Online gripes as thousands grounded by strike

With no sign of a compromise to resolve a strike by Lufthansa cabin crew, the longest walkout in the history of the German airline, hundreds more flights were grounded on Thursday.

The strike even forced airline boss Carsten Spohr to take a flight with rival Air Berlin from Berlin to Munich on Wednesday.

Last week, cabin crew staff started a series of strikes to fight for an improved pension offer for about 19,000 cabin crew employees. Apart from leaving check-in counters eerily empty at airports, the strike action has triggered a flurry of international reaction on social media.

The walkouts have forced the cancellation of almost 4,000 flights and disrupted the travel of more than 430,000 Lufthansa customers. Planes are grounded, and passengers are disgruntled.

Lufthansa bosses say they must cut costs in order to compete with budget rivals and leaner Gulf carriers. Condemning the labor action as counterproductive, higher-ups say they are, however, open to mediation should the union call off the strike. On Wednesday, a court rejected a bid by Lufthansa for an injunction.

"With this strike, they're only making it harder for us all," personnel head Bettina Volkens said in an interview with Germany's Bild newspaper. "The only ones that are happy about the situation are our rivals."

About 930 of 3,000 planned flights within the Lufthansa group - which also includes Austrian Airlines, Swissair and Germanwings - were canceled on Thursday. According to reports, the strike is costing the Lufthansa group at least 10 million euros ($10.7 million) - per day. It's not very likely under those circumstances that this Twitter user will find his wish granted:

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