Lufthansa pilots strike, upend airline travel

“That means we are going to prepare further strike measures and they are going to be expanded in length and duration,” he said.

A previous strike threat by BA cabin crew — planned for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays — was canceled only after the airline obtained an emergency court injunction blocking the move.

About 12,000 Unite union members have voted on whether to launch a new campaign of strikes over cuts to crew numbers and changes in working conditions. That vote result is expected later Monday.

The French civil aviation authority DGAC said it has no estimate yet of how badly air traffic could be affected by the upcoming air traffic controllers’ strike. But during a similar strike last month, half of the flights at Paris’ Orly airport and 15 percent of the flights at Charles de Gaulle were canceled, and other French airports also experienced cancellations.

Lufthansa typically has 1,800 flights a day and offers some 160 long-haul flights to destinations worldwide. The airline has estimated the strike could cost it some €25 million ($34 million) per day.

Pilots for Lufthansa Cargo and the low-budget subsidiary, Germanwings, were also taking part in the strike.

Lufthansa said it was trying to rebook travelers on partner airlines or trains and would reimburse those unable to be rescheduled.

Resat Saritas tried to get home to Dubai but found his flight was canceled. Despite his unhappiness over his flight, he said the strike was justified.

“The pilots deserve more money. The mentality of the company is not good. Please don’t do this again,” he said. “It’s not nice for the pilots and it’s not nice for the passengers.”

Germanwings said it was still operating several flights this week to destinations including Britain, Greece, Spain, Bulgaria, Italy and Croatia, among others, but warned of cancellations, too.

Lufthansa, based in Cologne, owns or holds significant stakes in airlines including Swiss International Airlines, Austrian Airlines, JetBlue of the U.S. and Britain’s BMI. Those airlines are not affected.

The pilots are seeking increased work security and want German labor conditions to apply to Lufthansa pilots hired abroad, in an effort to prevent their jobs from migrating to neighboring countries with cheaper conditions. Lufthansa has denied it was planning to relocate the jobs.

Lange said Lufthansa was still open to further talks, but only if they are without preconditions.

Tony Concil of the International Air Transit Association in Geneva said the global airline industry is still losing money.

“The industry lost $11 billion in 2009 and will probably lose $5.6 billion in 2010,” he told AP. “The emphasis at airlines is saving cash, managing capacity as effectively as possible, and cutting costs.”

Lufthansa reached out to travelers online, posting a strike schedule on its Web site and offering updates on whether flights were canceled or not on its Twitter feed.

But some travelers were still caught unaware — and frustrated.

“We arrived in Frankfurt from Taiwan. We have been on the road for 24 hours,” a Swiss woman told AP Television News. “We wanted to fly on with Lufthansa but couldn’t because the flight was canceled. We could not get a Swiss Air flight either so now we have to go on the train for another six hours.”