Will I get to Automechanika?

Fantastic. On the eve of my first visit to the gargantuan Automechanika show in Frankfurt, Lufthansa cabin crew have decided to go on strike. And, of course, I’m flying Lufthansa.

I can’t begrudge them wanting a five percent pay increase, and I suppose if you want to get your point across you need to take advantage of big events like unions did in the UK with the Olympics.

Still, it’s bloody annoying. I could jump up and down and demand ‘do you know who I am’, but the chances are they don’t and wouldn’t much care if they did.

So, Lufthansa might have offered 3.5 percent to the crews, but it hasn’t helped to prevent three strikes in eight days.

Today’s is the biggest so far. It runs for 24 hours, has seen two thirds of flights cancelled (up to 1200) and is causing complete chaos at airports, Frankfurt in particular.

In a rather frank statement, Lufthansa also admits it doesn’t know how bad the knock-on effects will be.

“At this stage Lufthansa cannot say for sure what exact impact the strike action will have.

“Even after the end of the strike, Lufthansa foresees irregularities in flight operations on the weekend.”

See you at Automechanika, I hope.