Nigerians Stranded as Lufthansa Strike Cancels Hundreds of Flights

Nigerian passengers are sleeping on airport floors across Europe after a Lufthansa strike cancelled hundreds of flights, with some travellers stranded for days and others rebooked onto Royal Air Maroc flights that only added to their misery.

The walkouts by pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit and cabin crew union Unabhängige Flugbegleiter Organisation began earlier this month over pay, pensions, and working conditions. Negotiations with Lufthansa management went nowhere, so the unions escalated to staggered strikes that have at times grounded up to 90% of operations at Frankfurt and Munich.

Stranded and abandoned

On Thursday, passengers heading to Nigeria were forced to stay overnight at Frankfurt Airport after their flights were cancelled. Many were rebooked onto Royal Air Maroc, but that swap brought fresh problems.

One Nigerian passenger departing from Frankfurt didn’t hold back. “The experience was horrible. I couldn’t meet my appointment in Nigeria, and that cost me a lot. It was frustrating because there was little communication at first, and people were just left to figure things out on their own,” he told Sunday PUNCH.

Another traveller painted an even bleaker picture of the Royal Air Maroc rebooking. “Air Maroc is a terrible airline. A flight meant for 5:55pm on Thursday was moved to the following day. Some passengers had to sleep at the airport. These were passengers whose visas had expired and the border officers did not allow them to return to Germany. The airline did not put them in the transit hotel. They just abandoned them.”

Some passengers were put up in Frankfurt hotels, but others with expired Schengen visas were stuck in the terminal overnight with no accommodation provided.

Lufthansa pulls the plug on CityLine

The strike has also accelerated a deeper restructuring. Lufthansa announced it will permanently withdraw all 27 aircraft operated by its regional subsidiary Lufthansa CityLine from service, starting April 18. Affected staff will be offered transfers to other units, though redundancy negotiations are ongoing.

Lufthansa called the union demands financially unsustainable and said it remains open to talks. But between the strikes, rising jet fuel costs, and the ongoing post-pandemic recovery, the airline is clearly in survival mode.

What affected passengers can do

Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson Michael Achimugu confirmed that Lufthansa had notified the authority of the strikes. “If they can book passengers on other airlines or lodge passengers in hotels, these moves are within the regulations. It is either that or passengers are stuck there forever,” he said.

Passengers on flights departing from EU airports may be entitled to compensation under EU Regulation 261/2004, regardless of the airline’s nationality. Claims can be filed directly with Lufthansa or through passenger rights organisations. For now, anyone flying Lufthansa to or from Europe should check their flight status before heading to the airport and keep all receipts for expenses incurred during delays.

Sources: Punch, NewsPoint Nigeria, The Star