The RMT union has called off a Southern rail strike just before Christmas, instead announcing a 48-hour stoppage from 19 December.
The decision to cancel the planned three day strike from 22 December follows a consultation with its members.
The latest strike by Lufthansa pilots grounded almost 900 flights on Wednesday and German companies and other Lufthansa staff called for an end to the protests which are costing the airline 10-15 million euros a day.
Pilots staged a four-day strike last week then resumed their protest over pay that dates back to early 2014 on Tuesday, taking the number of cancelled flights in the latest round of walkouts to about 4,500.
The pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) is due to hold a rally at Frankfurt airport on Wednesday morning.
However, there could be movement in the dispute after the union said it was willing to compromise. A Lufthansa spokesman said the airline was considering comments by VC that it would resume talks if a pay increase of about 5 percent were used as a basis for negotiations.
The strike is the 15th since early 2014. Walkouts in 2015 by both pilots and cabin crew affected 7,748 flights, costing Lufthansa 231 million euros in lost profit, with around 108 million of that coming from lost advance bookings.
British Airways has announced a change to its credit card fee for consumer and trade bookings.
From 14 December 2016, if customers choose to pay using a credit card they will now be charged a non-refundable 1% fee of their total ticket price, up to a maximum of £20.
British Airways will continue to offer a selection of free payment methods on ba.com and through the trade.
Switzerland, Spain and Finland will also move to 1% fee from 14 December which will be capped at EUR25 and CHF30.
British Airways does not profit from these fees – they make a contribution towards the charges levied by the credit card companies.
Lufthansa pilots called for a fresh round of strikes for Tuesday and Wednesday after discussions with German airline Lufthansa broke down, the pilots’ union Cockpit announced on Sunday.
The union said short and long-haul flights would be affected during the November 29 and November 30 strikes.
Talks today between Cockpit and Lufthansa concerning the wage dispute “did not produce any results,” the union’s spokesman Jörg Handwerg said in a statement.
Strike of the Pilots union “Vereinigung Cockpit” (VC) for Lufthansa flights between 23 and 25 November 2016
The pilots union Cockpit (VC) has called for a trike for Lufthansa flights departing from Germany:
On Wednesday, 23 November from 00:01 to 23:59 hours (CET) on all short-haul and long-haul flights
On Thursday, 24 November from 00:01 to 23:59 hours (CET) on all short-haul and long-haul flights
On Friday, 25 November from 00:01 to 23:59 hours (CET) on all short-haul flights
The strike announcement concerns flights operated by Lufthansa. Flights operated by Lufthansa CityLine may also be impacted by the strike action. Flights operated by Germanwings, Eurowings, Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airlines, SWISS and Brussels Airlines are not affected by the strike measures and will continue to operate normally.
On Friday, all long-haul flights from the hubs in Frankfurt and Munich will be operating as scheduled. By noon today, a special flight schedule for short- and medium-haul flights within Germany and Europe will be finalized and all necessary flight cancellations will have been made.
All passengers are requested to check the status of their flight at LH.com before setting out on their journey. Lufthansa passengers who have saved their mobile phone number in their customer profile will be notified about relevant cancellations by text message.
The members of the RMT Union are planning to take strike action on various dates in the upcoming months. These include:
Today (23 November)
Tuesday 6 December to Thursday 8 December
Thursday 22 December to Saturday 24 December
Saturday 31 December to Monday 2 January
If these strikes go ahead they will have a significant effect on Southern services.
Southern are still finalizing their plans for the strike dates over the Christmas period, and you are strongly advised to check back later before making any travel arrangements on these dates.
Germany’s pilot union said it planned another 24-hour walkout at Lufthansa on Thursday, after strikes announced for Wednesday led to the cancellation of roughly a third of all flights of the German airline. The union in a statement said all of Lufthansa’s short and long-haul flights out of Germany will be affected by the continued industrial action, planned to run until 2259 GMT on Thursday.
The strike is the 14th to hit the airline in its long-running pay dispute with the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) union.
Lufthansa said Wednesday’s strike has resulted in the cancellation of 876 of roughly 3,000 flights, affecting about 100,000 passengers and the airline’s chief executive said walkouts would cost the airline high single-digit million euro amounts each day. The union announced the latest strikes following a German court’s rejection of an injunction Lufthansa had asked for to halt strikes last-minute on Tuesday night.
easyJet has introduced further enhancements to the fares it offers business travellers who book via a Travel Management Company (TMC). When reservations are made via a Global Distribution System (GDS) new benefits have been added which are not available to passengers who book via easyJet’s web site.
For example, easyJet can now identify those passengers who have booked via their TMC’s GDS, enabling those customers to change to an earlier flight at no additional cost (the transfer can be made at the airport Customer Service desk).
Furthermore, those passengers who also book an easyJet Flexi fare are now offered a £5 / 7EUR voucher to spend on food and drink once on board their flight. To redeem the voucher you simply need to show the crew your Flexi boarding pass.
Pilots at Lufthansa will go on strike on Wednesday, increasing pressure in a long-running pay dispute with the airline’s management, their union said on Monday.
The strike will run for 24 hours from midnight and affect short-haul and long-haul flights, Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) said in a statement.
The pilots are striking after pay talks between management and the union broke down earlier this month. The two sides are trying to agree contracts dating back to 2012 and the union is calling for a pay increase of an average 3.7 percent a year over a five-year period.
Lufthansa has offered 2.5 percent increase, which the pilots’ union has said equates to a virtual pay freeze.
Rail, air and road transportation services were disrupted Tuesday morning in northeastern and eastern Japan, including the Tokyo metropolitan area, following a strong earthquake that rocked the country’s northeastern region earlier in the day.
Sendai airport was temporarily closed after the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning for the area following the quake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.4, forcing Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways to cancel incoming and outgoing flights, according to the transport ministry.
Bullet train services were temporarily stopped on the Tohoku, Joetsu, Hokuriku and Yamagata Shinkansen lines, East Japan Railway said.
