Looks like our flight is to be cancelled/what is plan B!?

You should absolutely try another airline, we had an Air Italia flight canceled due to a strike a few years back and managed to get on a different airline with no problem. Sorry, cannot remember the other airline but air strikes are quite common so it seems in Europe so be flexible tell them where you need to go and see what happens, good luck.

Nicolette, I'd also suggest trying another airline, as you may be able to find "last minute" empty seats. Your best bet is probably to look for flights either directly to Venice, or possibly with one connection in Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, Amsterdam or London. Try researching on www.hipmunk.com If you are able to get a flight, you may still miss one or two nights in a Hotel that you've booked. At this late date, it's not likely that you'll be able to get a refund, so you'll just have to accept that. I don't know for sure, but you may be able to get a refund on your credit card. Although there are often provisions in the legal fine print for "circumstances beyond our control", in this case there may be an exception? You may have to pay twice for the tickets and then worry about the refund when you get home. This is one reason why I always use a Travel Agent when booking international flights. Good luck!

Did you try calling Air France? If indeed the flight is cancelled, they may have a plan to get you rebooked on an alliance partner airline. (I am assuming it's an Air France strike and not air traffic controllers, etc.) When I book a hotel, I always quiz them about cancellation policies. Typically a no-show incurs only one night's charge. If you cancel with a week's notice (for some of your later reservations) you may be able to get off without any charge. We had our trip disrupted by strikes in Greece just recently, so I can identify with the anxiety this causes -- best wishes that it all works out.

I checked but only quickly Nov 2nd from SLC may not have been canceled yet. I would contact Air France and continue to let them handle your situation. If they cancel, they will try to set you up on another airline. I would also email contact the hotel the first and/or second night and check the cancelation policy and make a decision is you want to risk cancelation or not. As of now the strike may not last long but you never know. You may also luck out if the flight is operated by Delta through Air France

Looked a little more and it looks like your flight will be on Delta ( partner) so you may be safe. Call Air France but it looks like a good chance you will be fine on your scheduled trip.

I truly appreciate all of the very helpful comments concerning our flight. As of yet, it is still not cancelled, and I think the site would have it posted by now if it were to be. So things are looking good. We're leaving tomorrow evening (nov 2) and will be checking the status of our flight before we leave to be sure. Thanks everyone!

In hindsight, this is a good reason to consider buying trip insurance (TI) when making one's initial air and hotel reservations. A European trip is not inexpensive, and eating the costs associated with an unfortunate scenario described above would be painful. I am sure that there are many readers of this Helpline who do not consider TI to be a good investment -- and frankly, I am sure the odds are always stacked in favor of the insurance company -- but in an instance such as this, one would have been glad they took the risk and purchased TI. For the record, I do not work for an insurance company or any business related to insurance industry. Nevertheless, I have purchased TI for myself and my family during our last few European trips. In most cases, we had a 4-hr drive to the gateway airport, there is always a risk that we could experience a car problem, someone might become ill and cannot travel, etc. The trip insurance would cover missing a flight due to car problems, illness, etc. I believe the cost is about 6% of the insurance amount (e.g., $120 for $2,000 coverage). Moreover, although I have never collected on TI (and prefer to not have to because that means there was a problem), unless the rates become unreasonable, I will continue to purchase it for our future European trips.

Nicolette, I sure hope this works out for you. I'm happy to see that it's looking better, based on the other responses. Robert, I'm with you on travel insurance. Of course the odds are that you'll never need it. That's why it's not that expensive. But for those of us with elderly parents or similar personal situations, travel insurance does provide peace of mind. Throw in the increasing uncertainty of the situation in Europe and you get all the more reason to buy it. This reminds me of a funny exchange on "The Office", Michael and Holly regretting how something had gone wrong: Holly: "Well, hindsight's 20-20." Michael: "Yeah, we should have had hindsight." Happy travels. And good luck, Nicolette. Let us know how this shakes out.

best of luck to you! hope it will all work out. Your airline should be helping you out, as others noted. re another part of this thread: travel insurance (TI): we bought it only twice, once in 2000 for a winter trip to a sunny timeshare for 4 of us, and once for my recent 3 wk trip to Italy. I did not need it for this trip, it turns out, but it helped me sleep at night. In 2000, we had 2 elderly, dependent parents in rough shape, so that's why we bought it. As it happened, I was diagnosed w breast cancer shortly before our planned trip and needed surgery and chemo. We cancelled our trip. The airlines refunded nearly all our money, under the circumstances, but the TI covered most of the money we lost when we couldn't use our (non-refundable) timeshare property.
It was at least a little consolation in a devastating situation. I'm a TI fan when it comes to expensive trips.

It seems like dealing with strikes is becoming a common feature of European vacations. Last month we dealt with a train strike on the day we arrived but thanks to my great skill (dumb luck) we were on a train that was guaranteed to run. Flights are a bit worse, since the Plan B is harder to work with. I keep hoping that countries will start understanding how important tourism is, and work to stop these incessant strikes. I would take it as a good sign that the flight has not been cancelled at this late date, so bon voyage, buon viaggio, and happy travels!

Thanks!