Reminder: Lufthansa Cancels Most April 2-4 Flights
Agents are being reminded that due to the strike announced by the pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo and Germanwings have cancelled approximately 3,800 flights on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (April 2-4).
During the three-day walkout of the cockpit crew, only about 500 Lufthansa short and long haul flights will be operated. The list of cancelled flights is published on http://www.LH.com . Information for Germanwings passengers is available on http://www.germanwings.com .
According to officials, flight cancellations on such a massive scale will affect a total of 425,000 passengers. Lufthansa will inform all passengers who have registered their contact details in their booking or in their Miles & More profile about flight changes via text message and e-mail. Most of the remaining domestic and European flights will be flown by Eurowings and Lufthansa Cityline, whose pilots are not participating in the walkout.
As well, the pilots of Swiss International Air Lines, Austrian Airlines, Eurowings, Lufthansa CityLine and Air Dolomiti, as well as the pilots of Brussels Airlines, will not participate in the strike. Where possible, these companies will use larger planes on routes from and to Germany in order to bring as many rebooked Lufthansa passengers as possible to their destinations.
Additionally, Lufthansa will re-book affected passengers on other airlines and will provide train tickets on domestic routes in co-operation with German Railways (Deutsche Bahn). Airline tickets can be exchanged for a train ticket at automated check-ins or on the Internet. Information on how to exchange Germanwings flight tickets for train tickets is available on http://www.germanwings.com/aktuell .
“I greatly regret that the Vereinigung Cockpit is not prepared to settle this by negotiations and to find a solution without engaging in a labor dispute. We made good offers for an improved salary as well as a future provision for early leave from flight service,” said Dr. Bettina Volkens, member of the Executive Board Legal and Personnel of the Lufthansa Group. “Based on this, it is difficult to understand that the VC union is calling for a three-day strike right away — both for our customers and the more than 100,000 colleagues of the other Lufthansa employee groups. We will do our best to care for our customers during the strike.”
