Lufthansa airlines canceled 900 regional and domestic flights today as the cockpit crew began a three-day strike over contract negotiations.
In total, 3,800 flights will be cancelled between Wednesday and Friday, according to the airline. Only about 500 short- and long-haul flights will continue as scheduled.
The strike was announced by the pilot’s union Vereinigung Cockpit last week. The union represents 5,400 Lufthansa pilots, and is striking to put pressure on the airline. They will go back to work on Saturday.
"We won't let ourselves be given the run around by Lufthansa," union board member Ilona Ritter said in a statement last week.
Cancellations will affect more than 425,000 passengers.
The advance notice of the strike gave Lufthansa time to prepare and warn travelers to rebook early, but some passengers were still caught unaware.
@lufthansa, just got to know flights from #LHR to #FRA & to #MCT for tomorrow are cancelled. Will we be transferred to some other airline?— Nishad Sanzagiri (@nishadsanzagiri) April 2, 2014
WTF, my flight to SFO has been canceled! #lufthansa— Ivo Gabrowitsch (@gabrowitsch) April 1, 2014
@lufthansa flight canceled due to strike...customer service number doesn't work...what are you doing to fix this?— Josh (@joshycakes) April 1, 2014
Lufthansa estimated the cost of the three-day strike to be “in the range of tens of millions of euros.”
Passengers can rebook or cancel flights for between Wednesday and Friday at no cost by contacting the airline.