Important IT systems at Lufthansa failed on Wednesday morning.
Numerous flights are canceled worldwide.
The airline has canceled all domestic flights.
Our ticker.
Update from February 15, 12:54 p.m .:
Because of the IT glitch, thousands of Lufthansa passengers are stuck nationwide.
If you want to rebook, you need strong nerves.
Because the group's hotline can hardly be reached on Wednesday.
Instead, the system directs potential customers during test calls from
Merkur.de
to a web address that is sent via SMS to rebook.
Anyone who opens the link to the Lufthansa chatbot ends up in a dead end.
"I'm sorry, due to an IT failure, many of the Lufthansa Group's IT systems are not functional," writes the bot. "Unfortunately, this also affects the rebooking functionality in the chat assistant".
Means: The chatbot, which is supposed to help with the rebooking because of the IT breakdown, is not available - because of the IT breakdown.
Update from February 15, 12:21 p.m .:
Deutsche Bahn recommended passengers who want to switch to rail to look online for trains that are less in demand.
"With its ICE connections between the big cities, which run at least every hour, Deutsche Bahn generally offers sufficient capacity to be able to transport the passengers concerned," the group said on Wednesday.
One recommends "reserve a seat in any case and look in the occupancy display on bahn.de and in the DB Navigator for less popular trains."
Update from February 15, 11:50 a.m .:
Because of its serious IT breakdown, Lufthansa has now stopped all departures from Frankfurt.
This was confirmed by a spokesman for the company.
The airport had already been closed to landings by air traffic control.
Lufthansa breakdown due to construction work: railway construction breakdown as the cause?
+
Lufthansa: Travelers wait at an airline service counter.
An IT glitch causes major handicaps at Lufthansa.
© Stefen Hutchings/dpa
Update from February 15, 11:45 a.m .:
According to the airline, the serious IT breakdown at Lufthansa was triggered by construction work on a railway line in Frankfurt.
Several fiber optic cables from Deutsche Telekom were said to have been severed by an excavator on Tuesday.
Update from February 15, 11:24 a.m .:
Despite massive IT problems, German air traffic control initially did not block Munich Airport.
In the case of longer-lasting problems, however, this is an option, it said on Wednesday.
The Munich Security Conference
(MSC) will take place in the Bavarian capital from Friday
.
A possible blocking should make it very difficult for many participants to get there.
Lufthansa failure: Frankfurt Airport is no longer served
Update from February 15, 11:24 a.m .:
Due to the massive IT breakdown at Lufthansa, German air traffic control no longer directs aircraft to Frankfurt Airport.
This is to prevent the hub from filling up, as a spokesman for air traffic control said on Wednesday.
International flights are also affected by the landing ban in Frankfurt, so that numerous transfer passengers will miss their connections.
The machines would be diverted to other airports such as Nuremberg, Cologne or Düsseldorf.
🇬🇧 #Lufthansa is currently facing a worldwide 🌍🌎🌏 IT system failure....😳😳😳 pic.twitter.com/ygxz40LGEC
— GeorgeOrwell3 (@george_orwell3) February 15, 2023
Update from February 15, 11:14 a.m .:
On Wednesday morning, Lufthansa warned of delays “in processing” and asked passengers to find out more before arriving at the airport.
“If your flight is disrupted, we advise against arriving from the airport.
Please use our chatbot to rebook your flight," the website said.
Lufthansa chaos: worldwide problems after a computer breakdown - all domestic German flights canceled
First report from February 15, 10:26 a.m .:
Chaos at Lufthansa: According to reports, a large part of the IT system at the airline has failed.
Numerous flights have been delayed or canceled completely.
Apparently the systems for check-in and boarding of all airlines in the Lufthansa Group are affected.
Apparently the luggage cannot be assigned either.
A spokeswoman in Frankfurt explained that they are working intensively on a solution.
Passengers and planes were backed up in Munich and at Frankfurt Airport.
The passengers were also not allowed into the waiting machines by means of a tally sheet because, according to the staff, important information about the departure was missing.
All domestic German flights were initially canceled and passengers were asked to switch to the train.
The cause of the failure was initially unclear.
(dpa/utz)
List of rubrics: © IMAGO/Bernd Feil/MiS