October 28, 2007	Sunday	Shawwal 15, 1428

PARIS, Oct 27: Queues of frustrated, angry passengers built up at main French airports on Saturday as Air France cancelled scores of flights on the third day of a strike by the cabin staff.

Hopes of a settlement were dashed late in the day after unions said they had turned down proposals by the airline to settle the dispute over pay and conditions.

Five unions belonging to a joint negotiating team rejected the offer following a meeting with two others not in the team which had called on them not to sign up to the deal.

The strike is planned to continue until at least midnight (2200 GMT) on Monday.

Earlier Air France warned passengers not to travel to either of Paris’ two major airports -- Charles de Gaulle or Orly -- unless they had checked by phone or Internet that their flight was confirmed to take off.

Long-haul flights bore the brunt of the cancellations and hundreds of people who spent the night at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport confronted the airline’s staff.

There were major check-in delays at two of the main terminals, disrupting a peak flying weekend as France started mid-term school holidays.

According to one airport source, half of all long-haul flights to and from Charle de Gaulle had been cancelled by early Saturday afternoon. A total of 125 Air France flights -- long-haul, medium and short -- in and out of the airport had been cancelled, the same source said.

Those figures were disputed by an Air France spokesman who said that a flight was not considered ‘cancelled’ officially if an alternative carrier could be commissioned to take passengers to their destination.

The action began to bite on Friday when scores of flights were cut, including more than half of long-haul flights and some 50 medium-haul services out of the main Paris airport.

At Orly airport, 42-year-old engineer Bertrand Garboriaud who had been due to fly out on holiday said he felt “completely abandoned.” “All the flights are full. Our holiday is basically cancelled. The only reason I’m staying calm is because I am so tired,” he explained as he desperately tried to get a refund on his tickets.—AFP