Lufthansa Setting Up Cots For Hundreds of Stranded Passengers Amid Pilot Strike

Amid a pilots’ strike over retirement benefits, German airline Lufthansa is setting up 500 cots for passengers in the Frankfurt, Germany airport who aren’t being allowed to enter Germany for visa reasons.

The Vereiningung Cockpit pilots’ union represents about 90% of all Lufthansa pilots, according to the Wall Street Journal, and this latest strike is the fifth employee protest the airline has dealt with this year. The Journal reports Lufthansa is expected to ground more than 200 flights, affecting the travel plans of around 25,000 passengers.

Lufthansa says it informed 14,000 passengers via text message of the strike and booked 2,200 hotel rooms in the Rhine-Main area “as a precaution” as well, according to a press release posted to the company’s website.