Lufthansa cancelled half my flight - what happens next?

[Nospecialcharactersplease]

We’re flying home from a European city this week with Lufthansa, but they’ve just cancelled half the journey because of strikes. The first leg (to Frankfurt) is fine (it’s a code share run by a partner airline so not affected by the strikes). However the second leg home to the UK, run by Lufthansa, has been cancelled. We’ve tried the online system, the chat bot, and customer services but can’t get a response from them (unsurprising - about 200,000 flights cancelled apparently!).

We could accept a refund but we will be massively out of pocket with limited alternatives, as there are very few flights and airlines departing from where we are. Do we just take our first flight to Frankfurt as normal and then present ourselves at airport? Would they be responsible for finding us an onward flight and putting us up in Frankfurt in the meantime?

We booked all the flights on the same ticket and all with Lufthansa directly, if that makes a difference.

Fly to Frankfurt and demand they get you home. If you can’t get through it’s what I’d do. Also flying to the UK from Frankfurt will undoubtedly be cheaper than from further afield.

Sorry should have said. Make your way to the transfer desk - they’ll sort out a connection then. I’ve had similar happen to me with KLM.

@DazedandConcerned Thanks - I was thinking as much myself, better to get home from Frankfurt than where we are currently. Only thing is it’s the ground crew who are striking, so I’m not even sure the rebooking desks at Frankfurt will be staffed. I’ll be miffed if we have to accommodate ourselves overnight while we wait for the strike to end, but we can absorb the costs if necessary.

Habe you looked at this guide on MSE?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/flight-cancellation-compensation/

Looks potentially helpful I think.

@Nospecialcharactersplease thankfully hotels in Frankfurt are cheap in some areas. Just avoid around the main train station as it’s the red light district. Booked my husband in there and he came home with many amusing tales.

It will be staffed though even if by management.

I‘ve just looked up a few German sites that describe EU law on strikes: they all say the same, that you are entitled to choose either replacement transport or cancel the contract. If you ask the airline to find you a replacement flight (or train!) and it takes more than a few hours, they have to give you appropriate refreshments and provide a hotel room if overnight. If there is nobody around at the desk (eg ground staff strike) to supply vouchers or book a room, document this with photos and book your own (and keep receipts!) for reimbursement.
If you choose to cancel the contract they have to repay you in full in 7 days. As you say, there will be thousands looking for flights and the prices will go up, so cancelling and rebooking yourself might leave you put of pocket.
apparently you’re also entitled to compensation if the airline’s own staff are on strike - 250 euros pp for short-haul.
Best of luck. We’re all a bit fed up with so many public transport strikes coming together.

I'd definitely get to Frankfurt and see what they propose. If there are no flights and you need to get back you can take the train from there - it's 3h15 to Brussels or 3h50 to Paris and then eurostar.

I would avoid the transfer desk like the pest - endless wait times. Go online and look for alternative connections including other airlines. Then call LH and ask to be booked on them. If service lines are busy where you are just call those in another country including North America using a VOIP service (been there, done that.)

Also, get thee onto the LH board on flyertalk.com. Tons of extremely knowledgeable posters- plus the airline has its own customer service lurkers on there who might help you out.

Edited to add: best to look for an alternative routing for the entire trip, not just the second leg. Are there any possible routes through Zurich on LH (it's a secondary hub for them) or other Star Alliance partners?

The problem with getting a train in this situation is that:

1. Everyone else will be trying to do the same thing. I had a flight cancelled in 2010 because of the Icelandic volcano and the train station was bonkers, we didn’t get anywhere near a train.
2. This is Deutsche Bahn, which is currently in a downhill circle of doom that means it can’t run a decent train even in the best of circumstances. The drivers are now instigating wildcat strikes, wouldn’t surprise me if they timed one to match Lufthansa. Bastards.

We had similar from Spain in January due to ground staff strikes. We flew with BA and both our flights were cancelled, they luckily booked us onto new ones. Due to the long delay coming back they had to reimburse our expenses, I had to upload receipts and I quite quickly got the money back. Unfortunately legally whilst they need to compensate reasonable expenses in the event of a strike you aren’t entitled to compensation.
The airport itself seemed to be running as normal, although we didn’t check in any baggage to be safe so I don’t know if that was a problem. Do you need to check in any bags?

@LadyGreySpillsTheTea has a good point regarding training strikes. Just had a look and there are more strikes announced for Thu/Fri this week. Is this when you're flying?

Thanks all, this is the kind of collective brain power I need!

Will look at the flyertalk board and good to know that hotels in Frankfurt are easy to come by, albeit avoiding the red lights!

In terms of a train, I’m not opposed to this but I think there are strikes on the German trains too, apparently. Also, presumably Lufthansa would have to approve us making alternative arrangements if we want them to refund us later? And we’re headed to north UK, so it’s a bit of a slog.

We finally got through to a service centre just now. They said they could reschedule our entire trip to Sunday 10th, but then they got cut off. If we accepted that, presumably we would be responsible for our own costs to stay here longer? Whereas if we took the first flight and presented in Frankfurt, we’d be in transit, so presumably they would have to accommodate us?

@LadyGreySpillsTheTea yep, we’re supposed to fly this Friday!

In terms of compensation, I understand we are entitled to something because it’s such short notice and the strike is from their own staff, not a third party. Happy to cross that bridge later though, right now just keen to get home without being too much out of pocket.

We have holiday insurance too, but I’m pretty sure they will just send us back to the airline to resolve it (and I don’t blame them).

So much for that then!

Again, research alternative connections (and availability) then get LH to rebook you. Take a particular look at SAS thru Copenhagen - they're a partner airline. But any airline will do really - they'll have to book you on BA if they can't find you a better alternative.

Not sure re reimbursement for extra nights but suspect it's refundable. Folks on flyertalk will know for sure. What you won't get is separate compensation given it's force majeure.

Trains are striking too at the same time - sorry, I know that's not helpful but just a heads up. My DH is going to be in Germany and also affected by the strikes 😞

Thanks all. We have a solution. We will take our first flight as planned on Friday, then the flight to the UK has been rebooked for Saturday. We will book our own hotel in Frankfurt and they will refund us (who knows when). They won’t refund meals but that’s ok. They also won’t book accommodation directly because they are too busy.

Hey ho. Let’s see how this pans out. Thanks for the help everyone.

Anyone know any decent hotels in Frankfurt? I presume they will refund something around £120 - £150 mark?

I have found use of Twitter/X to be useful in similar situations. Initially by tweeting at them and then following up via DM. The Virgin twitter person was incredibly helpful when we had a partial cancellation last year.

@Nospecialcharactersplease book an NH or Scandic. I’ve never had a bad stay at either chain.

We stayed here during the summer

https://www.flemings-hotels.com/main-riverside-hotel-frankfurt

Lovely hotel, only real quirk was the shower right there in front of the bed zero privacy, but I get that’s not uncommon in Germany.

There's a great Italian or west African restaurant along the river front

River front even

More drama. We never got a confirmation of our rescheduled flights, so we chased this morning. The bookings were never made apparently. No record of our phone call either. No seats available on Saturday 9th now.

The best they are offering now is to move our entire flight booking to Sunday 10th, leaving us where we currently are at our own expense for two extra nights, or a refund. Said that if we went to the airport we wouldn’t be allowed to take our first flight, even though it hasn’t been cancelled, so we wouldn’t be able to get to Frankfurt and present ourselves in transit there.

And the agent this time also hung up on us without wanting, despite us being calm and polite etc. And the phone lines the more or less been cut off in UK, so trying others worldwide. Wow.

Did you get any more information or a new booking?
Just in case this helps, I live in Frankfurt and have just seen the latest update on strikes, it's now not just ground staff but all aviation security going on strike and they are warning people not to travel to the airport as the terminals are being closed.

If you have the option to extend your accommodation where you are I would definitely do that.
If you are still flying to Frankfurt and need help getting a hotel please feel free to message me.
Good luck!