Flowman
I expect a lot of us in the industry, as well as the affected public, are deeply sympathetic to your views on 'payback'. The problem is one of how to target any action at those who caused the problems and not then have an effect on anyone else who is not the cause of the original problem, e.g French citizens who did not take part in the strike, foreign nationals on board French aircraft, etc.
Shame the EU doesn't have the balls to do something on our behalf. It's probably the only feasible way of an appropriate action (cut subsidies to French transport, ask for all the illegal state aid given to Air France over the years back, that kind of stuff). Probably come up with some argument or other that it's not in the rules to take such action on a member state.