How does a pilot strike affect the Air France and KLM brands (and what can be done about it?)

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[caption id="" align="alignright" width="460" caption="Time for pilots to hang their boots"][/caption]

If you haven’t already heard, all pilots in France are going on strike yet again this weekend. It almost seems like a futile attempt at getting a long weekend for themselves. That means, all air travel in France will shut down from 14-17 November, since no planes take off – not just for Air France, but all French airlines.
Poor KLM
The sad part is that it’s not Air France’s doing, yet, it’s going to have a significant impact on a brand that already has been tainted due to its history of striking staff. Moreover, now that KLM is tied up with Air France, its brand will be negatively as well, even though all Royal Dutch pilots are operating as usual. The fact that flights will be canceled and passengers stranded means that they will form a bad impression of the airline, which is likely to last long.

So, now that the strike is a certainty, what can AirFrance-KLM do now, and how can they deal with this better in the future, to minimize impact on …