Less than 72 hours into it’s new life as Lufthansa Group’s dedicated Low Cost Carrier (LCC), germanwings is already being threatened by a strike action that could paralyze operations. Reports out of Frankfurt are suggesting that UFO, the union representing germanwings’ cabin crew, has already gathered enough votes from members ahead of a July 5 voting deadline that could authorize a strike as soon as next week.
Lately it seems that strike actions are more the norm than they are the exception among European carriers and are usually designed to threaten an airline’s ability to function. Lufthansa and other european airlines are no strangers to these bully tactics from these over-powered unions and have held their ground reasonably well. According to germanwings, they feel confident that a strike can be averted. Stay tuned.
Thanks to Flyertalk’s Oliver2002 for combining all of the separate contest posts into dedicated threads so that it is easy for everyone to keep track of. If you are familiar with the Miles & More thread on FT, you’ll know that there is one section for Lufthansa, Austrian, Brussels and germanwings and a separate section for Swiss.
I had the idea to create these dedicated threads so that we can have a ‘one-stop’ source that will consolidate all of the various opportunities that exist to win travel on Lufthansa Group airlines. I like to think that I keep pretty good tabs on what’s happening, but I know there are a lot opportunities that I miss. Also, I tend to only track events, contests and news coming directly from the airlines however there are a lot of contests that come from different sources such as hotels, travel boards, etc. etc. etc. Having these threads set up will hopefully cast a wide net and provide even more opportunities for you to win free travel on a great group of airlines.
One piece of advice: When you log in to FT and access these threads, make sure to subscribe to the thread notification option so that you can get an email when someone adds something to the thread. This way you’ll get the latest information on the newest contests.
I always enjoy watch airport operations and ‘germanwings’ has done a great job putting together a time-lapse video showing the progression of a germanwings flight. This 1.5 minute video captures the essence of a typical germanwing flight up through takeoff. The video starts with a ramp view of the aircraft being fueled, the proceeds to check-in, baggage handling, boarding, taxi and takeoff. Its stuff like this that us ‘avgeeks’ never get tired!
The video was taken at the Köln/Bonn and features a germanwings Airbus sporting the new livery. germanwings has an impressive and extensive YouTube channel that is worth checking out!
For those of you not familiar with germanwings, they are Lufthansa Group’s ‘low cost carrier’ airline that serves intra-german and intra-european routes. Lufthansa is currently in the process of consolidating the majority of it’s short haul operations into germanwings. germanwings ‘officially’ becomes the LCC on July 1, 2013.
Currently, there are a few non-targeted offers that are fairly attractive. If any of these apply to your travels, make sure to take advantage of them. If not, I would visit the thread on a regular basis to check for updates on new offerings. There are several dozen active members on that thread that regularly find deals and opportunities.
As part of the ongoing transition that will see germanwings take over most intra-Germany and short haul european routes from Lufthansa, an update for the winter 2013-14 timetable has been published. This update lists flights that will be operated by germanwings beginning October 27, 2013:
Berlin (TXL) – Birmingham will operate 6x/week
Berlin (TXL) – Bologna will operate 6x/week
Berlin (TXL) – Bucharest will operate 3x/week (Starting Nov 13)
Berlin (TXL) – Catania will operate 2x/week (Starting Nov 5)
Berlin (TXL) – Geneva will operate 5x/week
Berlin (TXL) – Malaga will operate 1x/week
Berlin (TXL) – Milan Linate will operate 6x/week (Starting Nov 27)
Berlin (TXL) – Nuremberg will operate11/x week
Berlin (TXL) – Rome will operate 4x/week (Starting Nov 13)
Berlin (TXL) – Vienna will operate 6x/week
Hamburg – Moscow(VKO) will operate 4x/week
More updates are certain to occur and I’ll bring them to your attention as they happen. Keep in mind that these flights will not count as Star Alliance member operated flights and therefore do not have Star Alliance benefits associated with them (Miles accrual, priority boarding, etc).
For those of you not familiar with what has been happening, Lufthansa in 2012 made a decision to create a stand-alone Low Cost Carrier within the Lufthansa Group. LH decided to use it’s germanwings subsidiary to become the sole low cost carrier for the group and it will serve the routes that Lufthansa used to fly in the past. These routes primarily comprise intra-German and European short haul routes. Any flights into and out of Munich and Frankfurt however will still be flown by Lufthansa.
