Frankfurt chaos

ambrosino

I have London to Seattle flights with United (operated by Lufthansa) on 6 August, going via Frankfurt. I've seen the Lufthansa strike action at Frankfurt resulting in tons of flights being cancelled this week, and I know there's another round of talks on the 3rd/4th. I'm EXTREMELY worried about what could happen to my flights. Added to this, I'm nervous about the ongoing Heathrow problems (50% passenger cap, people losing luggage). I need to get to Seattle on time for an all day event on 7 August. It's not work - it's something personal and deeply important to me - if I miss it, there won't be another chance. Plus, I'll lose accommodation costs as the last cancellation date is the day before my flights.

I have a few questions I'd be grateful for advice on! I spoke to United on the phone twice in the last two days for advice/updates and they were friendly but frankly didn't sound worried - just gave me generic "your flight would be rebooked" answers which don't reassure me, given what I'm seeing from affected passengers in the news.

- if my flights are cancelled because of ground crew action, what are my rights? I read somewhere that I can't get airline compensation - is that true even when it's due to Lufthansa staff action (as opposed to Frankfurt Airport staff action)? Above all I want to get to my destination on time - that's the most important outcome for me. But I can't afford to be left well out of pocket - I used a large chunk of my savings for this.
- does anyone have experience of this situation - were you able to get rebooked the same day? If not, how long did it take to get on another flight? Would they re-route via different airports or just cancel everything?

I'm considering trying to move flights to two days earlier and route via another airport instead (and book two extra days accommodation...sigh), but it's really expensive (it basically doubles my costs) and as I said, I don't really have the cashflow - I really went to the financial hilt for this trip because it matters so much to me. I'm agonising over what to do.

Thank you for any advice you can offer!

eskbanker

ambrosino said:

if my flights are cancelled because of ground crew action, what are my rights? I read somewhere that I can't get airline compensation - is that true even when it's due to Lufthansa staff action (as opposed to Frankfurt Airport staff action)? 

When flights (within scope of UK/EU 261 regulations, such as this) are cancelled, the airline is required to provide the passenger with the choice between a refund or a rebooking, and (separately) compensation if and only if it's their fault, i.e. you'd be entitled to replacement flights completely independently of whether compensation was due.

Unless you have flexible fares that allow changes then your best bet would be to review flight schedules and identify which ones would be suitable replacements in the event that one or more of yours are cancelled, so that you know what to ask for should that arise....

ambrosino

eskbanker said:

ambrosino said:

if my flights are cancelled because of ground crew action, what are my rights? I read somewhere that I can't get airline compensation - is that true even when it's due to Lufthansa staff action (as opposed to Frankfurt Airport staff action)? 

When flights (within scope of UK/EU 261 regulations, such as this) are cancelled, the airline is required to provide the passenger with the choice between a refund or a rebooking, and (separately) compensation if and only if it's their fault, i.e. you'd be entitled to replacement flights completely independently of whether compensation was due.

Unless you have flexible fares that allow changes then your best bet would be to review flight schedules and identify which ones would be suitable replacements in the event that one or more of yours are cancelled, so that you know what to ask for should that arise....

Thank you... I guess my worry is that if strikes force cancellation at my connecting airport, there might not be any other flights from Frankfurt that day - that seems to be what happened to people today. Would they offer me another same-day route via a different hub (I know they also route through connecting US airports)? Or would it just be "sorry, you're not going anywhere today, do you want flights tomorrow?" Or, if the problem was at Heathrow, would they offer flights from another UK airport if I could get there - or again would it be 'no capacity today, sorry, try tomorrow'?

Voyager2002

ambrosino said:

eskbanker said:

ambrosino said:

if my flights are cancelled because of ground crew action, what are my rights? I read somewhere that I can't get airline compensation - is that true even when it's due to Lufthansa staff action (as opposed to Frankfurt Airport staff action)? 

When flights (within scope of UK/EU 261 regulations, such as this) are cancelled, the airline is required to provide the passenger with the choice between a refund or a rebooking, and (separately) compensation if and only if it's their fault, i.e. you'd be entitled to replacement flights completely independently of whether compensation was due.

Unless you have flexible fares that allow changes then your best bet would be to review flight schedules and identify which ones would be suitable replacements in the event that one or more of yours are cancelled, so that you know what to ask for should that arise....

Thank you... I guess my worry is that if strikes force cancellation at my connecting airport, there might not be any other flights from Frankfurt that day - that seems to be what happened to people today. Would they offer me another same-day route via a different hub (I know they also route through connecting US airports)? Or would it just be "sorry, you're not going anywhere today, do you want flights tomorrow?" Or, if the problem was at Heathrow, would they offer flights from another UK airport if I could get there - or again would it be 'no capacity today, sorry, try tomorrow'?

I think you need to be proactive and identify flights that would work for you if your booked flights cannot operate. So as soon as a cancellation is announced you contact your airline, say that you want re-routing and tell them on which flights you wish to travel. If you are unable to contact them then you should be able to buy your own tickets and get reimbursement, but this can be tricky.

eskbanker

ambrosino said:

eskbanker said:

ambrosino said:

if my flights are cancelled because of ground crew action, what are my rights? I read somewhere that I can't get airline compensation - is that true even when it's due to Lufthansa staff action (as opposed to Frankfurt Airport staff action)? 

When flights (within scope of UK/EU 261 regulations, such as this) are cancelled, the airline is required to provide the passenger with the choice between a refund or a rebooking, and (separately) compensation if and only if it's their fault, i.e. you'd be entitled to replacement flights completely independently of whether compensation was due.

Unless you have flexible fares that allow changes then your best bet would be to review flight schedules and identify which ones would be suitable replacements in the event that one or more of yours are cancelled, so that you know what to ask for should that arise....

Thank you... I guess my worry is that if strikes force cancellation at my connecting airport, there might not be any other flights from Frankfurt that day - that seems to be what happened to people today. Would they offer me another same-day route via a different hub (I know they also route through connecting US airports)? Or would it just be "sorry, you're not going anywhere today, do you want flights tomorrow?" Or, if the problem was at Heathrow, would they offer flights from another UK airport if I could get there - or again would it be 'no capacity today, sorry, try tomorrow'?

Any of the above is possible, they obviously can't guarantee availability on any other flights, and this would be exacerbated by significant numbers of people trying to get onto alternatives, so, as I say, you'd be best doing some research into options that look sensible to you, with a view to having one in mind if the first flight is cancelled (i.e. something from the UK) and a separate option if the Frankfurt to Seattle leg is cancelled after you've already left the UK.  Your airline is responsible for finding such alternatives but if you know what you want first then you'll be better prepared for the conversation if it happens....

Ballard

I missed a connection with Lufthansa flying London-Frankfurt-Bogota in 2019. Neither my nor the airline's fault as there was a medical emergency just as we were about to leave London. We were initially offered the next Lufthansa flight (about 23 hours wait) but I politely asked if there were other options and we ended up flying to Munich and getting a Avianca flight about 6 hours later. I knew that this flight existed and believe that they had an obligation to put us on it if at all possible. As it happens we flew business class on this trip so had a few drinks during the afternoon and slept for almost all of the flight so it didn't work out too badly.

It's worth noting that I found Frankfurt a nightmare. To get between some terminals you had to go through full security so it took a while to get anywhere.