Lufthansa strike: your rights and compensation

• Lufthansa's own staff are represented by three unions: Vereinigung Cockpit for its pilots, UFO for its cabin crew and ver.di for its ground staff. A strike that one of them calls against Lufthansa is a strike by the airline's own staff, which the Court of Justice of the European Union does not treat as an extraordinary circumstance (Airhelp v SAS, C-28/20, 2021).
• In 2026, Vereinigung Cockpit, in a dispute over the pilots' company pensions, and UFO called a series of strikes at Lufthansa: on 12 February (both unions), 12 and 13 March (pilots), 10 April (cabin crew), 13 and 14 April (pilots, also at Lufthansa CityLine and Eurowings), 15 and 16 April (cabin crew) and 16 and 17 April (pilots, also at Eurowings), according to Lufthansa's own notices to travel agents.
• Earlier strikes by Lufthansa's own staff include the ver.di strike of its ground staff on 7 February 2024 and the UFO cabin crew strike on 12 March 2024 in Frankfurt and 13 March 2024 in Munich.
• Not every strike that grounds Lufthansa flights is by Lufthansa staff. Strikes called by ver.di at airport operators and security companies, such as the one at eleven German airports on 10 March 2025, and air traffic controller strikes, such as in France on 3 and 4 July 2025, are by third parties: they usually rule out compensation, though Lufthansa must still refund or re-route you and look after you.
• To know which case is yours, check who called the strike and against whom: a strike by Vereinigung Cockpit or UFO at Lufthansa is an own-staff strike. Lufthansa's cancellation notice usually names the strike. If your flight was operated by another group airline, such as Eurowings or Lufthansa CityLine, that airline owes the compensation.

In 2021 the Court of Justice of the European Union held that a strike called by a union of the airline's own staff, such as its pilots or cabin crew, to obtain better pay or conditions is not an extraordinary circumstance: it is part of the normal running of an airline, which can expect labour disputes with its staff (Airhelp v SAS, C-28/20). Cancellations and delays of 3 hours or more caused by such a strike therefore generally give a right to compensation.

The same applies to a so-called wildcat strike, when a large part of the crew calls in sick at once after a surprise announcement by management (Court of Justice, Krüsemann, C-195/17, 2018).

A strike by people who do not work for the airline, such as air traffic controllers, airport security staff or the staff of the airport itself, is usually an extraordinary circumstance: it is outside the airline's control. If it caused your cancellation or delay, compensation is usually not owed, provided the airline did what it reasonably could to limit the disruption, including re-routing you on another airline's flight when that was faster (Court of Justice, TAP, C-74/19, 2020).

Air traffic control strikes in one country also hit flights that only cross its airspace: a French controllers' strike delays flights between Spain and Germany, for example.

Even when the strike is an extraordinary circumstance, your other rights stay intact. If your flight is cancelled you choose between a refund of your ticket within 7 days and another flight to your destination. While you wait, the airline must offer meals and refreshments, two phone calls or emails and, if you have to stay overnight, a hotel and transport to it (Articles 8 and 9). Keep the receipts for anything you have to pay yourself.

Strikes are often announced days or weeks ahead. If the airline cancelled your flight and told you at least 14 days before departure, no compensation is owed, but you keep the choice between a refund and another flight. If it told you later than that, the usual notice rules for cancellations apply: compensation can be due if the strike was by the airline's own staff.

• Lufthansa
• Strikes