GERMANY STRIKE: Munich Airport is closed for frequent flights on Sunday and Monday (March 26 – 27)!

By Sorin Last updated March 24 2023

Transport strikes will escalate significantly in Germany next week, affecting both rail and air travel. The strike is expected to affect 400.000 passengers scheduled to travel on these days.

Munich Airport has already informed us that the airport will remain closed to regular passenger traffic on Sunday and Monday (March 26 and 27), while Frankfurt Airport is trying to remain closed only on Monday (March 27). In addition, Deutsche Bahn has canceled all its long-distance trains.

There have been weekly strikes at various airports in recent weeks, but they look set to escalate further by paralyzing long-haul flights to and from Germany.

Lufthansa, the airline significantly affected by this, has yet to publish its rebooking and commercial guidelines. These strikes will affect flights to Germany later in the week as long-haul flights cannot take off.

Affected passengers are not eligible for compensation of up to 600 euros

In this case, Lufthansa canceled flights, the airline must notify affected passengers as soon as possible and reroute them to their final destinations, even when this means transferring them to competing airlines such as British Airways, KLM or Emirates. We expect to have and canceled TAROM flights.

As Lufthansa is a Community carrier, it must comply EC regulation 261/2004, which is also mandatory for all flights outside Germany. Instead, passengers are eligible for Duty to Care, which means accommodation and meals in case of long delays. Passengers can also opt for a refund if they no longer wish to travel. But again, this is the passenger's choice and cannot be forced by the airline.

In the case of these strikes, independent of the airlines, passengers are not eligible for compensation of up to 600 euros. Compensation is paid if the passenger was not informed of the cancellation with sufficient time in advance. However, the air carrier is not required to pay if it can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.