If you’re scheduled to fly through Germany tomorrow, you may be in for a rough travel day.
Tomorrow (Tuesday, January 15, 2019) German airport security personnel will be on strike. The strike is being called by Verdi, which represents about 23,000 security workers throughout Germany. This is over wages, and talks are expected to resume on January 23, 2019.
This strike will be happening in Frankfurt, Bremen, Dresden, Hamburg, Hannover, and Leipzig.
It’s expected that the biggest disruption will be in Frankfurt. At Frankfurt Airport only the transit security checkpoints will be open tomorrow, and not the security checkpoints from outside, meaning that anyone originating their travels in Frankfurt tomorrow won’t be able to get through security to catch their flight.
Per an announcement from the airport:
A strike by security staff at Frankfurt Airport has been announced for Tuesday, January 15. The strike activities are expected to cause major disruptions and flight cancellations throughout the day. In particular, the security checkpoints outside the transit area will remain closed during the strike, from the early morning hours until 8 p.m. Thus, originating passengers departing from Frankfurt will not be able to pass through the legally required security checks and get to their flights. We therefore strongly advise all originating passengers from Frankfurt to avoid coming to the airport. Please contact your airline or travel operator as soon as possible for information on your flight. We expect that transfer processes for connecting passengers in the transit area will still largely be possible. Nevertheless, also transfer passengers should expect disruptions and delays due to the strike. We kindly ask all affected passengers for their understanding.
So yeah, if you’re scheduled to travel through Germany tomorrow you’ll want to arrive at the airport extra early at a minimum. In some cases you’ll just need to rebook or reroute your trip altogether, given that at Frankfurt Airport the outside security checkpoint will be closed.
Anyone traveling through Germany tomorrow and impacted by this strike?
Alpha ur a liberal uninformed &^%$$##stop with the President bashing!!
Decades ago, unions served a purpose. They actually protected the worker. The State of Hawaii wouldn’t be what it is today, without unions.
But today, unions are the bane of our economy. To prove their worthiness, they support employees against whom disciplinary action is unquestionably warranted. They instigate work stoppages that harm the greater community.
You have a job to do. If you don’t perform that job, you should be terminated, 1 minute after...
Decades ago, unions served a purpose. They actually protected the worker. The State of Hawaii wouldn’t be what it is today, without unions.
But today, unions are the bane of our economy. To prove their worthiness, they support employees against whom disciplinary action is unquestionably warranted. They instigate work stoppages that harm the greater community.
You have a job to do. If you don’t perform that job, you should be terminated, 1 minute after you fail to show up for your job due to strike.
@ No Name — you do not seem to understand how unions, or the economy, work.
Can't wait until these people get replaced by robots.
My view is that ‘cancelled’ flights require compensation to be paid under EU rules, since the airport is still open and the strike only impacts pax originating at FRA. My flights, originating in US to a Middle East destination, were cancelled. Cancellation was solely for airline’s convenience as there was no force majeure prohibiting flight.
My flight has just been cancelled from Hamburg (flying to Ireland) tomorrow. The airline has offered a flight for the following day. I need to be in Ireland tomorrow. There is a later flight at 7.30PM witha different airline or a flight from Berlin with the same - Is it possible to get rerouted via one of these flights? - is the airline obliged to do this?
@Sigh
Like a lot of hard core Democrats you fail to understand a very basic point:
Unions, healthcare, etc. is great as long as there is jobs.
Your deplorables will vote Republican as long as the Democratic party is effectively trying to replace them with future voters from outside the country.
The MAGA base is in general not brain surgeons or rockets scientists, but they don't need to be one to do the...
@Sigh
Like a lot of hard core Democrats you fail to understand a very basic point:
Unions, healthcare, etc. is great as long as there is jobs.
Your deplorables will vote Republican as long as the Democratic party is effectively trying to replace them with future voters from outside the country.
The MAGA base is in general not brain surgeons or rockets scientists, but they don't need to be one to do the very simple math that more blue collar workers in the country means less jobs and effectively lower pay for them. Unions don't help much if there is 10 hungry guys standing outside the factory fence willing to work for cheaper and with no benefits while strike breaking.
And yes this is all an simplified view that does not take into account the effect of automation on entry level blue collar jobs, which is probably even larger than immigration.
Of course importing more uneducated blue collar workers while automation is leading to less need for blue collar workers in general can be described as insanity in general.
And making e-verify mandatory for all employers with stiff fines or jail sentences for non-compliance would probably be far more cost effective than a wall in the short run.
Totally off topic but I'm surprised you haven't reported on the Boeing 707 cargo plane crash in Iran which occurred earlier today...
@jmd001: somebody reported at vielfliegertreff.de that the FCT's security checkpoint will be open. So if you're HON or fly F (and your flight is not cancelled), you should be good to go.
The biggest trick Republicans ever pulled is convincing people to vote directly against their interests. Poor voters voting against unions, healthcare, etc. and instead favoring tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
Honestly it would be impressive if it wasn't so morally repugnant.
@Alpha. So the 62,984,825 people who voted for our current President are "nobody" according to you? Wow.... Oh, and the info comes from your trusted source https://www.cnn.com/election/2016/results/president.
@ James
That’s not how it works in Germany. They give you a 1-3 days heads-up but then a strike usually happens. Unless they achieve an agreement before the strikes goes into effect -which won’t be the case here since this is only the second strike of the security staff. Usually it takes 3-7 rounds before they agree on anything :-)
Funny: Lufthansa is operating flights TO Frankfurt (for example from Berlin) but...
@ James
That’s not how it works in Germany. They give you a 1-3 days heads-up but then a strike usually happens. Unless they achieve an agreement before the strikes goes into effect -which won’t be the case here since this is only the second strike of the security staff. Usually it takes 3-7 rounds before they agree on anything :-)
Funny: Lufthansa is operating flights TO Frankfurt (for example from Berlin) but not FROM Frankfurt. That means the planes fly empty legs one way.
@No Name - perhaps 20 euros/hr is greater than what many make in Germany. However, that is not an argument suggesting that these airport workers should settle for less. If anything, everyone else should protest for more!
Vive la résistance! (or the German equivalent)
@M.O.
20 euros/hour is more than the average pay for a entry level Registered Nurse in Germany at €16.50 per hour according to payscale.com.
20 euros/hour is 30k plus depending on hours worked which seems to be well above what jobs without degree level education pays in Germany.
Meanwhile their US Counterparts haven't gotten paid in a month because a president nobody wants is demanding a 5 billion dollar wall nobody wants.
@Icarus
Yes, but we have Freedom in America!
;)
MAGA 2020
@ Kevin I’ve been in a union 30 years. Never have I or my colleagues been on strike, and as a result have my pay increased every year through negotiations greater than the company offer , increased vacation and other benefits.
And thank god we don’t live in the US where the idiot in charge can lay off 800,000 people at a whim and force Half to work unpaid
In a country with...
@ Kevin I’ve been in a union 30 years. Never have I or my colleagues been on strike, and as a result have my pay increased every year through negotiations greater than the company offer , increased vacation and other benefits.
And thank god we don’t live in the US where the idiot in charge can lay off 800,000 people at a whim and force Half to work unpaid
In a country with almost no job security , no sick pay , with no mandatory paternity or maternity leave and 2 weeks holiday a year and no universal health care
Damned unions
20 euros/hour is practically nothing, if that's what the union is asking for that seems like an easy deal to make.
Out of curiosity, are the security people at LH's FCT at FRA included? Or are they "private" and not part of the strikers?
No James, I'm afraid it won't. The Verdi Trade Union is pushing for an unprecedented and exaggerated €20.00 per hour for their members. They are making a very big issue out of this, with strikes already last Monday in TXL and SXF. Last Thursday in CGN, DUS and STR, and tomorrow they are continuing with 8 additional German airports.
Verdi is out on a limb here with making the €20.00 a huge topic in...
No James, I'm afraid it won't. The Verdi Trade Union is pushing for an unprecedented and exaggerated €20.00 per hour for their members. They are making a very big issue out of this, with strikes already last Monday in TXL and SXF. Last Thursday in CGN, DUS and STR, and tomorrow they are continuing with 8 additional German airports.
Verdi is out on a limb here with making the €20.00 a huge topic in the media and with their workers. This would be a pay increase of approx. 50% for some of the lower scale earners.
If they settle for less, this will be seen. Nevertheless, this strike is definitely on for tomorrow and will not be cancelled.
Surely this will be called off last minute like most airline strikes are?
At least they're getting paid...