Having flown millions of miles, I thought I experienced most everything when it comes to the airlines. But a week before my wife and I were scheduled to fly from the West Coast to South Africa via Frankfurt for a long-planned tour/safari, Lufthansa pilots and cabin personnel went on strike. Our tickets were United flight numbers, code-sharing a Lufthansa flights from LAX to Cape Town via Frankfurt.
Hearing nothing from Lufthansa, and our flight now just days away, it was time to look at other options. At first, we were hoping the strike would be settled and our flights would not be affected. But as we got closer to our departure date and read about the chaos at Frankfurt airport and the planes and crews stuck around the world, we hoped Lufthansa would just cancel so we could get a full refund and take another airline. Even if the strike was not resumed, the mess it had created would continue to linger for days and weeks, adding to the risk.
With the strikes being called with only 24-hour notice, what would happen if we got to Frankfurt and our flight to Cape Town was canceled? I could imagine being stuck in Frankfurt with no easy way to get to Africa in time for our tour. I checked and found no other non-stops from Frankfurt. News reports were describing chaos in the Frankfurt Airport with stranded passengers unable to contact Lufthansa.
I searched for fully refundable alternative flights and found a British Air option and booked it. Phew, I thought. We now have an option. It was more expensive than the Lufthansa flight, but less than the other last-minute fares.
Then the waiting began and my analytical mind engaged looking at the what ifs, trying to come up with a decision On the Saturday before our Tuesday departure, the unions decided to halt their strike for a day to engage in talks, but warned they still could call a strike with a 24-hour notice. We waited for an announcement from the talks on Saturday, but there was total silence.
It was now Monday morning, the day before we were to depart. The safe bet looked like taking the BA flights to avoid the uncertainty of Lufthansa and using the Lufthansa tickets for future use. I investigated what those rules were -something I’ve rarely done, and found them to be very limiting.
Our $12,000 tickets needed to be used within one year of booking, but only for a single trip on a Star Alliance airline. If we used them for a $5000 trip, we’d forfeit $7000. With no big trips planned, lending the airline thousands of dollars for many months and having to take a vacation on their conditions was not appealing nor affordable. We needed to decide within the next few hours as our cancelation required a 24-hour notice.
I had been tracking the Lufthansa flights we were on and found most of them to have resumed their normal schedule over the weekend. I checked our flight from LAX to Frankfurt and looked at the aircraft ‘s routing before LAX (using Flighty ) and it was running on schedule. So the plane from LAX would be there and the flight from Frankfurt was still scheduled.
We decided to take the Lufthansa flight. The risk of a last-minute strike seemed to be diminished with no strike called on Monday and apparently talks continuing.
Fortunately, it all worked out. But we were also glad that we had booked our return flights using mileage on American/British Air and were free of Lufthansa once we arrived in Cape Town.
What did I learn? I had never really dug into what a reusable fare was, and now I know, and it’s less than what I thought.
I was disappointed that Lufthansa paid no attention to the uncertainty and anxiety they put their customers through. They never reached out during the strike to explain what options we had, never explained what would happen in the event of a canceled flight due to the strike. I lost a lot of respect for an airline I used to favor.
Code shared flights added to the confusion. United was as much in the dark as I was and referred all questions to Lufthansa, who could not be reached during this period due to hold times of many hours.
I even sked AI for their recommendations several times along the way, after providing them the details. Both Gemini and Claude kept pushing me to take the BA flight and avoid the risk of getting stuck in Frankfort. But they did little analysis to assess the changing situation and often relied on old news reports. Ultimately I learned it’s up to us to take responsibility, assess the risks, and come up with alternatives.
