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Lufthansa passenger planes at Frankfurt am Main Airport: nothing works anymore
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Boris Roessler/dpa
A flight this summer is really no fun: luggage chaos, flight delays and now the Lufthansa ground staff are downing their work - in Frankfurt am Main, in Munich and at other locations.
According to Verdi, various Lufthansa companies in Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Hanover, Stuttgart and Cologne have also been on strike since 3.45 a.m.
134,000 passengers had to change or cancel their travel plans as a result.
Most of them will not reach their destination today - unless they are rebooked on another connection.
Don't get your hopes up too high: Lufthansa says the capacity for this is "very limited".
Lufthansa had also advised the affected passengers not to come to the airports in the first place because most of the counters there were not manned anyway.
In previous industrial action, the terminals had remained largely empty on the day of the strike itself.
As a precaution, more than 1,000 flights were canceled at the Frankfurt and Munich hubs.
The Lufthansa flights to and from Munich and Frankfurt are expected to be canceled at the decentralized airports.
In addition to the canceled flights with an LH flight number, other connections from group companies such as Swiss, Austrian and Air Dolomiti may be added, as they are handled at the hubs by Lufthansa ground staff.
The direct flight subsidiary Eurowings, which is not on strike, assumes that flight operations will be largely normal throughout the network.
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Collective bargaining conflict during the summer holidays: Employers sharply criticize the Lufthansa strike
The walkout should last until Thursday, 6 a.m., but the company fears effects until Friday, the last day of school before the summer holidays in Bavaria.
Lufthansa and Verdi have only spoken in two rounds about the future salaries and working conditions of the approximately 20,000 ground workers.
A third date is for the 3./4.
Agreed in Frankfurt in August.
Verdi had rejected a first offer as too low.
The union demands 9.5 percent more salary, but at least 350 euros.
Jul/dpa/AFP