The union representing the majority of Lufthansa’s Pilots has announced that it plans to have pilots, and the rest of the country it appears, strike from April 2 at midnight to April 4, midnight (Wednesday through Friday) thus creating the potential for a 3-day industrial action.
In the press release from the union, they called for a nationwide strike so it will be more than just pilots who would walk off the job. For example this week’s strike at Germany airports were in sympathy to child care workers who wanted more money and better benefits.
Before anyone starts panicking, please bear in mind that there are a few days left to allow for negotiations to work. But please be prepared for the worst as a 3 day strike can have a crippling effect. With the strike being a ‘nationwide industrial action’ it has the potential to affect rail and bus travel as well.
If you are traveling on Lufthansa during this time frame, you will be able to modify your booking by visiting the the “My Booking” Area of Lufthansa.com
Also, you can Use this link to determine the best phone number to contact based on your location if you can not access your reservation online to make necessary changes. Just be prepared and patient for potentially long hold times.
As another resource, Lufthansa does have a webpage that you can look to which provides updates on possible flight disruptions.
We’ve also set up a dedicated WIKI thread on FlyerTalk that will try to gather the latest information as it becomes available.
According to Lufthansa, they have already submitted a counter proposal to the union that has not yet been replied to, offering a temporary solution while both sides work out a longer term deal. Should the temporary plan be agreed to, the strike would be called off. The next few days will be fluid to say the least!
If you have any questions or need help, please let me know.
Nice! Soon Germany will be like Italy with constant job action.
They’re already like that now, aren’t they?
Its sad The EU will do nothing about this because they see the unions doing their dirty work. Why intervene when an organization can attack business and capitalism and through extortion force money from the business to the employees. Its the same as passing increased taxation on business. Then of course labor gets the money, and they pay taxes, etc. for the EU coffers. Beautiful little system they’v developed. Don’t get me wrong, I support fair treatment of workers, but in these cases, with a single union representing hundreds if not thousands of occupation, the union becomes the business and a monopoly. What the EU should do, but will not, is to break up the large unions into smaller ones that focus on specific trades. Oy vey! 🙂
Awesome! Thanks =)
Thanks so much for this update. Say this strike goes through April 2-4, does that mean it will be unlikely there will be another strike shortly after it? Since my flight is on April 9 from NYC to Frankfurt, do you think there will be a ripple effect from all the canceled flights April 2-4 and something will happen to my flight/cause delays?
I hope they accept the counter proposal and work out something.
It would be EXTREMELY unusual for another strike to be called so soon after this one. Not impossible, but improbable. There should be no ripple affect by the 9th since LH will have reaccomodated passengers by then, and with you having a ticketed reservation you would be at no risk for being bumped. LH will use other carriers like UA, SAS, etc to help divert some of the impacted passengers. I think you’ll be in good shape!