Greek ATC strike possible.

We arrived over 3 hours late last week on a Thomson flight and are due to fly back on friday. We were speaking to some Brits stood in the harbour outside the ferry who told us that their flight back to the UK was cancelled as it never took off from Newcastle....subsequently they had been waiting around all day only to be told they were going to be shipped to the mainland 13 hours later (at midnight) to catch a coach (3 hour transfer) then yo return on a flight the following day at tea time!! Totalling a 30 hour delay!!

Actually, those two Thomas Cook flights DID take off from UK, but when they arrived over Skiathos, the weather prevented them from landing, so they were diverted to Kavala. (Thomson flights went into Thessaloniki). For some reason, they did not then move on to Skiathos, unlike the Thomson ones which did. Thomson flights all apparently operated, albeit with some delay. TC seem to have given up. I would guess that might be flight crews out of hours regulations. Personally, if I had been TC customer, I'd want to know why they didn't fly, and use the Thomson flights which did operate to base a claim for considerable compensation. That storm was happening before those flights left UK and they should be well aware of their usual practice to divert into Kavala and should have ensured the flight crew had enough hours left to complete the job.

I'll do what I can, but please don't rely on me. I have no idea what I'm doing from day to day, get a call any time to do a job. Two days last week I was up at 3am and out on the road before I could have looked at websites. Indeed, the only reason I've heard about the possibility of ATC action this weekend is because Woody posted it here (I only get the Times to roll up under my arm for meeting strangers, I don't read it!). I saw the flights last Friday because I'm interested to see how they are going in relation to our flight from Birmingham in four weeks time (four weeks and two days, to be more precise, so I try to watch the Friday flights).

In case you wonder how I do it, I go on a website to see the flight numbers (type in "JSI Arrivals"), then look for the flights on Flightradar24.com (in search box top right, type in TCX2418 for Thomas Cook flight 2418).

Just had a text from my friend who works at the airport to say that the planned strike for Friday has been cancelled.

Hmm. I have yet to hear of a delay which turned out well - that is, when the sufferers had enough leeway to go back to the beach, have a Greek night out, whatever. My feeling is that most people will stand around worrying whether they've been given the right information, whether they'll be given ANY information, how soon their only clothes will start to tell everybody how long they've been wearing them, should they take their medicine now or later, etc, etc, etc.

I know I'm happy to dream of being marooned for extra days, but it never happens does it?

We witnessed the demise of Kosmar also several years ago. That year we had switched from Kosmar to travel independently so it didn't affect us. But it was disaster for all concerned in Corfu. No reps paid, no accommodation owners paid, no flights, no contact numbers.