Anarchic Strike Disaster At Frankfurt Airport: Only Transit Passengers Accepted For Tuesday, March 15 (Security Checkpoints Closed)

Due to a strike of security checkpoint personnel represented by the German labor union VER.DI passengers scheduled to leave from Frankfurt Airport on Tuesday, March 15th will not be able to catch their flight and are instructed not to come to the airport.

Transit passengers will be able to be processed through the relevant checkpoints within Frankfurt Airport when applicable and another exception is the Lufthansa First Class Terminal which is also able to operate as normal for First Class passengers and HON Circle Members.

All other departing passengers are out of luck today as the checkpoints to get into the departure gate area remain unserviced.

Frankfurt Airport has updated its website with the following announcement:

Due to a strike by security staff at several German airports today, major disruptions and flight cancellations can also be expected at Frankfurt Airport. In particular, the security checkpoints outside the transit area will not be staffed throughout the day. Thus, for the duration of the strike, passengers departing locally from Frankfurt will not be able to use the security checkpoints to get to their flights. We therefore strongly advise all originating passengers from Frankfurt to avoid coming to the airport. Please contact your airline or travel operator as soon as possible for information on your flight.

Transfer processes for connecting passengers in the transit area will still largely be possible. Nevertheless, transfer passengers should also expect disruptions and delays due to the strike activities.

We kindly ask all affected passengers for their understanding.

I never heard of anything like this. It’s absolutely insane that a labor union can shut down Germany’s largest airport especially since the duty for screenings is by law attached to the Federal Police who gets rid of this responsibility by giving contracts to private companies such as Securitas, Koetter etc.

Here is more information from Lufthansa:

Flights from Frankfurt on 15 March

Due to a strike by the security staff at Frankfurt Airport on 15 March, there will be massive restrictions for passengers planning a journey commencing in Frankfurt on that day.

Passengers will not be able to change from the public area to the security area in Frankfurt. For this reason, it will not be possible for local passengers to depart from Frankfurt. 

You have a journey commencing in Frankfurt on 15 March?

You can rebook free of charge on any other Lufthansa Group flight (Lufthansa, SWISS; Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Eurowings Discover, Air Dolomiti) until 20 March. Please use our online rebooking service. A change of the flight routing in the ticket is not permitted. If you wish to have your ticket refunded, you can also submit this via the online service.

Please do not come to Frankfurt Airport on 15 March. It will not be possible to depart on this day, even if your flight is shown as not cancelled and you may be able to check in via an online portal.

The same applies to guests travelling to Frankfurt via Lufthansa ExpressRail. Here, too, there is no possibility of boarding at the departure gate.

You are transiting via Frankfurt on 15 March?

Lufthansa plans to offer a regular flight schedule via Frankfurt. If you only change planes in Frankfurt, you can start your journey as usual. We kindly ask you to check the status of your flight before you start your journey. Please also reduce your hand luggage as much as possible to allow for a quick check-in at the security checkpoints in the transit area in Frankfurt.

Please do not leave the transit area in Frankfurt under any circumstances. It will then no longer be possible to return to this area to your departure gate.

Do you have a flight that ends in Frankfurt on 15 March?

There are no restrictions at Frankfurt Airport for travellers disembarking in Frankfurt. However, please also check the status of your flight before you start your journey.

Are you travelling to Frankfurt with an LH Express Rail / Bus ticket and have a connecting flight?

Unfortunately, the regulation for local passengers also applies to you; there is no access to the passenger area. Please rebook your travel dates as described in the chapter above.

Based on this the only option would be to change your flight to another airport that’s not Frankfurt and then either reroute back via Frankfurt if a connection is available or to fly on alternate carriers through another gateway. Good luck getting ahold of someone for example at Lufthansa though.

If you can’t reach anyone for a rebooking you could of course make your way for example to Duesseldorf and book a one way flight to Frankfurt and then once in the departure area proceed with your flight as initially booked. There is also a ticket counter at Duesseldorf Airport.

Another option would be to try and upgrade to First Class if your long haul flight has First Class available. That way you could use the First Class Terminal.

Don’t expect to be reimbursed for any of these costs though unless you can get ahold of your ticketing airline and they amend your ticket free of charge as INVOL (Involuntary Rerouting).

But it isn’t just Frankfurt. Hamburg, Munich, and Stuttgart are affected by the strike as well although not to the extent that departures are shut down entirely.

Conclusion

Passengers scheduled to depart from Frankfurt Airport are mostly out of luck today as a labor union strike for airport security staff has shut all departures ex Frankfurt down since no screenings will be performed. Transit passengers are not affected.

This is a completely outrageous situation. The government should take charge here and instruct the Federal Police to fulfill their mandate to perform airport security screening themselves both in the short term and long term. Create a new branch of the border force if necessary to get this under control.

Say about the TSA in the U.S. what you want but they aren’t allowed to strike as TSA employees are federal employees and I’ve always felt that TSA is much more professional than these people who perform “security” checks at German airports. I sometimes wonder where they find these people.