Lufthansa may cancel more than 800 flights due to the Verdi strike on Tuesday. This comes after the Verdi trade union has called for a strike at Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne and Bremen airports tomorrow (April 10).
According to a release by the airline, the ground handling services, the support services and part of the airport fire brigade will be on strike tomorrow between 5am and 6pm. The cancellations will affect about 58 long haul flights and 90,000 passengers. Flight operations are scheduled to resume normal services on Wednesday, April 11.
Lufthansa has published an alternative flight schedule online today. Lufthansa passengers are requested to check the status of their flights at Lufthansa.com before leaving for the airport.
Passengers who have provided Lufthansa with their contact details will be actively notified of changes by SMS or e-mail. Passengers can enter or update their contact details any time on the website under "My Bookings". Passengers can additionally choose to be automatically informed about changes in the status of their flights via Facebook or Twitter.
Passengers whose flights are not affected by the strike are also asked to allow more time and to come to the airport earlier, as waiting times are to be expected. All Lufthansa Group passengers (with the exception of SWISS operated flights) who booked a flight from or via Frankfurt and Munich for tomorrow, April 10, 2018, can rebook their flight free of charge to another flight within the next 7 days.
On inner-German routes, passengers can use the train, regardless of whether their flight has been cancelled. To do so, passengers can convert their ticket into a Deutsche Bahn ticket at “My Bookings” on Lufthansa.com.
Lufthansa cannot comprehend Verdi’s threat to carry out such a massive strike. Bettina Volkens, Member of the Executive Board for Human Resources and Legal Affairs of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said it was completely unacceptable for the union to impose this conflict on uninvolved passengers.
“Lufthansa is not a part of this collective bargaining conflict, but unfortunately our customers and our company are being affected by the consequences of this dispute.
“The nature and extent of the widespread and full-day strike is inappropriate and unreasonable at this time. Strikes must be the last resort in a wage dispute. Politicians and legislators must define clear rules for strikes and industrial actions," said Volkens.