1 of 6 Strike affects flights at Frankfurt Airport — Photo: Reproduction/ Portal Strike affects flights at Frankfurt Airport — Photo: Reproduction/ Portal
Thousands of passengers are waiting this Friday (17th) at seven German airports for clearance to land and take off. A 24hour strike called by workers demanding higher wages has resulted in the cancellation of more than 1,300 Lufthansa flights.
“The worst thing is the lack of alternatives,” said Pedro Freitas, whose flight was delayed 25 hours. Boarding was scheduled for Thursday (16/10) at 18:45 at Guarulhos Airport (see below for more details).
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According to ANAC, seven flights are planned for the German terminals by next Sunday (19th), two of them from Galeão Airport and five from Guarulhos Airport.
According to Latam, two flights have been affected since Thursday: LA8070 (São Paulo/GuarulhosFrankfurt) and LA8071 (FrankfurtSão Paulo/Guarulhos). Lufthansa, on the other hand, did not announce a balance sheet for the affected operations with Brazil.
2 of 6 Strike this Friday in Frankfurt — Photo: Heiko Becker/ Portal Strike this Friday in Frankfurt — Photo: Heiko Becker/ Portal
inconvenience to passengers
Freitas, a resident of São Paulo (SP), planned in advance to travel with his wife and two children. They were originally supposed to arrive in Frankfurt this morning and then take the train to Düsseldorf.
“Fortunately, I saw that there was a strike [Alemanha] and I saw the flight status on the app as delayed before I went to the airport yesterday [quintafeira]. Luckily, Lufthansa didn’t send any notification via email or mobile phone message,” he explained.
However, in reviewing the changes, he said he spent hours on the phone and online trying out other stopover options or different landing sites in order to be able to comply with the plan.
“I had to call support in the United States and they only tried the Swiss one and it was full level”.
With bags packed, Freitas looks forward to boarding without further trouble. “I am in favor of the plane departing today because, based on my support experience so far, if the flight doesn’t depart, it will be difficult to find a solution.”
other problems
3 of 6 passengers are waiting at the Lufthansa checkin counter after a system failure at Frankfurt Airport — Photo: Kai Pfaffenbach/ Portal Passengers are waiting at the Lufthansa checkin counter after a system failure at Frankfurt Airport — Photo: Kai Pfaffenbach/ Portal
Thousands of Lufthansa passengers have had travel problems this week after a computer system failure caused by construction work on a railway line in Frankfurt.
At least two Brazilians signed up g1 who lost luggage and were delayed after the power blackout.
4 of 6 Pablo Villaça from Belo Horizonte (MG) faced huge queues upon arrival at the airport and his flight was canceled — Photo: Personal Archive Pablo Villaça from Belo Horizonte (MG) faced huge queues upon arrival at the airport confronted and had the flight canceled — Photo: Personal Archive
Film critic Pablo Villaça from Belo Horizonte (MG) faced huge queues upon arrival at the airport and his flight to Berlin was cancelled. His bags got lost and he ended up taking the train to his destination.
“In addition to missing the screening of the film at the Berlin festival, I had to buy clothes and personal care products,” he said. Villaça said that after two days of impasse, he received an email telling him that the luggage had been found and that he was waiting for the items to be returned.
5 of 6 Lisbon airport empty on Wednesday; Gabriela’s dogs — Photo: Personal Archive Lisbon airport empty on Wednesday; Gabriela’s dogs — Photo: Personal Archive
Pharmacist Gabriela Esther said her friend had traveled from Guarulhos with her two dogs on a flight that stopped in Frankfurt. Upon landing in Lisbon, he noticed that the animals were not on the same plane.
“We went to the airport to look for someone who can provide explanations, all the cabins were unmanned. Due to the cancellation, all Lufthansa flights were canceled and nobody was at the counter,” he explains.
Gabriela stated that it took more than seven hours to find the animals. However, she said she was not given any information about what led to the delay in the dogs’ arrival.
other side
In a statement, the Lufthansa Group said it “had to suspend operations this Friday due to the strike” and is “offering alternative connections and rebookings on the train whenever possible.”
“We regret the enormous impact of this warning strike on our passengers. We are not part of collective bargaining and have no influence on it,” Lufthansa board member Michael Niggemann said in a statement.
Regarding the IT system failure, he explained that an outside company working on the railway system eventually cut the fiber optic lines, affecting operations. The company did not comment on the specific cases of Brazilians.
about the strike
6 out of 6 German airport workers demonstrate during a 24hour strike for wage increases at Frankfurt Airport, February 17, 2023. — Photo: Heiko Becker/ Portal German airport workers demonstrate during a 24hour strike for wage increases at Frankfurt Airport, on February 17, 2023 — Photo: Heiko Becker/ Portal
According to the airport association ADV, more than 295,000 passengers are affected by the cancellation of around 2,340 flights at the airports in Bremen, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich and Stuttgart.
It is the latest in a series of strikes and protests hitting major European economies including France, Britain and Spain as higher food and energy prices hit incomes and living standards amid the pandemic and war in Ukraine.
Germany’s Verdi union announced the strike on Wednesday after saying that collective bargaining for ground, public sector and aviation security workers had made little progress. The union is pushing for a wage increase of 10.5 percent or at least 500 euros a month.