In the event of cancellations or serious delays of three hours or more, passengers are entitled to reimbursements and possibly also compensation payments of up to 600 euros. The strike is not an exceptional circumstance beyond Lufthansa’s sphere of influence, explained the head of the legal department of the “Flightright” portal, Oskar de Felice. In such cases, the company must be liable, the European Court of Justice ruled unequivocally last year.
According to the Cockpit Association, only the departures of the Lufthansa core company and Lufthansa Cargo from German airports are on strike. The subsidiaries Eurowings, Lufthansa Cityline and Eurowings Discover are not affected by the call and are scheduled to fly. The same applies to foreign Lufthansa subsidiaries such as Swiss, Austrian or Brussels. Lufthansa flights from non-German starting points also take place, provided that aircraft and crews are already abroad.
The union called the strike after collective bargaining with Lufthansa failed. Lufthansa has criticized the strike call and called on VC to return to the negotiating table.