Good point. I think a lot of problems could be solved by phoning the airfield first in any case. I always do this in the UK, and was going to in France. However, at Deauville I asked if they would call Angers for me to check they were open etc, and the reaction was that all I had to do was look in the flight guide, and it was an airfield, so of course they were open! I eventually persuaded him to phone, and understood enough to know that he felt that the "petite anglaise" who was so worried was really over-reacting a little bit. So after that I didn't phone. But no prizes for guessing what I'll be doing on future trips!