Lufthansa strike this week
Germany's Lufthansa faces fresh pilot strike action scheduled for Thursday–Friday, April 16–17, with the union targeting all German airports and most flights expected to be canceled (loyaltylobby.com). Cabin crew are also staging walkouts around the same window, and carriers including SWISS, Austrian, Brussels, Eurowings and Air Dolomiti are dealing with emergency responses and thousands of passengers affected (dw.com) (travelandtourworld.com).
Lufthansa is facing another strike wave on Thursday, April 16, and Friday, April 17, with pilots targeting flights from German airports and more cancellations expected. (lufthansaexperts.com) Lufthansa’s disruption notice says the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots’ union called a strike at Lufthansa and Lufthansa CityLine for both days, while Eurowings Germany is included on Thursday only. The airline said cancellations are “unavoidable” and told passengers to check flight status before leaving for the airport. (lufthansaexperts.com) A separate strike by the UFO cabin crew union is overlapping the week’s disruption. Lufthansa said cabin crew at Lufthansa and Lufthansa CityLine were called out for Wednesday, April 15, and Thursday, April 16. (lufthansaexperts.com) The immediate effect is a run of near-continuous labor action across Lufthansa’s core German operations. Deutsche Welle reported that pilots struck on Monday and Tuesday, April 13 and 14, and cabin crew then announced another stoppage for the middle of the week. (dw.com) The dispute is centered on pensions and pay at several Lufthansa group airlines. Vereinigung Cockpit said on April 11 that it was calling pilots out at Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa CityLine and Eurowings after employers showed “no recognizable will” to reach a solution in multiple bargaining conflicts. (vcockpit.de) The pilots’ union said there was no offer on occupational pensions at Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo, no workable new pay agreement at Lufthansa CityLine, and an unacceptable pension proposal at Eurowings. The union also said it remained ready to negotiate if employers put forward negotiable offers. (vcockpit.de) Lufthansa is trying to reroute some passengers onto other airlines in the group and partner carriers, but it has also drawn hard lines around what is and is not affected. Its disruption notices say flights operated by Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, SWISS, Air Dolomiti, Discover Airlines, Edelweiss and Lufthansa City Airlines are not directly covered by the German strike calls. (lufthansaexperts.com) For domestic German trips, Lufthansa says passengers whose flights are canceled can swap their ticket for a Deutsche Bahn rail ticket, rebook once for free, or request a refund. That gives travelers an exit route, but only after cancellations are loaded into the booking system. (lufthansaexperts.com)
