Pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) announces strike on 21 March 2015 for long haul operations
The pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) has announced strike action on 21 March 2015, affecting long haul flights operated by Lufthansa. Short haul flights will not be affected.
Despite the strike, Lufthansa will continue to operate one third of the scheduled flights.
From the Lufthansa website:
List of canceled flights here.
Wall Street Journal article here.
European strikes are usually only for a day or so; it is unusual that this one has extended to Saturday. Nothing said yet about Sunday.
Thanks for the information and the links. Do you guys know how the city pairings go on long haul flights? Do they use the same plane and is it likely to be there a day before the return flight?
The reason I ask is that the flight from Europe to the city I am leaving from is already cancelled for tomorrow. Would this be the same plane going back the following day?
Most likely, yes. Hopefully Lufthansa can provide you answers before you leave the house.
Not sure what pairing you are looking at, as distance will matter in how they handle it. As these are long hauls, say FRA -> ORD, it turns on the ground at ORD in about 4 hours. I doubt LH would overnight the plane or deadhead, so would likely will cancel the pair. Note that they are not cancelling all long hauls, so it may be to your advantage to explore you connection options. FRA - ORD is not cancelled, as an example. But you can see DUS/ORD/DUS and MUC/ORD/MUC are cancelled.
At least Lufthansa has good customer service. Agents who can figure out by themselves what to do to solve a problem, and smile. It's a skill that was lost by their partner United. That's my observation flying both.