Lufthansa provides emergency aid for stranded passengers
Lufthansa has emergency sleeping and food ready at bigger airports for those passengers left stranded by a three-day pilots’ strike, which started at midnight.
Meanwhile, its budget subsidiary Germanwings, which has also been affected by the strike, has set up a premium-rate hotline, which costs 25p a minute to call, for passengers forced to amend their flights.
The walk-out by members of the Vereinigung Cockpit union, will lead to the cancellation of 3,800 flights, hitting 425,000 passengers.
IGermanwings said more than half of its 1,332 flights will be cancelled during the three-day period. Details of the 600 or so flights that will still go ahead can be found on its website germanwings.com/en
Lufthansa said it has sent 100,000 text messages and emails to those already booked on the affected flights to try to prevent chaos at airports, but it has also made emergency provisions for those who might not get the message.
The airline is also trying to rebook customers on to other airlines or rail services within Germany instead.
Germanwings said all passengers affected by the strikes can rebook or cancel their flights free of charge on its website. It said that as its call centre is currently ‘saturated’, changes and cancellations can also be made after the original departure date, up to April 11.
An information hotline, which costs 25p per minute to call, has been made available for Germanwings passengers in the UK on 0906 294 1918.
The airline added: "An increased number of staff will be available at airports so that passengers will be looked after and will always be able to find a contact person."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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