title worked, as it definitively got my attention for exactly what I am looking for. I am looking for real-time information regarding the upcoming strikes /protests. My flight arrives in CDG Wednesday morning, March 8th. I have tickets to take the TGV from CDG to Lyon. Is there an internet site, i.e. government website, where I can receive current information in english regarding travel disruptions? Any tips you suggest for travel/sight-seeing during this time would be most appreciated.

To alohalover - no, there’s not really a government website that collects and disseminates this information in English.

Since your interest is in finding out whether your TGV will be running, here is the link to check from the SNCF (the French rail authority):

https://www.sncf.com/fr/itineraire-reservation/info-trafic/gl

However, they won’t provide general information until 48 hours before the strike, and the specific information on specific trains until 5 pm (Paris time) the evening before the strike (so 5 pm Paris time Monday - subtract the number of hours to get to your local time).

This is because the specific workers have to notify SNCF whether they plan to participate in the strike 48 hours prior to the strike. The SNCF then collects that information and calculates what service (how many trains) they will be able to provide on strike day. That takes about a day ,so the detailed information comes out, as I said, at around 5 pm the evening prior to the strike.

The link before is of course in French. For TGV trains, click on “Grandes Lignes or click on “Voir Mon train (See my train) and then on the following page type your train number (found on your reservation, like the four or five numbers that designate your train), and input the date (as indicated on the form, in European style — so March 8, 2023 would be 08/03/2023. . .or just use the calendar button at the side, March = mars) . Then click “Recherchez” to start the search.

Again, right now it’s too early to do that. SNCF has no idea at this point how many people in what roles will participate in the strike. But the day before, that is where you will look for the information.

@Kim - please keep us posted on future strikes as well, i'm headed there in April so am keeping a wary eye out. Thanks!

We will also be in France the third and fourth week of this upcoming April so I will also appreciate any ongoing strike updates you can provide. Our plans include a considerable amount of train travel.

Thank you very much for your help.

Thanks, Kim! This is much appreciated. My brother and I are in France that week... not planning to travel the 7th but on the 8th, we're hoping trains are going.

We will be there that way. We have to be at the Marais at 10 for a tour

Hopefully buses or metros are running, but if not, hopefully, we can get an Uber or a cab. But if all else fails- left foot, right foot, breathe (yes, I stole that from the late great Pat Summitt).

My biggest fear is that staff can’t get to work for the cafés because we’re fine with spending a day or two people watching

Kim thanks for your updates and earlier info.
Add me to the list of tourists who are unfortunately changing reservations and going elsewhere

i was able to unwind nearly all costs and redirect my flights to London that week.
Tickets to Orasy and Eifel will only be refunded in event the strike closes operations - but even the more modest earlier strike closed both locations so I may get those refunded too.

Sorry to miss Paris - perhaps another time.

Carol, unfortunately if it's like the big strikes these past few weeks (and unlike Feb 16), the only metros running their entire lines for the whole day will be the 1 and the 14.

The other lines have been open only during rush hours, and even then with only a fraction of the normal trains running, and even then many of them have had several sections and/or stations closed. I expect March 7 to be much more along these lines, but as always issue the caution that it is too early to know for sure.

Kim, I am curious but admit this has nothing to do with travel....so feel free to ignore.

Do the unions pay their members for strike days? I know that in the US some unions do and some don't, was curious how it worked in Europe (I have a friend who crossed a strike line because apparently they quit paying members They set up "food banks" instead and she decided paying the mortgage was a priority I didn't really get all the details)

But there's no way we are cancelling... I have actually been there before during a strike. Heck the demonstration went right by my hotel (The best part was watching the hotel management scramble to find a way to get the bus around to the back of the hotel to pick up the AA flight crews staying there) My only real concern is for March 11 as one of us has to get to CDG and the other to the Eurostar but hopefully by then things will have calmed down or we will have figured out a plan b. But watching the 'fear' on social media and places like this I figure that on the positive side maybe there will be a few less tourists for the shortened hours to deal with :)

We are arriving in Nice on March 18 and taking an overnight Intercités de Nuit train to Paris on March 21. We are absolutely planning to go, but I do worry about the train on Tuesday night March 21 being canceled.

If we can't take the train from Nice to Paris, then we'll have to figure out some other way to get up there. We're going to see what happens, remain positive and roll with the punches.

I'm determined to have a great trip no matter what - it just might not be exactly the trip we originally planned.

Do the unions pay their members for strike days?

It happens that fundraisers are organized within companies to financially help workers on strike (not only unions members), but no, the unions do not pay them.
And in this kind of fairly large strike movement, it's not just the unionized workers who are on strike.

That being said, while the previous strikes lasted 24 hours, it is important to note that March 7 is the first to be officially declared "renewable". Which means extendable for an indefinite period.

Yes, JoLui has underlined an important point that I made in the first post here -- this strike definitely has the possibility to be renewed (reconduite) day after day after day.....

That is when things get really tiresome, which is why it's so important to know it's a possibility.

I have figured out that from our lodging to metro long one or line 14 is not a horrible walk

now I’m sure those trains will be incredibly crowded but it is definitely an option

So what do people do if they need to get from one city to another and trains aren't running? (And they don't have a car or a huge budget?)

They arrange to leave the day before or the day after. Or they changed their plans. Or they don't go. If it's a real emergency, they'll find a way.

I haven't read anything (yet) about Air France joining the general strike nor about CDG personnel as well. I suppose if others are like myself and my family flying Air France on March 7th all we can do is wait. Just frustrating to say the least.

It is not specifically Air France or CDG staff, but air traffic controllers who can disrupt flights. And they are not subject to the law which requires them to declare themselves on strike no later than 48 hours before the start of the strike.

I found a back-up for my Aix->Lyon trip on March 11 (FlixBus) but having trouble with getting us from Avignon-Aix on March 8. No BlaBlaCar/Bus or FlixBus options... other than a private transfer or car rental, are there really any other options?

Thanks in advance :-)

I am supposed to arrive at CDG on March 22nd. I had planned to spend a week in France prior to taking a train to the Netherlands. Is it possible that these strikes could continue into the last part of March? I am considering skipping France for now…Anyone have an idea? Thank you!!!

Is it possible that these strikes could continue into the last part
of March?

I suggest to anyone who can tell you if there will still be strikes from March 22 to create a startup and a website to help travelers, he will make a fortune!

nmacane

I'm leaving for Nice on March 17. Still planning to go and make the most of the trip, and also working on contingency plans.

Has anyone had experience with a “reconductible” general strike in Paris? Trying to get a sense of long this may last; feels like potentially a long time.
I am scheduled to fly into CDG on March 7 from LHR on British Airlines. Sounds like this flight along a scheduled SNFC train to Lyon several days later will most likely be disrupted. Wondering if I should cancel the whole France trip? (Looked into flying into Paris a few days earlier on our rebooksble tickets but the change fee would be over a thousand more dollars.)

Unfortunately, the French press is reporting late this afternoon that the last of the four "representative" unions in the SNCF (French rail company) have voted for the reconductible strike I had mentioned above.

This is bad news, as it means we don't know how long the strike will go on.

(Fyi, all the representative unions of the French transit authority, the RATP, had already voted for a reconductible strike.)

Also very curious about experiences with past renewable strikes!

There's no answer. Every situation is different. The President is determined but so is the population.

Each visitor has to make his or her own decision if they still want to come.

Although focused on one man, this is an excellent NY Times article--that I can't get to format correctly--that gives good insight into the mentality and history of protest in France. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/24/world/europe/france-protests-jean-baptiste-redde.html

Like Becky above we inquired about flying out on earlier dates, but the cost is just too high at this late date. We've decided to leave everything as is and go from there.

We’ve decided to also plan to go. Hopefully, British Airways will decide before we leave the US if our flight is definitely cancelled. Only doing carry on luggage so we’ll be more comfortable in airport if long delays.

We're also going. Too expensive to change plans. Have reserved a taxi in case train is cancelled (no FlixBus or BlaBlaCar options). We'll be coming from a cold wintry place, so even if the museums are closed, we'll enjoy walking around.

We are flying Chicago to Zurich on SwissAir on March 17 (arrive 18th) with 2-hour layover before flying to Nice. Our plane tickets are nonrefundable and cannot be changed unfortunately.

To avoid France, we have considered staying in Zurich for a couple days and going on to Germany, flying home from Frankfurt. To do this, we would have to purchase one-way last minute flights home from Frankfurt at significant expense.

Or we can just go ahead with our plans in France, hoping for the best. Being stranded there without flights home is our biggest fear - as tourists we can deal with lack of local transport, closed museums, etc.

We are very torn about what to do and it sucks. Sigh.

We're looking at a rail strike in England the day we arrive and the day we take the Eurostar to Paris, as well as the prospect of these strikes in Paris going forward, so I'm trying to create some contingency plans. Does anybody know if all the rental cars evaporate from Gatwick when there's a rail strike?

Lorraine It will take you 10 hours (so less than ideal) but BlaBlaCars bus run a London to Paris coach from London Victoria. The time taken suggests it takes the ferry across, not the Shuttle in the Channel Tunnel.
Flixbus also run 2 day coaches, which I know go on the ferry.

Depending on how shut down Paris is, we are talking about just staying in England for a week, skipping Paris, and picking up our itinerary with an EasyJet flight to Italy when it's time.

For us, if Paris is at a standstill, it feels easier to arrange last-minute travel in England, where we've traveled extensively and have lots of things we want to to do with the kids.

Hopefully, things will be sorted out by March 18th, and we won't have to worry about it.

Steve and anyone else struggling over this.

One note. Once you get to Europe if you decide you need to change your flight home you may find it much cheaper than you expect. A little known fact is that sometimes on some airlines after you have flown the first flight you can change your return flight home for not a lot of money. I did this last year about this time. I changed my return flight home and the cost was $200, had i done that before I left Atlanta the cost would’ve been several thousand dollars. So if you panic and you feel like you can’t get to Paris before you buy an expensive one-way ticket home just go onto your reservation and try to change or call your airline. Ask them what they’re going to do. If there’s a strike and it’s affecting them they may work with you. They’re not going to work with you today so there’s no need to call today and ask what they will do on March 15 because they don’t know but they might be willing to work with you closer to the flight

Well, that is good to know Carol-thanks for sharing that. We are flying Air France to Rome via Paris CDG if we're fortunate to get there. Then we're scheduled to fly them again from Rome to Paris and finally return home. If there are ongoing strikes affecting our flight dates I can foresee lots of wasted time trying to rebook. As you mentioned, Air France (and any other airline like their partner, KLM) agents have no information about the general strike if one calls now. They'll just say that if there is any cancellation the airline will email the customer (hopefully not on the day of departure!).

Just heard from a French work colleague based in Paris. He predicts 2-3 days for the strike in total, FWIW.

He predicts 2-3 days for the strike in total

His name is Nostradamus? :)))

@cal2279 If you want to change your dates, the change fee for Air France is just 50 Euros (plus I imagine differences in fares). It's much lower than US carriers. .

The following is only information given by the press. There is no evidence that it will happen as mentioned.

Airport workers (those responsible for refueling planes) were called to strike from March 6 in most French airports.
Union warns of 'immediate effect' on airline operations and therefore passengers

Source (in French):

https://www.air-journal.fr/2023-03-02-greve-chez-les-avitailleurs-en-aeroport-des-le-6-mars-5246815.html

The unions of the ADP group (Paris airports) have called for the blockade of Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport and to demonstrate in CDG airport rather than joining the demonstration in Paris.

The CGT Air France union (not representative) also called for a strike on Thursday March 7.
Air France will give 48 hours in advance its flight schedule for March 7,

Source (in French):

https://www.air-journal.fr/2023-03-01-greve-du-7-mars-2023-a-paris-cdg-aussi-5246779.html

Air traffic controllers have voted to strike the 7th and 8th.

This evening, the French civil aviation authority announced it is requesting airlines to cut 20% of flights in/out of CDG on Tuesday March 7 and Wednesday March 8, and 30% of flights at the following airports: Orly, Beauvais, Marseille, Nantes, Toulouse, Lille, Lyon, Montpellier, Nice...

Look on Twitter at tweets from the DGAC (French civil aviation authority).

Kim, Did they announce recommended cuts for flights into CDG on March 7?

Yes, see above. 20%.

But usually long-haul flights (such as from the States) are not the ones that get cut. Usually.

Thanks, Kim. I missed the /. I’m flying London to Paris on British Airlines. Hopefully, if they cancel our flight we’ll get another that day.

Well, we are flying from the US to CDG on Mar. 7th in order to connect to Rome on Mar. 8th. Our Rome flight is I believe the second to last one for that day. Hoping they won't cancel ours but that depends on luck which we don't have too much of.

Well indeed unfortunately the flights within France and to/from other European countries are the first ones to be hit, normally.

Still, remember they have only asked them to cancel 20% of flights - which means 80% will still come and go.

Although other delays and cancellations are of course always possible.

See Becky's separate thread - BA cancelled their 3/7 flight from Heathrow into Paris -- and luckily booked them to arrive a day early.

If you are flying into or out of France on the 7th or 8th, especially to/from another European location, you need to be checking with your airline now, as they may be publishing information about your options.

Also, Eurostar has published a list of their trains they will be cancelling on the 7th and 8th.

We had been checking with Air France since last week. They said if there would be cancellations then they'd be contacting the client via email. So far we have not received any notification regarding cancelled flights on the 7th and 8th when we are scheduled.

Out of curiosity, I just checked our outbound flight on the 7th from SFO to CDG and our connecting Rome flight on the 8th & they are both still showing as 'scheduled'. There was just one flight they canceled from CDG to Rome on the 8th; it was the earliest flight & the rest of them are still scheduled.

Thanks, Kim, for keeping us updated. I was going to stick it out and keep my plan to leave the US on March 7 to arrive in CDG March 8, and hopefully get to Lyon, but its not worth the worry of the unknown for me, and having my trip ruined. I canceled my flight which I purchased with frequent flyer miles, and all the hotels, which had liberal cancelation policies. I got a decent fare to Berlin, and made hotel reservations for the week. Good-bye France. Auf Wiedersehen.

Hi alohalover - I am so sorry you had to cancel but glad you could do so without penalty - and found an alternative. Sadly, I think you have made the right choice.

Yes, HistoryTraveler, unfortunately I think you also made a good decision -- in any event, you have saved yourself a bunch of worry, for sure.

I will add my thanks to Kim and others who have kept this thread updated. It has been so helpful.

We were scheduled to arrive in Nice on March 18 and leave Paris on March 25, and instead we have rebooked for Spain. It's a disappointment to miss France this time, but Spain is not a bad alternative!

Kim - thank you for this thread, I have been checking daily.

I am taking my 6-year old daughter on our first "mother daughter" trip to Paris. We leave March 10, fly FRA-CDG on March 11. I will be closely following the updates.

This thread has me filled with worry. We will fly into CDG (first time overseas, from US) March 18. Then we take the Eurostar to London March 21.

I mentioned all this about the strike to my husband and he wants to leave everything as is. I'm thinking we might need a contingency plan.

Will we have an alternative option for getting to London? I've been Googling but I feel clueless. We've already booked and paid for tours in both countries.

Sigh.

Hi everyone, as I mentioned above, the RATP (Paris transit authority) and SNCF have released the schedules for the service they expect to be able to provide.

Paris metro (RATP) (they give rough hours and lines, but say more information on specific closed stations, for example, will be available tomorrow). Scroll down a little below the graphic with all the lines to the section called “ Mouvement social du mardi 7 mars - Mise à jour du 5 mars à 17h00” (Social movement of Tuesday March 7 - information updated March 5 at 5 pm”
https://www.ratp.fr/infos-trafic

SNCF (national rail)
https://www.sncf.com/fr/itineraire-reservation/info-trafic/gl

Choose “grandes lignes” for TGV trains; “TER” for local trains, and “Île de France » for Paris suburban trains

Please note that truckers have decided to start go-slow actions tomorrow/Monday morning - so unfortunately if you are arriving at one of the airports this morning and trying to take a taxi, you may be stuck for a while. (Luckily the taxi rates between the city proper and the airports are fixed, no matter how long you sit in traffic.) Conversely, at least tomorrow, metro / RER should still be an option for getting into town (or out to the airport), which is unlikely to be the case Tuesday.

This link from the Le Parisien newspaper actually has a graphic that is easier to read than what is on the RATP website: scroll down a little in the article, then take a photo and run the text through Google Translate

https://leparisien.fr/economie/retraites/greve-du-7-mars-mardi-noir-a-la-sncf-les-previsions-pour-les-tgv-et-les-ter-05-03-2023-6HNKTLP3ZFF73C7EBB5Y4RJJMQ.php?xtor=AD-366

Spain too are having ongoing strike actions by Swissport airport ground staff Feb. 27th to Apr. 13th:

https://crisis24.garda.com/alerts/2023/02/spain-unionized-swissport-ground-staff-announce-a-series-of-nationwide-strikes-feb-27-apr-13

We've had one train of three-train journey canceled for March 8 (avignon center to tgv). I'm guessing the others could yet be canceled? But it's not clear whether we can count on other two legs (Avignon tgv to Marseille to Aix) or need other arrangements.

Here is what the sncf-connect website says about trains in the south east region:

Traffic will remain severely disrupted on Wednesday March 8.

SNCF Voyageurs recommends that travelers who can to cancel or postpone their journeys scheduled for March 7 and 8.

SNCF Voyageurs recommends that travelers who are unable to postpone their journeys to check train traffic the day before at 5 p.m. on the usual SNCF information channels.

@elizaotremare You could check BlablaCar for a shared ride or check with the office of tourism for shared vans. Aix is closer to Avignon than Marseille, so your train ride was having you backtrack anyway.

Yeah, we're keeping an eye on it. Tourism bureau a good suggestion.

In addition to the strike, Avignon Centre to Aix Centre also has track work going on, putting you on three trains, or multiple buses and trains, creating a longer trip.

Unfortunately, in addition to the severely reduced TGV services, there are basically no Intercités trains running , and only (on average across the country) one in five TERs (régional trains) running.

Hard to find an answer to this. If one leg of a three leg trip for March 8 has already been canceled, can I cancel the others without penalty? One leg was nonrefundable/ouigo. Possibly moot by 5 if others are canceled.

Thanks. This thread has been so helpful!

Hi Eliza - unfortunately, I don't know. Maybe someone else will.

Sorry about the disruption to your trip. I know it is deeply annoying.

The Musée d'Orsay is closed today, according to a notice on their Twitter feed.

So here’s my on the ground report for day 1

We had a tour this morning at 10 of the Marais. Last night we decided to book an Uber just in case. It showed up on time and we made our tour but the bus route was also an option (it picks up right outside our apartment so we see them running.)

After the tour while eating lunch we booked entry to St Chappelle. Walked there as it was not far.

To get back to the apartment we did have to be creative. Took metro line 1 and then a bus but not too bad. Dinner tonight is close so that’s good.

Looking at the G7 app I can easily get a taxi if I need one.

So far we are still glad we came.

Is it OK to take blablacar as tourists?

It's after 5pm, so can the train schedule be trusted? Our trains are not yet cancelled... but unsure what status of strike is.

Ok, last question, probably! Zou bus seems to operate a route from avignon to aix. It's not possible to book it online or via app (because phone is not registered in France, app not available). But it doesn't look like it's canceled tomorrow at 11:35?

It's after 5pm, so can the train schedule be trusted? Our trains are not yet cancelled... but unsure what status of strike is.

Mostly, yes, you can trust it. Especially long distance trains. Régional trains can have more uncertainty

It's from avignon tgv to marseille and marseille to aix.

Note for other travelers, our ouigo train was canceled without notification. Despite SNCF encouraging people to cancel for a refund, we don't have the option to cancel the final leg, which is running but which we can't take. Will just have to seek a refund later.

Just saw on Reuters that the next nationwide day of strikes will be this Saturday, March 11th. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/strikes-continue-frances-refineries-deliveries-suspended-totalenergies-2023-03-08/

The strikes are continuing. The next day of a big *protest march * is Saturday.

Does anyone know if the CDGVAL has been running during the strikes?
Thanks in advance!

We rescheduled our flight from arriving Tuesday 7 March to now arriving Sunday 12 March at CDG because of the strike. Now they’ve announced a protest day for Saturday the 11th! Do you think we’ll be safe to get around on Sunday? Our goal is to get to Nice. Originally thought to take a train after a few days in Paris but now we are thinking we should fly out right away if the air traffic controllers aren’t on strike on Sunday. So….
Question for the experts:
Can we trust things will be somewhat normal at the airport on Sunday 12th and with ground transportation or should we expect striking/disruptions spillover into Sunday? Do they often strike the whole weekend? We only get one free change with our flight to Paris which we already used to change to the Sunday arrival. Would like to avoid paying to change again or at least be certain that the next change will get us out of the disruption risk. Can’t wait much longer to start this adventure or we will just have to cancel the whole trip. Merci

Here is what is planned so far by all the unions:

Saturday 11 , as Kim mentioned.

It will not strictly speaking be a day of strike apart from those which are already in progress and would be extended. It is fixed on a Saturday in order to allow people to demonstrate without losing a day's salary.

All the unions are planning another day of strikes and demonstrations on Wednesday 15.

Note that if there are air traffic disruptions on Sunday 12, which is impossible to predict at the moment, it will mainly affect domestic flights.

Thank you for the update, Kim.

Do you know the route / locations of the Saturday protests? That is the day my flight arrives at CDG - I am trying to figure out how we might be impacted.

First thank you all so much for your very helpful posts about the situation on the ground in Paris. We are planning to be in Paris 3/31-4/5. I know no one has a crystal ball, but given the history you’ve seen, what do you think the odds are that there will be another call for strikes during that time? They seem to have been every 3 weeks or so, so we are getting nervous. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Do you know the route / locations of the Saturday protests?

Unfortunately I haven't seen anything yet.

Can we trust things will be somewhat normal at the airport on Sunday 12th and with ground transportation or should we expect striking/disruptions spillover into Sunday?

Unfortunately you can not trust things will be normal on Sunday. To this point, none of the strikers have indicated that they plan to stop striking.

Someone asked if CDGVAL has been disrupted. I haven't seen any indications that it has been.

ORLYVAL, however, has been completely shut down on some of the strike days. (ORLYVAL being the paying connection between Orly and the RER B.)

For the person traveling between March 31 and April 15 - indeed, none of us has any crystal ball. Right now, though, the strikes aren't every few weeks, they are simply continuing daily (although for example, the impact on the Metro system today will be much less than it was Tuesday.).

Kim, We have pre purchased our train tickets from Paris to Lyon on March 15. Do you know how I can check to see if it’s been cancelled? Thanks!

Do you know how I can check to see if it’s been cancelled?

Here:

https://www.sncf.com/en/booking-itinerary/traffic-info/gl

Please note, however, that normally the service provisions for any given day are only provided 24 or 48 hours ahead of time. So it is probably way too early to check on a train for March 15 -- although that is indeed the right place !

A day late but our March 8 experience

Took metro and buses to the liberation museum in the 14th, CityPharma in the 6th and Montmartre for a food tour. Some small delays but nothing too bad

Today seems normal

We do have to get to Gare du Nord and CDG Saturday. We have already reserved with G7 anf I’ll keep my eyes on the Eurostar schedule

Thank you so much for all of your valuable information and insights!!!
I am traveling to Paris on Monday and on to Italy later, armed with knowledge to implement Plans B, C, D etc. as may be necessary. Feeling very comfortable, ready to go with the flow, and looking forward to this trip.

Do you know the route / locations of the Saturday protests?

About Saturday 11 and protests in Paris, the CGT union informed its members to plan to meet at Place de la Republique.

The link below (in French) shows you on a map the places of protests throughout France

https://mobilisations-en-france.cgt.fr/paris-le-11-mars-14h-place-de-la-republique-6409c17fc9ae7d7564d0be9d

Thanks JoLiu and Kim for the info. I figure it’s too early to really check, but wanted to be sure it wasn’t a prearranged big strike day.

We are scheduled to arrive at CDG on Sunday morning, 3/12, and our TGV to Avignon has already been cancelled for that morning (it's Thursday). We were sent an email announcing the cancellation. A word to the wise if you're worried about making it somewhere on a train sometime soon: make your backup plan now. After receiving word of our cancellation, we quickly booked what seems to be one of the last remaining rental cars at the airport (for a hefty surcharge) for 3/12 because a car transfer would have cost us well over 1K. Not the best start to our long-awaited family vacation.

My airline's website is now listing air traffic control strikes through March 13 (cancelling 20-30% of short-haul, although no long-haul, flights). The SNCF website lists strikes through March 12 (with wildly different impacts, depending on the day). Cestlagreve lists strikes though the March 15 massive strike/demonstration day.

From what I can tell, the government is not budging and unions are feeling emboldened. I've lived through many strikes in France, including the infamous 1995 one, and don't know whether to simply cancel my travel plans this month (leaving on March 15), reschedule now (but to leave when?), or cross my fingers and hope for the best.

My wife and daughter are planning to be in Chamonix the last weekend in March and we are wondering what impact the ongoing strikes and protests have had on the resort, particularly operation of the cable car to Aiguille du Midi. Current thinking is to forge ahead but would greatly appreciate any input from forum.

I was just reading @Twister an article about the strikes' impact on the tourism industry -- pretty minimal. I know the ski resorts near me have not been impact at all so I assume Chamonix is the same. In any case, the situation will likely have improved by late March. You probably don't need to worry.

The problem is this weekend and into next week for those traveling within France and to other European countries via train or plane, plus car in some places (due to trucker blockades). The French news is telling people not to travel through this week-end, but the situation is evolving and unpredictable.

It's definitely a pain. We had two of three trains canceled on March 8, train for me canceled today and flight for my brother to Germany canceled about 12 hours before departure.

So I’m at Heathrow waiting on my flight home after a week in Paris

I can honestly say that for me, the impact was minimal to nonexistent. Yes, the buses were a little more crowded but we still were able to get on them. Now we never left Paris this trip, (I was with a friend who hadn’t been here in almost 20 years ) Had I been doing day trips or. traveling around the country. I’m sure my experience would have been different.

But in my case, I’m very glad I didn’t panic and change my plans. I had a great time. We had no issues with museums being closed besides one city museum on one day. ( we could’ve easily gone back if it was that important to us.)

So since I have now been to Paris, in 2019, 2022 (2 times) and 2023 not to mention a number of other times, I’m trying to convince myself that 2024 will be the year to go someplace else. We’ll see.😂