In fact, everything was done right.

Booked the flight in spring before ticket prices had shot up.

Rental car and hotel organized early on, everything was already planned.

Finally vacation on the Mediterranean again, after two years of Corona abstinence.

But now the flight was simply canceled two weeks earlier, and the alternative flight doesn't fit because it starts a day later.

So the planning starts all over again, and it gets more expensive as well.

Dyrk Scherff

Editor in the “Value” section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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So it's little consolation that tens of thousands of others have it better, even at first glance.

Their flight was not cancelled, they go to the airport full of anticipation - and have to realize that they can't fly either.

Because the queues at check-in and at security are so long that they don't even get to their plane on time and it flies without them.

Although they were in the terminal many hours beforehand to be on the safe side.

It was particularly bad recently at the airports in North Rhine-Westphalia, i.e. above all Düsseldorf and Cologne/Bonn, because the holidays started there.

In the state capital, the baggage conveyor system also failed due to a computer error and aggravated the chaos.

It is to be feared that it will not be any better at the other airports when holidaymakers leave there.

Lufthansa is canceling a particularly large number of flights

This is not how we imagined the start of our vacation.

What's going on in aviation?

The problem is evident across much of Western Europe.

London and Amsterdam caused particularly sensational negative headlines about endless queues.

Thousands of flights have also been canceled abroad.

In Germany, Lufthansa stands out.

First there were 900 flights, now another 3000 for the summer.

Other airlines also canceled flights, but less extensively.

The same reason is always given: lack of staff.

During the corona pandemic, jobs were cut due to a lack of passenger demand, or people voluntarily looked for another job because they could not live on short-time work.

Now they are needed again, but they won't come back.

This applies above all to baggage handling and work on the aircraft on the aprons of airports, but also to airlines.

They lack stewardesses and pilots for the short routes in Europe, while they still have too many for the long-distance routes that are still lacking.

The conversion to smaller aircraft models started too late.

Even the airport fire brigade spontaneously helped out with the luggage in Düsseldorf.

And if there is a shortage of staff, flights are canceled as a precaution.

efficiency elsewhere

Corona and the Ukraine war with airspace closures over Russia are certainly special burdens for which the industry could not have been prepared.

And the surge in passenger interest was expected, but not to this extent.

But you don't have to torment the passenger any more.

For example on the Lufthansa hotline, where you quickly have to bring half an hour with you before you can speak to someone who will help you rebook the flight after the cancellation.

Also annoying is how efficient airlines can be elsewhere.

They make sure to cancel flights at least two weeks in advance so they don't have to pay compensation.

Lufthansa also points out that it is primarily canceling flights where there are other options