Five French flight crew unions have called pilots and cabin crew at French airlines out on strike from 12:01 a.m. Saturday, October 17, to 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, October 21, 2026, Paris time. If you have a ticket on Air France or another French carrier for those dates, hold it for now and watch your booking. The refund-or-rebook choice under EU rules applies when the airline cancels your flight.
What the Strike Notice Says
The notice comes from an alliance of five unions: UNSA PNC, SNPNC, SNGAF, SNPL and UNAC. It calls on pilots and cabin crew at air transport companies under French labor law to stop work completely on flights operated between those dates. French carriers including Air France fall under that description.
The dispute is over a change to France's rules on drawing a pension while still working, which applies from January 1, 2027. The unions want flight crew, and their supplementary pension fund, the CRPN, excluded from it. They also say they're ready to keep talking with the government.
In an October 6 post, SNPNC said the government had moved to concrete proposals, including a commitment to publish a decree by mid-October, and that the notice should keep up the pressure until the unions get firm guarantees.
If Your Flight Is Canceled
The EU's air passenger rules cover flights that depart from the EU on any airline, and flights that arrive in the EU from outside it when an EU airline operates them. If you booked a codeshare, check which airline actually operates your flight. Air France's own passenger rights page says those rights also apply to tickets issued under a frequent traveler program, so an award booked with Flying Blue miles counts, under the same departure conditions.
If the airline cancels your flight, the EU says it must offer you one choice among three:
- A refund of your ticket, plus a return flight to your departure airport if you have a connecting flight.
- Re-routing to your final destination at the earliest opportunity.
- Re-routing at a later date that suits you, subject to seat availability.
Once you pick one, you give up the other two. While you wait for a re-routed flight, the airline should provide refreshments, food, a hotel if you're rebooked for the next day, transport to and from that hotel, and two phone calls or emails. If it doesn't and you pay yourself, keep every receipt.
Cash compensation is a separate question. The EU lists strikes by an airline's own staff among situations that are not extraordinary circumstances, and says a strike external to an airline may be considered one. To avoid paying, the airline must prove the link between the circumstances and your cancellation, and that it couldn't have been avoided with all reasonable measures. Our flight compensation guide walks through how a claim works.
What to Do Now
- Make sure your booking has your current email address and mobile number, so any schedule change reaches you.
- Check your flight in Air France's My Bookings, or with whoever issued your ticket, every day until October 17, and again before you leave for the airport.
- If your dates can move, look at flights outside October 17 to 21 now, but book nothing nonrefundable until your airline has said what it's doing.
- If your flight is canceled, decide between the refund and the rebooking before you accept anything, since the choice is one-time.
