From Thursday, March 7, 2024, travelers in Germany will face chaotic days as the Verdi and GDL unions are calling for a strike. At Lufthansa the ground staff are called on to stop work and at Deutsche Bahn the train drivers are called on to stop work.

It is to be expected that travel options will be severely restricted, as there are likely to be many cancellations at both the Kranich airline and Deutsche Bahn. The GDL is initially calling on its members to strike for 35 hours and Verdi is calling on the Lufthansa ground staff for two days.

At the same time, the union representation of the train drivers announced that in the future they would no longer announce work stoppages 48 hours in advance, but would instead strike in waves with a minimal lead time. In other words: Unless there is a significant rapprochement with Deutsche Bahn, the high-volume Easter travel traffic could also be characterized by strikes.

Offers from private providers such as Westbahn and Flixtrain are not affected by the work stoppages. Flixbus' long-distance buses also run as scheduled, but there is already extremely high demand in domestic German traffic. In air traffic, not only Lufthansa Group connections are affected by delays and cancellations, but also those of other airlines that have commissioned the crane to provide ground handling services.

Travelers who have to travel to/from or within Germany on Thursday and/or Friday should regularly find out whether their booked flight or train connection will take place. In many cases it may happen that there is no alternative available due to the strikes or that switching to long-distance buses, if available, could only be expensive due to high demand. During the last rail strike, prices at Flixbus rose sharply and many buses were completely booked within a short period of time.

If possible: You should also think about whether it is possible to postpone trips that are planned for Thursday and/or Friday from Germany. If the booked connection is affected by strikes, Lufthansa and Deutsche Bahn offer appropriate rebooking options.