Europe's Travel Strikes: Flight And Train Disruption You Can Expect In January And February

When, where and what disruption you can expect.

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Strikes are a regular occurrence in Europe, as employees withhold their labour to fight for better pay and conditions.

Walkouts are sometimes planned months ahead but others are announced last minute, showing that it always pays to check before you travel.

Luckily, we have gathered all of the strike information together below.

Read on to find out where and when are walkouts taking place.

If your flight or train is cancelled or delayed, you will be entitled to a new ticket or compensation. Read our guide for the full details.

UK: Train drivers call rolling strike

Members of the Aslef union have called a rolling schedule of one-day strikes and an overtime ban between 30 January and 5 February.

The walkouts will impact different operators on different days, including Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, West Midlands Trains, GTR, LNER, Southeastern, SWR and TransPennine Trains.

Train drivers are in a long-running dispute over pay, which they say has not increased in five years.

Italy: Nationwide public transport strike in Italy

A 24-hour public transport strike will hit Italy nationwide on 24 January. It could cause significant disruption for commuters using buses, trams and subways but is not expected to impact regional and long distance trains.

On the same day, air traffic controllers are set to walk out from 1-5pm, potentially causing delays and cancellations for travellers flying to and from Italy.

Meanwhile, on 23 January, taxi drivers in Rome will stage a 24-hour strike over increased licence fees.

Germany: Train drivers announce week-long strike

Train drivers in Germany will go on strike from 24 January-29 January.

The walkout will begin at 2am on Wednesday and continue until 6pm on Monday. It is the latest in a series of strikes in a long running dispute with train operator Deutsche Bahn over hours, pay and working conditions.

'Open-ended strikes' could hit Germany's rail network in the coming months if an agreement is not reached in the next collective bargaining negotiations.

Finland: Airports to be hit by strikes

Members of Finland's JHL union, which represents around 12,000 airport workers, have announced a 48-hour strike on 1-2 February.

National carrier Finnair says it expects the walkout to have a significant impact on flights. If you have a flight booked between 31 January and 3 February, the airline will allow you to travel earlier or postpone your trip up until 15 March.

It is not yet clear which flights will be cancelled or delayed. Other services such as ground handling are also expected to be impacted, causing further delays for passengers.

If you know of a big strike happening in your country that we have missed, we'd love to hear from you via Twitter.

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