So am I the only one whose vacation was ruined by the strike?

So sorry that your trip was unfortunately impacted and ultimately cancelled by strikes. The worst thing is that you only were informed of the issues by the airline at check in! I know how much work, searching, coordinating, anticipation and dreaming go into planning the trip and then to have it all fall through at the last minute…. Very glad to hear that at least you have recouped or will recoup your flight expenses.

We were in Italy when this happened, thankfully not affecting us, but geez! I believe it was an air traffic controllers strike in Rome, correct?
There is no excuse for lack of notification, this was not a surprise action. Someone recently posted regarding receiving compensation under EU rules. I'll try to find it for you.
So sorry your vacation was ruined, but if it's any consolation, we were there at the time, and the rain was incessant! Hopefully you can reschedule and be graced with beautiful weather.
Good luck!

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Eu+261&utf8=%E2%9C%93

I'm a little surprised about Lufthansa because when I think about Germany I envision impressive organization and efficiency.

I am so sorry this happened to you. It sounds like vacation time is not easy to come yet. I hope there are some bright days ahead.

Not ruined, but we lost 3 days of an 8 day river cruise due to the British Airways IT melt- down last week. We found out when we landed and couldn’t move into the terminal for our connection. We’ve always wondered if we really needed flight insurance. Now we know, when you need it, you are glad you have it. EU compensation should cover costs in UK for the cancelled flights, etc.. but travel insurance will hopefully cover all the costs once we got to our final destination.

I’m pretty good about planning, so landing in a place and having to start from scratch was stressful. I was reminded of the posts last summer talking about making sure you have a Plan B.

Thanks everyone--it always helps to vent and I wanted to warn others to check their itineraries early and often. I flew Lufthansa for well over a decade with no trouble, until the pandemic. They do not seem to be managed well (try their call center and you'll see) and I've come to find out that they actually garner many complaints--so much for stereotypical German efficiency!
Air Dolomiti (who operated the connection, despite the Lufthansa flight number I was given initially) was very prompt in supplying me with the documentation about the flight cancellation due to strike that I needed for my accommodation insurance.
I applied for the European compensation through the Lufthansa website, so no telling what will come of that, but if I am made whole with the insurance, it's frankly not worth the trouble.
Missing the rain was indeed a silver lining, as we planned to be in small villages and hike. After 20 years of travel in late May, when 95% of the time the weather was stellar, our luck ran out! It was beautiful here in the Virginia mountains, so we made lemonade out of lemons, but I do miss Italy!

So sorry you had to cancel your trip!

My husband and I were also affected by the strike but United handled the communication about it much better than Lufthansa did. We received an email explaining the situation the morning of 5/16 ( two days prior to originally scheduled flight)and were offered a no fee, ten day rebooking window. We ended up leaving a day earlier for our flight into Naples. It was a little stressful tying up loose ends at work, finishing up our packing, ensuring our dog sitter was ok with the extra day and finding another place to stay for one night (Sorrento) but we appreciated the “bonus” day.

I hope you and your husband are able to reschedule another trip soon to celebrate your milestone anniversary!

Just following up to share the latest: The insurance offered by VRBO came through--for less than a 60 dollar investment, I was able to recoup more than $800 in lost accommodation costs. So, if you are the type that waffles over adding it, and you don't purchase overarching travel insurance to cover everything, I can attest to its value.
AirBNB also uses the same company (Generali), but for some reason the person processing the VRBO claim moved much more quickly than the AirBNB one.

I am glad your travel insurance came through for you. And you have a great attitude about the whole thing—-appreciating that you actually benefitted in the end, due to the excessive rain in Italy, and lovely weather at home.

As for the EC 261 compensation, I doubt you will get anywhere with Lufthansa. This is a sort of penalty to be paid for delays and cancellations for which the airline is deemed responsible. It is in addition to the refund due if you did not take a different flight.

I assume you did get your refund? Under Article 5(3) of the Convention, additional,compensation is not owed if the flight was canceled “due to extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided”; in other words, they were beyond the airline’s control. Air traffic control strikes are considered “extraordinary circumstances”, as is bad weather.

In effect, the regulation mainly applies to cancellations and delays attributed to airline operations, such as mechanical problems with the plane, staffing issues (lack of a pilot or cabin crew), or problems with the airline’s IT system.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261/article/5#:~:text=Article%205Cancellation&text=3.An%20operating%20air%20carrier,reasonable%20measures%20had%20been%20taken.

So.... This year's trip was a bit different as a group of friends, family, and me planned to meet in Italy... 5/19th.
I was already in Switzerland, My sister was meeting me in Venice and our friends meeting us in Florence.
We knew about the strike and yet we couldn't do any changes as it was not official yet.
.

This was my two friends first time to Italy and their fight from the US connected at Frankfurt on the 19th. I prepared them already and said, get ready, you can move your entire flight over 1 day and we can adjust plans, or fly to Frankfurt and stay overnight and take the first flight out on the 20th.
So they received the email on the 17th... and they chose to get to Frankfurt and fly to Florence on the 20th. What was supposed to be a 1.5 hour flight was 5 hours. Flight was Frankfurt to Zurich to Florence. During planning, I added one extra day in Florence (because I love Florence :) but also to give them "jet lag/relax day.

To make matters worst! The lost one of my friend's luggage from Frankfurt to Florence. There were three of them, and they all checked in the same time.. and her luggage never made it to the plane.

So she has 4 claims to file..

The overnight stay claim
the lost luggage claim
the necessities claim
her outbound flight was delayed by 4 hours.

I must say- she was a trooper. had a mini meltdown, but not anything a good wine couldn't fix. THANKFULLY.. the weather was GREAT. This was another thing we were watching... strike and weather.

** My first time to Europe, our return flight was delayed due to airport strike. Airfrance did compensate us for the hotel bill.

You checked-in on the 18th for a flight that arrives in Europe on the 19th? I envy people who live at an international Airport with direct flights.

But at least in my case 15hrs flight time + 24 hour check-in gives me a little more notice for cancelations than you had.

Booking.com lists many of the same flats as does AirBnb, VBRO but with better cancelation terms generally.

You mentioned free cancelation on your tickets. Do you need that if they cancel you? I'm a budget traveler and the upgrade just doesn't work for me. But I bet it's comforting to have it.

I fly Lufthansa ocassionally and, yes, they are among the least communicative. I'm a paranoid traveler, besides cheap, so I start checking my flights on the Apps every day a week prior, but sounds like this strike wasn't one of the pre-planned ones so that probably wouldn't have helped you.

Just a miserable thing. Very sorry you had to deal with it.

Sorry to hear of your ordeal.

We were impacted on that day, but things weren't ruined. We had a Nürnberg day planned (to/from Frankfurt). DB train to Nürnberg delayed, cutting into our time right at the outset.

We did make our pre-booked Art Bunker tour. Strike affected our ability to get to Nazi Documentation Center/rally grounds afterwards. Night busses/routes conscripted for all transit, so 90 min of fruitless waiting. In hindsight, we should have just ponied up for taxis.

Our audible was to visit St. Lawrence church, which was a great site, before the usual c. 1700-1800 closings of many attractions and our needing to return to Frankfurt for an early start the following day.