Frankfort Nightmare

[6rugrats]

montu6 - if you still have them, don't throw away the boarding passes from these flights. Apply for a refund for the E+ seats you didn't receive. Go here and choose an E+ refund:

 

http://www.united.com/web/en-us/content/reservations/refunds/refund.aspx

 

This obviously didn't happen for you:

 

Refunds

Refunds for Economy Plus purchases are processed automatically after scheduled departure in the event of flight cancellation or change to a different flight, when travel is completed in a standard United Economy seat, or when travel is completed in a seat of equal or greater value

Edited May 1, 2015 by 6rugrats

[montu6]

Rugrats,

Thanks for the link for a refund. That will save us $258 refund!

[NMLady]

Unusual, yes. But it does happen. I know because it's happened to me. And yes, checked in the day before at the 24 hour mark.

 

It happened to us as well and like the OP it was in Venice. Evidently the morning of our flight the Italian air traffic control folks went on 'strike' for four hours which cancelled or delayed all flights for four hours.

We ended up being routed through Milan later that day where we paid for overnight in hotel and flew out the next morning.

We later learned that these strikes are fairly common while work conditions are ironed out.

[6rugrats]

It happened to us as well and like the OP it was in Venice. Evidently the morning of our flight the Italian air traffic control folks went on 'strike' for four hours which cancelled or delayed all flights for four hours.

 

These strikes are usually announced far in advance. They are not spontaneous. You can find out planned strikes on many websites and plan accordingly. One site here:

 

http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/italy_transport_strikes/

[scottbee]

It happened to us as well and like the OP it was in Venice. Evidently the morning of our flight the Italian air traffic control folks went on 'strike' for four hours which cancelled or delayed all flights for four hours.

We ended up being routed through Milan later that day where we paid for overnight in hotel and flew out the next morning.

We later learned that these strikes are fairly common while work conditions are ironed out.

 

In Europe transport workers can strike if they're outside of a contract. In the United States the Railway Act places severe restrictions on airline (and railway) workers from striking.