Lufthansa Publishes Special Timetable For Tuesday September 8th: More Than Half Of All Planned Long-Haul Flights To Operate

Special timetable now available online – travelers proactively informed – 84 of 1,500 planned Tuesday flights cancelled – 90 intercontinental passenger services and all cargo flights to operate thanks to volunteer pilots

Lufthansa has published a special timetable for its services tomorrow Tuesday 8 September. The action has been taken following a call by the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots’ union (VC) for its members at Lufthansa German Airlines and Lufthansa Cargo to take strike action.

A total of 1,500 passenger flights (including some 170 long-haul services) and seven cargo flights were scheduled to be operated during the planned strike period tomorrow.

With a relatively large number of cockpit personnel indicating their willingness to fly, the airline will be able to operate more than half of its intercontinental passenger services despite the VC’s strike call. All in all, 84 long-haul services from or to Frankfurt, Munich or Düsseldorf will have to be cancelled, while 90 such flights can be operated.   

The willingness of many pilots to work despite the strike call will also permit all seven scheduled cargo flights for Tuesday to be performed. Lufthansa Cargo will thus be able to maintain its full flight program.

A small number of inbound intercontinental flights to Frankfurt, Munich and Düsseldorf will also have to be cancelled today, to ensure that flight operations can resume as smoothly as possible on Wednesday after the strike.

Any customers whose flight is cancelled as a result of the strike will be able to rebook or to cancel their booking free of charge or penalty.

Lufthansa is doing its utmost to minimize the impact of this strike action on its customers. All Lufthansa customers holding tickets for long-haul travel from or to Frankfurt, Munich or Düsseldorf are urged to check the latest status of their flight on LH.com well in advance of their scheduled departure.

Lufthansa goes on strike again. What should passengers do?

Surprising nobody, Lufthansa goes on strike again. What should passengers do? http://bit.ly/1H1OPOq

Travelore Update: Reduced Lufthansa Flight Timetable During Strike. Return to Normal Operations In Asia Begins Friday Evening, April 4th

By taking early precautions and providing customers with as much information as possible, Lufthansa has so far managed to mitigate the effects on passengers of the strike by the pilots’ union, Vereinigung Cockpit. Before the strike began, Lufthansa cancelled 3,800 flights. The situation at airports is very quiet. Around 425,000 passengers will have been affected by the industrial action. The impact on earnings will come to a medium double-digit million figure.

 Lufthansa’s significantly scaled back flight operations are on schedule, with the number of flights cut by around 90 percent. Thanks to the prompt planning of a stable minimum of operations, the remaining flights have so far taken place as planned. Lufthansa cancelled approximately 3,800 flights and is operating a remainder of some 500 connections. The impact on earnings will come to a medium double-digit million figure.

The situation is very quiet at all airports in Germany – including the major hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. About 20,000 customers were able to take the train instead, and Lufthansa switched others to the remaining members of the airline group, Star Alliance airlines or external carriers. More than 25,000 tickets were rebooked on www.LH.com. Although the capacity of the call centers was extended as much as possible, it was not possible to avoid long waiting times. On normal days, the Lufthansa call centers receive between 4,000 and 5,000 calls from customers. On Tuesday, there were 80,000, and yesterday, Wednesday, the figure was 25,000.

“We have prepared for this in the best possible way and significantly increased capacities at our call centers in advance so as to assist our customers with rebooking flights. Unfortunately, with such extremely high call volumes, in some cases, long waiting times cannot be avoided. We would like to apologize to our customers for this,” said Jens Bischof, Chief Commercial Officer, Lufthansa German Airlines. “We aim to be a competent partner, even in these exceptional circumstances. We will continue to devote all our efforts to finding alternative travel arrangements for every passenger.”

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In the course of Friday afternoon CET, preparations will begin in Asia for resuming flight operations with intercontinental aircraft. The first flights will take off at 5 p.m. CET from East Asia and will arrive in Europe early on Saturday morning. Flight operations at both Lufthansa and Germanwings should be back to schedule on Saturday. There may still be some irregularities due to operational reasons. This very swift return to normal operations is possible because, for the duration of the strike, the aircraft and crews have been stationed where operations are to resume upon conclusion of the strike.

Lufthansa Expects Significant Disruption On Thursday March 27th Due to Strike by Verdi, Making Every Effort To Reduce Impact On Its Passengers

Pay dispute involving public sector workers at German airports forces Lufthansa to cancel flights – airline publishes special flight schedule

Member airlines of the Lufthansa Group are expecting considerable disruption to air travel for tomorrow, Thursday March 27th. The reason is a token strike organized by Verdi. According to media reports, this is likely to involve 6,000 Fraport workers at Frankfurt airport alone. Services are also likely to be disrupted at airports in Munich, Düsseldorf, Cologne-Bonn, Stuttgart, Hamburg and Hanover. As a result of the strike, Lufthansa is canceling almost all domestic and European flights previously scheduled for tomorrow before 2 PM at both Frankfurt and Munich. Exceptions include Germanwings flights and flights run by Lufthansa's regional subsidiaries to/from Munich. These flights will probably operate according to schedule, although delays or cancellations may still affect individual flights. Long-haul routes to and from Frankfurt and Munich are also affected. All passengers planning to embark on a flight either out of Germany or to Germany tomorrow are requested to visit www.lufthansa.comand check the status of their flight before leaving for the airport.

Lufthansa deeply regrets the major disruptions that its customers are likely to experience due to Thursday's strike action. The airline is making every effort possible to reduce the impact on its passengers to the absolute minimum. 

Dr. Bettina Volkens, Chief Officer Corporate Human Resources and Legal Affairs, Deutsche Lufthansa AG: "As was the case with the token strike called by security staff in Frankfurt over a month ago, Verdi is quite prepared to exploit non-involved parties – whether individuals or companies – in the pursuit of union objectives. We particularly regret the fact that our customers will suffer as a result. Losses at the Lufthansa Group alone will also run into the millions – even though we play no part whatsoever in this pay dispute.”

“The current strike action once again demonstrates the powerlessness of the German legal system to shield non-involved parties from the effects of pay disputes. It is for this reason that we urgently require binding conditions to be agreed for critical transportation infrastructure in Germany – and for rail and air transportation in particular,” said Dr. Volkens.

Lufthansa: Best possible service for all customers

Passengers flying with Lufthansa are requested to check the status of their flight on the LH.com website before beginning their journey. Lufthansa will also make every effort to communicate changes via text and email to customers who have provided the company with their contact details.

All customers booked to fly on March 27 with Lufthansa to/from Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, Cologne-Bonn, Stuttgart, Hamburg or Hanover are offered a one-time free ticket re-booking if they wish to change their travel plans. For details, please visit Lufthansa's website at LH.com. Seat reservations are also free to cancel for all customers whose flights were canceled due to industrial action. Travelers booked to fly on a domestic Lufthansa flight within Germany can use Deutsche Bahn rail services if their flight is canceled. Passengers can exchange their flight reservation for a rail ticket at the check-in machines or online. 

Lufthansa is also making preparations to maximize service quality for its customers. As one example, additional staff will be on hand to respond to passenger inquiries at Frankfurt. Passengers will also receive complimentary refreshments and snacks while they wait. Lufthansa also boosted call center staff numbers from Tuesday.

To improve the coordination of the anticipated queues of customers at Frankfurt Airport, Lufthansa and Fraport will be using colored zones to organize the departure halls. Each color will indicate a particular stage in ground handling. As one example, check-in screens colored purple will inform passengers about rebookings involving European destinations with no connecting flight. Additional staff for handling customer inquiries will wear appropriately-colored vests. This will ensure passengers can find their way around more quickly and easily