German airline Lufthansa announced that it has canceled over 1,300 flights for this week and up to 6,000 other scheduled flights in the days that follow. The cancellation was done after the cabin crew trade union UFO was given the green light by Frankfurt's labor court and Hesse region's labor court to proceed with its strike action.
Both courts, with the Hesse region's labor court acting as an appeal court, ruled that the union was within its legal bounds when it called its members for a strike. The stoppage effectively cancels around 700 flights on Thursday and 600 flights on Friday. The majority of the flights that will be affected will be international and domestic flights leaving out of Germany.
According to Lufthansa, the cancellation of flights this week and the days that will follow will affect over 180,000 passengers who have booked tickets with the airline or its affiliates.
UFO decided to launch its "warning" strike to pressure Lufthansa to be more open to negotiations regarding its worker's allowances and wages. The union claimed that their efforts to strike a deal with management have gone unanswered as the company is apparently refusing to even sit down on the negotiating table.
The union called on its members on Monday, telling Lufthansa cabin crew members to prepare for the strike. UFO deputy chairman, Daniel Flohr, mentioned that the strike will have a big impact of Lufthansa's flights out of Germany. Flohr hopes that Lufthansa will now consider giving its employees better pay and conditions.
Lufthansa then launched an injunction against the union by questioning its voting procedure and if the majority of the union's members had agreed to the industrial action. UFO hopes that Lufthansa will be more open to negotiations given its push to hold a strike.
To lessen the impact of the cabin crew strike on its customers, Lufthansa revealed that it has set up an online portal where customers with tickets can exchange their plane tickets for rail tickets. Despite launching the online facility, some customers are reportedly finding it hard to access their flight details online. Some customers have also complained of not being able to reach customer service agents to assist them in exchanging their tickets.
Apart from affecting its Lufthansa flights from Germany, the strike is also expected to disrupt the company's other affiliate airlines and operations. This includes possible disruptions to the company's SunExpress and Eurowings airlines.
