Recent Blog Posts
-
Don't Buy the Hype of a US Airways-American Merger
Apr 20 201211:25 am EDT -
Full Speed Ahead for WiFi on Planes
Apr 18 201211:06 am EDT -
A Passenger's Rx for the Airlines
Apr 18 201212:01 am EDT -
Business Hotel Roundup:
Las Vegas
Apr 13 20121:43 pm EDT -
How to Be a Frugal Road Warrior
Apr 11 201212:01 am EDT -
Business Hotel Roundup:
New Orleans
Apr 06 201212:01 pm EDT -
The Loyalty Miles Race
Apr 04 201212:01 am EDT -
Pinnacle Airlines Files for Chapter 11
Apr 02 201212:07 pm EDT -
Business Hotel Roundup:
Washington, D.C.
Mar 30 20121:40 pm EDT -
In Case of In-Flight Meltdown…
Mar 28 20126:24 pm EDT
Strikes Affect Travel to Spain and Germany
This week, if you’ve got a European destination on your travel itinerary, watch out. Strikes in Germany and Spain are impacting flight schedules.
The bad news is that ground workers at Frankfurt Airport have announced that the one-day strike that started Monday will extend until at least 11 PM today local time. And, naturally, delays and cancellations are piling up. According to FlightStats.com, about 200 Lufthansa and Lufthansa CityLine flights have been cancelled system wide as of Monday night. Lufthansa, of course, is the big player at Frankfurt. Overall Monday, FlightStats.com said that more than 200 flights were cancelled and nearly 300 delayed at Frankfurt. Worst of all, the dispute between Fraport, the airport operators, and the ground staff, shows no sign of ending.
The good news, such as it is? Lufthansa says that it has operated, and plans to operate, all of its transatlantic flights. So you will get to Frankfurt if that is your destination. If you are using Frankfurt as a transit hub, Lufthansa says that it is trying to rebook people before their U.S. departure over its Munich hub or via other cities. It also says that no cities on its route map have been wiped out by the strike. It continues to serve all of its destinations, albeit it with reduced frequencies.
In Spain, the pilot strike at Iberia led to 117 cancellations Monday. That means at least a third of Iberia's schedule was wiped out. The next strike is scheduled for Friday.
Here is some contact information:
- FRANKFURT AIRPORT http://www.frankfurt-airport.com/content/frankfurt_airport/en.html
- LUFTHANSA http://www.lufthansa.com
- MADRID AIRPORT http://www.aena-aeropuertos.es/csee/Satellite/Aeropuerto-Madrid-Barajas/en/
- IBERIA AIRLINES http://www.iberia.com/
If you want to follow the situation on Twitter, which often has more news than the relevant home pages, here are your links:
- FRANKFURT AIRPORT http://twitter.com/Airport_FRA
- LUFTHANSA http://twitter.com/Lufthansa_USA
- IBERIA http://twitter.com/Iberia_en
And if you want to brief yourself on the background, try my column from two weeks ago. And don't forget to check the excellent FlightStats.com page that covers global conditions, cancellations and delays.
Joe Brancatelli writes Portfolio.com’s business travel column, Seat 2B. Brancatelli is the former executive editor of Frequent Flyer magazine and operates the membership site JoeSentMe.com. You can reach him at jbrancatelli@portfolio.com.
Comments
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.
