Lufthansa publishes goodwill rule for possible strike action by cabin crew on 26, 27 and 30 November 2015

The ‘Organisation of Independent Flight Attendants’ union (UFO) has announced that it will take strike action on Lufthansa flights on Thursday, 26th of November, Friday, 27th of November and Monday, 30th of November 2015.

Flights operated by Lufthansa City Line, Germanwings, Eurowings, Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and SWISS will not be affected by any possible strike action and will continue to run as normal.

Although no actual details of the strike action are currently known, the following goodwill rule applies with immediate effect:

Goodwill policy for rebooking/reissue of flights which are not cancelled:

Any passenger with a booked Lufthansa flight from/to/via Frankfurt and Munich on an LH document on 26, 27 and 30 November 2015, whose flight is not cancelled and whose ticket was issued up to and including 23 November 2015, may rebook once free of charge.

The following rules apply to these rebookings:

• Rebooking on an alternative Lufthansa Group flight/connection (flight number and operated by: LH, LX, OS, SN, EW, 4U) – in the original booking class or alternatively within the same class of carriage. Please note: Lufthansa booking classes G/E/N must not be used for rebooking of Economy Class passengers since G/E/N are used for Lufthansa Premium Economy and consequently considered a different compartment.
  
  
• New travel date no later than 28 February 2016
  
  
• The change of origin/destination is not permitted. Exception: rebooking/reissue to an alternative nearby departure/destination airport within Germany, e.g. DUS instead of CGN, HAM instead of HAJ.
  
  
• In the case of reissues the endorsement entry should read: 1515

For refunds of tickets that are not affected by flight cancellations, the fare conditions apply.

You can undertake the reissues yourself – a waiver by Lufthansa is not required for cases reissued in accordance with the stated rules.

As soon as the UFO union release details of the extent of the strike, Lufthansa will create a special timetable as quickly as possible and make the necessary flight cancellations . From that point onwards you can rebook flights for customers affected by flight cancellations based on the Lufthansa Standard INVOL rules.

In the event of flight cancellations, the affected segments will be set as ‘UN’ if possible and appear in your queue. They will include an SSR element: SSR OTHS 1A CNL D/T STRIKE. Please note: no ‘UN’ is set for flights cancelled on the departure day.

For technical reasons delays can occur with the ‘UN’ messages. If customers on cancelled flights are rebooked by Lufthansa on to alternative flights, the new segments are apparent in the PNR; the tickets will be revalidated automatically if possible. If no revalidation is possible (e.g. in the case of a route change), Lufthansa will automatically reissue a ticket. If your customer requests another alternative and a new reissue is required, please contact Lufthansa.

You will find general information on handling flight irregularities on OS documents here.

You will find general information on handling flight irregularities on LX documents here.

Additional background information and press releases

Lufthansa very much regrets the inconvenience caused by this possible strike action and would like to apologise to you and the passengers affected.