At this point, this is rumor, not fact, but this discussion thread at FlyerTalk suggests that 8 Paris-based United flight attendants stopped working mid-flight on a Paris to Chicago flight. Presumably, these employees are upset that their local base is being closed.

According to posters on the thread, who have some credibility, the offending employees were fired upon arrival at O’Hare. Whether the firing will stick will be an issue for courts to decide. And which courts have jurisdiction is another matter. French law is rather strict regarding the conditions under which companies can fire workers, but if the stories are true, then the employees were clearly derelict in their duties. And it’s not clear if this was technically a strike, since they were at their work “site.” And was it limited to these particular employees, or an official union action?

Thankfully there was apparently no passenger crisis or equipment trouble which required flight attendant intervention. But this must have been an unpleasant flight for a great number of passengers — and for the two flight attendants who did not stop working.