Should we cancel Dec. 5 flight/trip to Paris?

My wife's in Paris as I write this, and the weather's been cold, rainy and otherwise cloudy. I try to go on vacations at times of the year when the weather's more moderate.

Have you seen this thread? https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/paris-france-december-transport-strike-fyi I personally would not cancel but then again, I take taxis to and from the airport. Last time I was in Paris for a transit strike (May 2018), there was some inconvenience but nothing that could not be resolved through planning. The most difficult issue I see for your trip is getting to Normandy and you can get there by bus or rent a car. If you are staying in a hotel, your front desk staff will help you find options.

Personally I wouldn't cancel a trip to Paris for this reason. Basically plan on a taxi or hired car from the airport to your hotel in case of transportation issues. From there you would need to go with the flow and work around any issues that arise. Definitely read the link provided by previous poster.

I'd want a hotel in one of the single-digit arrondissements so you can walk to the main sights if necessary. Where are you staying?

I will be the dissenting voice and advise that if you have a way to get your money back for your flights and lodging, you really might consider deferring your trip.

I am afraid even getting in from the airport via taxi may be a mess in addition to getting around locally while you are here.

It would be easier to recommend you stay in London, for example, rather than adding on a Paris leg to such a trip. I feel bad warning that maybe you should rethink coming here at all from the States, but it is looking like enough of a mess that if I didn’t have to be here, I wouldn’t.

Of course none of us has a crystal ball either so none of us can predict with accurate what is going to happen!

Sorry not have better or more solid advice.

Agree completely with Kim. Getting any transportation from CDG will be difficult. Maybe you could up your arrival date? From all the publicity here in Paris this will be quite a strike involving some airport ground control too. As of this date air trafic control is not yet involved. If you get to central Paris, as there will be minimal metro or bus service, being within walking distance of what you want to see will be important. A certain percentage of public transport is required to run but the forecasts for that are iffy.

Yes, it's November and the weather is accordingly miserable, as expected. No one comes to Paris for the weather.

Thank you all. We are staying in the Marais, so once we get there, walking will be our transpotation. I thought of booking ride/driver from CDG to the city, if planes will even be landing (ground crew to strike?) But then traffic gridlock, long potential, long waits for ride, blocked highways. All suggestions and perspectives y'all offered sound great depending; if we only knew what we'll face in December's strike.

Sounds like you need to be flexible rather than cancel. Set up your trip with options that are travel-oriented and alternatives that don't involve travel. You don't say if you have gone to France before. I sense that you have not gone. One option would be to rent a car, and drive to Normandy. I'm sure that would be easy and fun. We've driven in the west of France, and it's easy with nice roads, places to stay, and so forth.

If you delay your trip to Paris because of a strike or protest then I’m afraid you may NEVER see Paris.

Tim and Paul:
I've been to Paris/France but never during a strike. I like the idea of simply going for it despite the hassles and uncertainty, and yet....
We already have plans to go to Normandy. And have rental car once we get there, somehow.

I have taken a taxi to CDG and it was about 50eu back in 2006. Normally I take the RER, but you can also catch a TGV directly from CDG to some locations.

I have some experience with the strike summer before last. In our case it was a TGV trip from CDG to Provence.
- They seemed to have cancelled some trains but not others
- Their website seemed to suggest they would cancel certain trips but 2 days before the trip, it turned out our train was indeed cancelled. Actually they sent an email that was in English and repeated in French - but the English text said the trip was not cancelled and the French text said it was.
- It caused major problems to our trip - including losing hotel reservations which were non-refundable. (Although Hotels.com did offer some credits even though some of the hotels were not cooperative)
- I went to SCNF offices, and they have zero empathy for the grief they cause. They don't seem to give a crap about anything. Nevermind, that tourism is a major component of their economy, and that making tourists suffer does not put pressure on the government to give them earlier retirement or bigger salaries or whatever their demand is.

Based on my husband's experience with strikes in early June of 2018, we have decided not to take the trip we were planning for next May, although my husband will still probably have to go for a week to attend a meeting in Paris. There's no point in taking a chance that they'll be striking then too.

I don’t know why one would not listen to the posters who actually live in Paris? Fly into Paris and connect to another country if you need to keep your initial air reservations. Hopefully you could get out of your hotels with some kind of refund?

Flying into CDG on December 5 -- will deal with transit somehow. Once at our hotel, we plan to walk a LOT. It would take more to make me miss Paris (even in the winter ... when it drizzles.)

EDIT : the Air France airport workers and commercial truckers joining in the December 5 strike (possibly blocking highways!) may be enough to persuade me to say a bientôt, Paris. Looking into whether United will waive the fee for changing flight destination for mileage-based tickets and starting our trip in Germany. (Yes, there was an airline-initiated change that I had agreed to -- not sure a change of 15 minutes on the return flight will be sufficient to trigger the waiver. But since the Paris flight may have to be cancelled if their airport workers go on strike ... worth a try.)

Judith, would it be possible to go to Normandy for a week first, then a week in Paris? Renting a car from CDG and driving to Normandy is easy. Maybe the strike will be over by then.

If you are willing to drive to Normandy instead (arrange a car rental now!), I don't see any reason to cancel the trip if it would make you lose money. There are plenty of private options to get from CDG to the city (taxis, Uber, le bus direct, hôtel transfer services... ), and sure, waits could be longer, traffic could be worse, but you'll get to Paris. Once there, with a Marais hotel, you'll be able to walk to many places.

Of course, if you can cancel for free or a negligible amount of money, then yes, maybe postpone.

Susan has a good point.

Judith, what airline are you flying? Some of the AirFrance unions have announced their intention to join the strike.

To rail rider - yes, the taxi fare is fixed at 50€/55€ into the city. The problem being when things get to be a real mess, one could be waiting for hours and hours before being able to get into a taxi due to congestion backing up the road traffic getting into and out of the airport. It's not a simple matter of deciding you have 50€ to spare or not.

Thank you, all. We have lots to ponder, and, unfortunately, lots of money at stake. Non -refundable air on United; locked in accommodations in Paris on dates certain, same for Normandy. So basically we would scrap our current reservations and start over. I think what might happen is that if United decides to cancel flights due to strikes, as they did recently in Barcelona, our vouchers would allow for some comfort and my ability to celebrate a fairly monumental birthday in Paris. Thanks again.

Dang. You really do have a tough decision.

I haven’t seen anything but AirFrance personnel signing up to strike (As far as airport folks go), so I doubt United would cancel any flights. I will keep looking to see if I see any different indications.

Few if any US air carriers have their own personnel at CDG. Airport operations will be handled by French workers belonging to the same unions as do the AF employees. If one airline´s ground staff causes schedule disruptions, expect the same or similar with other air carriers. For example, if drivers operating the fuel trucks strike, no aircraft will likely be serviced be they Air France or United or ANA or any other airline.

There are no guarantees that any operator at CDG will be unaffected. To what extent disruptions could occur, or may not occur will not be fully understood until one or two days before the planned strike.

At this point, I would not make any changes to my travel plans. Paris will not close. If canceled RATP/SNCF operations make reaching the city difficult, there will always be taxis, shuttle services, VTCs (Uber, Kapten, Bolt, Snapcar, and Le Cab) and le Bus Direct, all with beefed up operations and running full speed.

What you can do is know the travel options and be prepared to use them.

Judith, I’m sure you’ve thought of this, but do your non refundable United fares allow changes on the flight into Paris for a fee? Could you arrive on December 3 or 4? If your lodging (hôtel or apartment ?) is booked, perhaps you could just reserve a hotel in the Marais for a night and transfer to your existing reservation on the 5th?

Kim: Thank you.
Tocard: I have written down the ride companies in case trains aren't running. Good tips.

Barbara: Yes, strikes are to be expected in France. Wish we didn't arrive on the first day of a potentially huge one. Your idea of early arrival is reat. I looked into it

I think if United cancels flight, we can rebook, and I'm hoping we could rebook for a day or so earlier than Dec. 5; getting a hotel would be find with me until our lodgings are available on Dec. 5. But changing now is costly, esp. since I booked through Hotwire. I'd have to, first, buy two new RT tickets to Paris through United. Then go online to Hotiwire and appeal for a;refund on what I knew were non-refundable tix. At that point, I may or may not be stuck with two sets of tickets, which I don't want to happen. And in any case, the new tickets would double our air fare costs. So if I got no refund and bought new tix, costs would be tripled at a minimum. I appreciate your approach to this dilemma, which just may turn into an interesting adventure. Or not. Thanks again.

Update: I spoke with Hotwire. They said they will not refund a non-refundable ticket despite what the United Airlines representative told me. So we wait and see how the strike(s) unfold.

Judith, one last thought: in the time since you booked your ticket, has United notified you of any schedule changes, even small ones? In the past, I’ve been able to contact United and they were open to free changes since they altered the original itinerary. Once they changed my flight to a different day to accommodate me, free of charge. But I’ve always booked directly with the airline, so don’t know how Hotwire would figure into this.

Any idea on Eurostar service? I'm supposed to be going to Paris at this time but via train from London.

Barbara: You are a great detective. Why, yes, a month or so ago United contacted me (or was it Hotwire) asking if I would agree to a minor change in our itinerary. It didn't change a whole lot but it was a change that I agreed to. Do you think that gives me some leverage to say, Hey, you were able to change my flights once to benefit you, but now it's my turn? Or something more finessed?

When I've had airlines change a schedule on my itinerary - in one case it was just 15 or 20 minutes - it was usually a one-time deal to allow me to make a change if the new schedule didn't work for me. The email notice would usually provide the allowable parameters - the time within which the change could be made and the degree to which you could make changes.

Even if you're outside whatever parameters they may have provided for that earlier change, it's worth a call to try. Especially if they changed you to the new date, now a strike date. A supervisor might have more latitude to go beyond stated parameters.

Yes, Judith, call United... Focus on how the schedule change created a hardship/inconvenience for you that can only be remedied by arriving on the 4th, for example a meeting or event 🙂 Fingers crossed! (Probably wouldn’t help to mention the strike at this point)

Regarding the question on Eurostar: there can be some strike related disruption, but I've never witnessed a significant proportion of cancellations. Eurostar is a separate legal entity from French Railways (SNCF).

CW Social: Thanks. Good points My original itinerary didn't change dates of arrival from good to strike day, so my argument might be weak.
Barbara: I'll give it another try with United, though they are now putting notes into my file about my requests. Nice notes, I should hope, about a pricing for a couple of alternative, expensive flights in case I want to pay for a change. But this will probably my last plea, maybe.

Your argument will not be weak what it will be is not true. Is weak another word for not true?

UPDATE: We decided to arrive 3 days before Le Gevre, instead of December 5, and since we stay in the Marais, will walk a lot. Don't know if trains will allow trip to Normandie. Thanks to all for guidance, and to United Airlines for changing our tickets without penalty as an early birthday present to me.

Two summers ago I was in Normandy during one of the worst rail strikes that was going on the last few years. So what I did was I plan to take the train but I also booked bus trips back to Paris if necessary. This way if my trains were canceled, and none of them ended up being canceled, I was able to take the bus. I was also able to see a lot of Normandie via bus as well .
Normandy is so worth seeing.

Judith, YES! Extra time in Paris is always a good idea, lol. Let us know how things work out during the strike!

I've been seeing pictures of various Christmas decorations from streets to store windows so enjoy the season!

We have been in Paris for various strikes, but never the magnitude of what is expected this time. While we don't even arrive until the 18th, I am thinking of booking car service from Orly to Gare d'lest to catch our train to Germany just in case----I read on the other thread that getting a taxi will result in waiting for hours. Tocard mentioned Uber, Kapten, Bolt, Snapcar, and Le Cab. I read some reviews of Kapten on trustpilot.com and they were all pretty awful. Does anyone have any recent experience with the others they could recommend? I would use Uber, but I am not that skilled at using my phone overseas (this will be the first time I've taken it, so not sure how to dial the country code)! Sorry, but I'm 64 and have traveled overseas a gazillion times without a phone! Thank you!!

@KathyW you use Uber with an app. You don't have to call Uber. Download the app then when you arrive put in your destination & a driver accepts your ride. If you are going to use Uber (even if just as a back up option) I would download the app at your home & take a few rides to get the hang of it. There is a way to pre schedule a ride as well. I've never used that so but that may be an option

But yes you need to have data on your phone to use the Uber app, so you will need to either purchase your carrier’s international plan (it is included already if you are a t-Mobile customer) or get a SIM card in Europe for your phone (if it is unlocked — and in which case you would need to set up a separate Uber account as your phone # would be different).

Well, it’s 12/30 and the strike is still on. We arrived on 12/27 and had no problem taking a Kapten from the airport. Flat rate of €45, with no surge pricing. We are staying in the 6th so walking is the optimal means of transportation since the road traffic is horrendous. It would have taken 45 minutes to get to an location, while it was only 20 minutes to walk. Still having a great time despite the inconveniences. Local restaurants and businesses are not faring as well. 😢