Anti-austerity strikes across mainland Europe brought disruption to UK airlines and train services yesterday.
British Airways and easyJet were among UK carriers forced to axe some services.
With Belgium one of the countries where workers joined in the day of action, high-speed Channel Tunnel train company Eurostar had to cancel one of its London-Brussels services.
Flights to and from Spain and Portugal were the worst hit by the strike action, which was also called to protest against the continent s unemployment levels.
Among the 200 Portuguese flights that had to be cancelled were some that were operated between London and Lisbon by British Airways. BA also had to axe eight round-trip flights between London and Madrid and Barcelona.
Portuguese carrier TAP s cancellations included some London to Lisbon and Porto services, one Lisbon to Manchester flight and one service flying from Heathrow to Funchal in Madeira.
Some Ryanair flights between Europe and the UK were delayed, with a flight from Limoges in France to Stansted four hours late.
EasyJet cancelled some of its UK-Spanish services as well as more than 20 within-Europe flights.
Some other easyJet flights were badly delayed with a London service to Thessalonaki in Greece delayed for three hours 40 minutes.
Passengers on an easyJet London to Athens flight faced a delay of two hours 30 minutes, while a Manchester-Athens flight was delayed for two hours 10 minutes.
Monarch Airlines axed one Gatwick-Funchal service and one Funchal-Gatwick service.
Heathrow said that of its normal 1,300 daily services, 39 flights nearly all involving Spain or Portugal had been cancelled. A spokesman said: Flight cancellations are never good news, but we do operate around 1300 flights a day so the figure of 39 is a comparatively small one.
The west London airport said its terminals had not been overly crowded as most people learned of the cancellations in good time. The Eurostar service that had to be cancelled was the 10.57am from London to Brussels, with affected passengers being accommodated on a later train. Those arriving in Belgium found local train services axed.
Ferry sailings to and from the UK were unaffected, while Eurotunnel s Channel Tunnel services operated normally.
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