Britons travelling to Europe today face major flight disruption due to a general strike in France and strong winds disrupting flight schedules at Heathrow.
The French "Black Tuesday" strike action, in protest at a new employment law, has forced budget carrier Ryanair to cancel more than 70 cross-Channel flights.
Services cancelled by the Irish budget airline include flights from Stansted to Grenoble, Perpignan, Montpellier, Nantes and Bergerac, and some air links between Liverpool and Carcassonne and from Luton to Nimes and Brest.
Ryanair said customers booked on any of the cancelled flights could rebook free of charge for travel up to April 7 or from April 24 to 30.
In addition, British Airways said several of its services from Europe into Heathrow had been cancelled today due to strong winds affecting outbound flights yesterday.
"We've had a couple of cancellations due to strong winds but none due to the [French] strike," said a BA spokeswoman. Passengers are advised to check the latest information on ba.com and those affected can rebook for free on the next available services.
Heathrow-bound BA flights from Glasgow, Berlin, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Paris and Lyon have been cancelled today. Return flights from Heathrow to Glasgow, Lyon, Paris and Zurich have also been cancelled.
Air France was set to operate its normal long-haul schedule but expected some disruption to medium-haul destinations. One Paris-Heathrow flight was cancelled this morning.
Meanwhile the UK's biggest strike for 80 years hit motorists in the north-west, where the Mersey Tunnels in Liverpool were closed. The walkout also halted services on the Mersey ferries.
The strike by one million British council workers, in a dispute over pensions reform, also hit commuters in the north-east where the Tyneside Metro system stood still and the Tyne Tunnel crossing, which normally transports thousands of cars and lorries at rush-hour, was shut.
Multi-storey car parks in central Newcastle remained closed and the city's traffic wardens joined the walkout.
Andrew Sugden, policy director of the North East Chamber of Commerce, said: "It is the ordinary man and woman on the street who will be hit hardest. They face transport havoc trying to get to work."
Unison's North East regional organiser Charlie Syme said the strike would cause major disruption, adding: "This is not what we want to see but unfortunately we have no other way of bringing it to the attention of the public."
