by Lufthansa Flyer | Sep 15, 2014 | Featured, Frankfurt, Lufthansa |
Each year, Lufthansa’s leadership offers to sit down with frequent and ‘expert’ travelers to gather feedback and share their thoughts in a forum that is designed for open dialogue.
This year, the Kamingespräch event is scheduled in Frankfurt for October 30 at 5pm and as of now 2 of Lufthansa’s key leaders will be in attendance, with more possibly joining. Jens Bisschof, COO of Lufthansa and Oliver Wagner, COO of germanwings will host the ‘town hall’ and it will take place at the Lufthansa Aviation Center located on the airport property.
This event is open to members of Vielfliegertreff (VFT) and Flyertalk and attendance is usually limited in order to assure a comfortable environment. For this session, only 30 participants will be allowed to sign up for the event.
Flyertalk’s Oliver2002 is handling the sign up for the event and there is still space available to join. Should the 30 spots be taken, a ‘stand-by’ list will be put in place in the event of someone canceling.
If you would like to attend, please visit this link on FlyerTalk where Oliver2002 has posted sign-up instructions.
Basically, what is required to sign up is your name, email, your FlyerTalk or VFT member name and a brief statement as to why you would like to participate. Deadline to sign up is Wednesday, September 17 at 12:00p (CEST).
If you are not able to attend, but would like your questions posed to LH, you can list them in the FT thread dedicated to this event and they will be taken to the meeting on your behalf. Otherwise, feel free to leave your questions in a comment to this post and I’ll make sure that they get to Frankfurt.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Sep 15, 2014 | Airports, Featured, Frankfurt, Lufthansa |
A week can’t go by without a strike apparently…..
The union representing Lufthansa’s pilots has called yet another strike that is set to take place on Tuesday, September 16 in Frankfurt. According to the information that I am seeing, the strike will take place between 8am and 4pm. It appears that all flights will be cancelled including long haul flights into and out of Frankfurt during that time frame.
According to LH, they plan to present their latest proposal in ending the strike before the walk out is set to begin on Tuesday, so there is a chance, albeit it a small one, that the walk out could be averted on Tuesday.
To check if your flight will be affected, please use this link and check it often as Lufthansa will update it on a regular basis.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Sep 11, 2014 | Contests, Featured, Lufthansa |
Lufthansa USA has just launched a new contest (Facebook based) that will award its winner a customized travel experience based on the the entry that you submit.
As part of entering the contest, you get to choose one of 6 types of getaways based on how you enjoy traveling. As part of the entry procedure, you’ll need to creatively explain why you chose that specific category.
The six categories include:
Culinary/Wine: Winner receives 1 BUSINESS CLASS ticket from the USA to anywhere LH flies in Europe. As part of this package the winner will receive a ‘culinary inspired’ gift.
Entertainment: Winner receives 2 ECONOMY TICKETS from the USA to anywhere LH flies in Europe. As part of this package, the winner receives a ‘surprise entertainment’ themed gift.
Comfort/Relaxation: Winner receives 1 BUSINESS CLASS ticket from the USA to anywhere LH flies in Europe. As part of this package, the winner receives a special ‘relaxation’ themed gift.
Quality Family Time: Winner receives 3 ECONOMY CLASS tickets from the USA to anywhere LH flies in Europe. As part of this package the winner receives a ‘family’ themed gift.
Uninterrupted Work Time: Winner receives 1 BUSINESS CLASS ticket from the USA to anywhere LH flies in Europe. As part of this package the winner receives a ‘travel’ themed gift.
Sky’s The Limit: Winner receives 2 ECONOMY CLASS tickets from the USA to anywhere LH flies in Europe. As part of this package the inner will receive a ‘surprise’ gift.
After reading through the terms and conditions, there is no mention of hotel accommodations or the length of the trip. I’ve asked LH for details just in case they were overlooked, but at this point please assume that the prize package only covers airfare and the surprise ‘gifts’.
The contest runs through September 30th. Entries will be judged by a Lufthansa jury between October 1 and 3 and the winner will be announced on October 6. Two Grand Prize winners will be chosen!
by Lufthansa Flyer | Sep 9, 2014 | Airports, Featured, Industry News, Lufthansa, Munich |
In their latest bid to disrupt passengers, the union representing Lufthansa’s pilots has called for a day-long strike that will affect Munich tomorrow. The strike will take place between 10:00a and 8:00p CEST.
The previous strikes during the past 2 weeks had only affected EU and domestic German flights, this time the strike will impact long haul travel as well since the strike covers all LH flights in and out of ‘MUC’ during the stated time frame.
At this time, LH has not yet published their list of impacted flights, but I expect that to happen in the next few hours. As part of this list I also expect that LH will cancel flights with departure times prior to and after the strike’s timeframe due to aircraft and air traffic logistics.
You can use this link to visit LH’s dedicated page that will provide updates on the strike, which will include the list of impacted flights.
Flights operated by Swiss, Brussels and Austrian that serve MUC will not be affected.
Starting to sound like a broken record isn’t it??
by Lufthansa Flyer | Sep 8, 2014 | Airlines, Featured, Industry News |
Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has suggested that if the EU escalates their sanctions against Russia to include its Energy sector, Russia will retaliate in kind with sanctions against the EU’s Airline Industry. This coming from an interview that was conducted by Russia’s Vedomosti newspaper and published today.
As it stands now, European airlines enjoy the ability to transit Russian airspace on their routes to Asia, which typically saves 2-4 hours of flight time and thousands of dollars in fuel costs versus having to fly around Russian airspace.
Should these events come to pass, it will cost an airline like Lufthansa over $1 billion in additional fuel and maintenance expense EVERY 3 MONTHS should the ability to fly over Russia be taken away. In fact, the Lufthansa Group operates 220 flights per week that transit Russian Airspace, so it’s quite easy to see how the additional expenses can add up quickly.
Of all the European Airlines, only KLM-Air France use Russian airspace more than Lufthansa; they transit Russian airspace 249 times per week (according to Bloomberg data).
As the war of words and sanctions continues to ratchet up, its unfortunate that no one in a position of influence clearly understands the concept of unintended consequences. With most European airlines operating at losses, or at best a paper thin profit margin, we may see some of the smaller airlines fail as a result of this volley of sanctions between the EU and Russia. At the same time Russia does not emerge as a winner in this situation either because they would lose millions in air traffic revenue generated by airlines transiting their airspace.
We’ll learn more in the coming days as the EU is set to meet today and announce their plans for increasing sanctions against Russia some time tomorrow. Early rumors suggest that Russia’s oil companies may be restricted from raising long term capital from European markets.
