In the past few weeks, it has become increasingly common for Lufthansa planes to travel through Europe to German airports completely empty. The return flight that was actually planned – for example to Frankfurt or Munich – is often canceled and the plane flies empty to another airport in Germany instead.

A few days ago, the crane flew from Frankfurt to Bologna with passengers on board. However, the return flight was canceled because the aircraft concerned was transferred to Dresden by ferry in order to carry out other connections from there. There was a comparable case on Saturday on the Frankfurt-Berlin route.

However, this caused additional confusion, as affected passengers reported to Aviation.Direct that they could not find their flight LH202 on the display board when they arrived at the airport. The travelers were then informed via SMS, email and push notifications that the gate had changed. When we got there, however, there was no flight, because a loudspeaker announcement informed us that the Berlin flight was cancelled.

The plane that was supposed to fly to the German capital with passengers has also flown there. However, ferry, i.e. without passengers on board. The fact that Lufthansa operates an empty flight and leaves the passengers sitting on this route of all places seems quite strange.

In addition, the travelers affected at Frankfurt am Main Airport did not claim to have received any support from Lufthansa. They were informed by means of screens and personal statements at the counters that no hotel rooms could be allocated because all the contracted hotels in the area were already full. You should switch to the train and then submit the ticket to Lufthansa for reimbursement. At least those passengers who have been in contact with Aviation.Direct claim that they have been told that they currently have no rail vouchers and therefore the ticket must be advanced.

But why does Lufthansa fly a ferry to Berlin without passengers and leave the travelers sitting in Frankfurt? For environmental reasons alone, the approach that the crane has chosen is worth questioning. First you had to research Lufthansa, because LH202 flew from Frankfurt to Berlin, but without passengers on board. The succinct explanation was then that the ferry flight had been carried out in order to "position the machine for a stable flight plan in Berlin". Of course, they didn't explain why they didn't take the passengers with them, even though they were flying on the same route anyway.