A national air transport sector strike for Tuesday, May 21, 2019 has been issued by some of the trade unions in Italy — which has been adversely affecting air travel in that country, as hundreds of flights have already been canceled due to disputes over pay and working conditions. The airports which serve the greater Milan and Rome metropolitan areas are being affected the most, as members of the staff of airports and air traffic control strike.
Travel Alert May 21 2019: Strike in Italy Disrupts Air Travel
This means that Alitalia was forced to cancel at least half of its flights scheduled for Tuesday, May 21, 2019, as well as some flights which were scheduled for the late evening of Monday, May 20, 2019 and the early morning of Wednesday, May 22, 2019 — but flights which have been scheduled to operate on Tuesday, May 21, 2019 during the peak hours between 7:00 through 10:00 in the morning and from 6:00 through 9:00 in the evening will operate as scheduled.
Alitalia has apparently not been completely accurate with information to customers.
Thank you @Alitalia, for reminding us how unreliable some state carriers are.
Yes, there's a strike. No, you screwed up the information.
Flight was 21st not 20th and you failed to inform is it's now cancelled.
You owe us better than "we're also suffering".#Alitalia #Fail pic.twitter.com/0CuVMQCHZk
— Zohare Haider (@JJBaybee) May 21, 2019
Still, Alitalia claims that it has “taken special measures to mitigate customer inconvenience by operating bigger aircraft on domestic and international routes, in order to rebook passengers affected by cancellations onto the first available flights on the same day”.
If you are affected by cancellation or schedule change of flights which are operated by Alitalia from the late evening of Monday, May 20, 2019 through the early morning of Wednesday, May 22, 2019, you can rebook your travel at no additional cost or penalty; or you can request a full ticket refund — but only if the flight is cancelled or the delay on departure exceeds five hours — by Tuesday, May 28, 2019.
Additionally, Delta Air Lines has issued a travel alert for ten airports in Italy for Tuesday, May 21, 2019; and Friday, May 24, 2019 is the last day on which tickets must be reissued and rebooked travel must begin. American Airlines, United Airlines and Air Italy have yet to issue any travel alerts for the day.
Summary
Other airlines which serve Italy may issue travel alerts — and travel waivers — for today, Tuesday, May 21, 2019 as a result of the national air transport sector strike.
If you have travel plans to, from or within Italy tomorrow, change them as soon as possible — and expect residual effects from the national air transport sector strike to possibly cause a domino effect for the remainder of the week.
Photograph ©2014 by Brian Cohen.
