Keelia Wood joins her mother, Colleen, not pictured, and other Northwest Airlines flight attendants Friday at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in Minneapolis, for a picket. A federal judge blocked the flight attendants from going on strike Friday hours before a planned strike.

Detroit ? Northwest Airlines fliers can travel without fear that a strike by flight attendants will derail their plans, at least for now.

But how long they’ll have to worry about threats of random, surprise strikes is uncertain.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero temporarily blocked a strike Friday that could have started Friday night while he decides whether a strike would violate federal labor laws.

Both sides say they’re available for talks, but as of Friday, no discussions were scheduled.

“It has to get resolved soon one way or another. We cannot continue this limbo,” said Terry Trippler, a Minneapolis-based airline expert with travel club myvacationpassport.com.

Northwest has said it will be prepared to staff flights during walkouts. “Customers can continue to book the airline with confidence,” it said Friday.

The head of the union’s Northwest chapter, Mollie Reiley, called Merraro’s decision a temporary setback.

She said the union will continue preparing to stage random surprise walkouts. The union said it won’t violate the injunction.

The last time the two sides talked was mid-July, when they hammered out a proposal that attendants later rejected. That rejection prompted Northwest to implement a contract that cuts wages and benefits for its 7,300 attendants.

To protest those cuts, the attendants then threatened to launch unannounced strikes as early as Friday night.