Swiss parent company Lufthansa cancels 20,000 short-haul flights

Yeah this was a serious miscalculation by the union. "Shut us down, will you? F*** YOU, we won't work then" "Ok we'll just shut down now thanks 👍"

I'm a union guy but too many unions are full of lazy egotistical narcissists who do more harm than good. Also too many unions are filled with individuals with politically aspirations that they sell out the workers under them. For context, I am in Australia

Eh, now they just get 2 years of paid time sitting at home. Not that bad.

I looked it up because people are jumping to conclusions about the level of Intelligence about the union without knowing their side of their story. >A key trigger for the recent escalation was an open letter from Karl Gernandt, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kühne Holding. In this letter, Gernandt sharply criticized the pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit and the flight attendants' organization UFO. He accused them of abusing the constitutionally guaranteed right to strike in a manner disproportionate to the intended goal. Gernandt criticized the fact that personal egoism was being prioritized over the interests of the company as a whole and its customers >The Vereinigung Cockpit pilots' union reacted strongly to these accusations. In a public statement, the union firmly rejected the allegation >According to the union's analysis, management's approach appears contradictory. Lufthansa management cites a severe economic crisis as the reason for Cityline's demise, claiming it necessitates removing unprofitable capacity from the market. However, at the same time, they are examining whether Cityline's routes could be taken over by the core Lufthansa Classic brand. This is met with incomprehension by employee representatives, as management itself has repeatedly stated that the cost structures of the core brand are significantly higher than those of its regional subsidiaries. >If routes are deemed unprofitable at a lower-cost subsidiary, it's difficult to understand how they can be operated economically at a more expensive parent company, unless a massive deterioration of working conditions across all group companies is planned. From the union's perspective, this is a way of creating facts on the ground, primarily intended to exert pressure on collective bargaining negotiations, while keeping all operational options open. The crisis is thus merely serving as a pretext for structural restructuring at the expense of employees So basically the union thinks Lufthansa is cutting out the negotiation power without cutting out the routes. Things must've come to a head to bring the closure forward. Whether it's true or not, I don't know, but I don't think it's as simple as you make it seem. Edit: I have no affiliation to either party here and I am in a completely different field and I like our union. Just a disclaimer.

Afaik they were offered jobs at the new company but they didn’t like the offering so they striked for a better one, but LH didn't budge and just closed them

so I looked it up, 99% of their members voted to strike, they were offering a 3 year no-strike obligation, they were negotiating to a 5.5% pay increase, more predictable shifts (there were some claims lufthansa was trying to push older crew to retire by purposefully giving them difficult shifts), a continuation of their current pension plans, and for them all to get new jobs at the new subsidiary (which was planning to cut 20% of them). Imo pretty reasonable given that lufthansa had increased profits and improved margins.

Fortunately you have rail options over there.

Ha! We would like to take a trip to the UK (from Estonia) in the summer, but I don't dare buy tickets right now, too many what ifs in the air.

Better start walking

I mean just fly with wizz or ryan air for half the price lol

It’s also negligible compared to the cost of flying private in general. If you can afford to fly private you can afford to fuel the jet even far above current prices

Which is why the profitable move for US airliners is to increasingly cater specifically to the first class and business class. I wouldn't be surprised to see a plane with no regular class in the future.

Ew, the poors would want both armrests if they were in the middle seat.

No but maybe what about luxurious-ers and more frequent TGVs? Entice them with the elusive opportunity to kill a commoner in a tunnel à la Orient Express.

Sure

Train from Frankfurt to Rzeszow is 14 hours compared to 2 hours by plane plus security so probably 3 in total. Yeah, no one is taking the train unless they can't or the ticket is super expensive

The issue is more they can't make money off the regional flights. Most are feeders. And it isn't so much just the cost, rather there isn't enough fuel period. So if a customer has to wait more hours to connect to the next flight, so be it.

If people can afford private flights they can afford to pay more for them

>from Frankfurt to Rzeszow one should really take a train. Ugh, you mean like the poor people do? Ew, please consider the delicate sensibilities of private-jet owners. 😋

Probably be a lot more efficient to fly into Krakow and take the train from there.

I doubt the price of jet fuel is any deterrent to oligarchs using their jets.

Ah yes, the days before long distance trade were so vitalized.

Bird spotting at the airport will be sweet, ngl

I prefer getting to go abroad and experiencing non shit weather cheers mate

And less global air pollution. Remember the clear skies when Covid shut everything down?

Not sure if there is a train connection from Germany to Kos.

The prospect of being stuck in Mannheim hits close to home. Just kidding. It doesn't. It hits 4 hours away from home.

It could be worse: It could be Bielefeld.

I have heard many bad things about DB But last week I trained from Amsterdam to Hamburg and had a great time! Smooth clean fast and the bar was amazing

Sad to see German rail fall so far so fast. I had a great experience back in 2015.

What's not to love about Manheim? Concrete jungle, BASF air, trash who scream at you from their cars because you made the mistake of dressing differently or being born female, people speeding through residential areas at night, police who ignore that but kick you to death when you have a mental episode, and in summer the constant smell of chocolate and overcooked pasta from the local factories.

That would be outrageous since this is purely a cost issue, if they pay the right price they get the resources.

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm > If your flight is cancelled you have the right to choose between reimbursement, re-routing or return. You are also entitled to assistance at the airport.

No

Fuel price fluctuations count as typical, foreseeable business risk for any airline. Middle East oil shocks have happened before and are historically recurring so these are treated as predictable market risk. No force majeure as far as a Google search leads me to believe. Now if there is literally no fuel left or the government steps in and and restricts certain types of flights that's a different story, then that's nothing the airline is responsible for. But saying Nah we're not gonna fly because we sold your tickets too c**** now that the prices are up isn't gonna hold up in court. The whole post ist misleading anyway. Lufthansa has shut down its subsidiary "Cityline" not because of fuel prices, this was bound to happen anyway in 2027, fuel prices just accelerated the process. Only **these** flights have been canceled. I'm not aware of any actual Lufthansa flights being canceled right.

The airline should be forced to either meet passengers' asking prices to buy back their tickets or arrange alternate flights on other airlines at their own expense. The passengers paid for that fuel in advance. Rising fuel costs is the risk the airlines ought to be made to assume when they get paid in advance.

If you haven't started your journey then yes. If you are in the middle of your journey then they have to ensure you get to your destination

Lufthansa is notorious for fighting payouts. I had a flight take off, turn back due to a faulty sensor, and got told they'd just reroute in the next day or two. Well, under EU law, they're also required to compensate for this because the cancelation was their fault. Took a year after the trip to get the compensation after reaching out to the regulatory office, and through mediation, admitted no fault. But still paid out.

Aah got it. Thanks

Bit of an "I raped and trafficked children" vibe kinda dude? Possibly recently had nuclear codes forcibly removed from his presence.

Whatchu mean? How so?

How do you mean? Is Europe expected to run out of oil/fuel within that time?