by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 1:25 PM ET, Thu November 7, 2019
With its cabin crew on a two-day strike, Lufthansa has been forced to cancel some 1,300 flights.
The flight cancellations will impact about 180,000 passengers, with the UFO union saying it would hit all Lufthansa flights at German airports, the BBC reported.
The airline took legal measures in an attempt to halt the strike but was unsuccessful, according to BBC. The airline posted a statement on its website criticizing the strike and offering guidance for impacted passengers.
"The Independent Flight Attendant Organization (UFO) has called on its cabin crew to go on strike for two days on 7 and 8 November. Lufthansa condemns the strike call in the strongest possible terms. On both days Lufthansa operates with a special flight plan. Affected passengers were transferred to other flights free of charge," said the airline.
The airline also asked passengers affected by the strike to make use of the self-service facilities for rebooking, obtaining a refund of their tickets and issuing rail vouchers.
In addition, the Lufthansa website notes that for those whose flights have not been canceled, but prefer to fly on a different date, they will be allowed a free rebooking. The offer applies to in the following cases:
-Passengers booked on a Lufthansa flight to or from Frankfurt or Munich with a departure on November 7 or November 8.
-Those whose ticket was issued on and before November 4.
Passengers will be allowed to rebook flights for the same route on a new date up to and including November 15.
For those who are booked on a domestic Lufthansa flight on November 7 or November 8, Lufthansa is also offering a free exchange of the flight route for a train ticket.
Flights by Lufthansa's other airlines, which include Eurowings, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, and Brussels Airlines will not be impacted by the strike, according to BBC.
Lufthansa canceled 700 flights on Thursday and 600 on Friday, which translates into about one-fifth of its scheduled flights over the two-day strike.
In the days leading up to the labor action, a Frankfurt labor court apparently rejected the airline's application to block the strike, BBC reported.
What's more, the union's vice-president, Daniel Flohr, has been quoted as saying that further strikes could come "at any time".
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