Planes, Trains, Traffic Jams, en Français

Strikes will slam France October 18, with rail workers and airport employees walking off the job to protest proposed pension changes. Travelers flying to, through or from a Paris airport and anyone with an Air France flight can expect cancellations and plenty of sitting around the airport.  The train strike will mess with commutes, make everyone late and promises to continue indefinitely.

Strike talks began after French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed increasing retirement age for train and bus drivers to 60, angering SNCF employees. In a sign that France and Germany should chat more, the initial SNCF strike would have overlapped the GdL measure, but the dates were changed to avoid impacting the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.