I haven’t flown Lufthansa as much as some people, but, I have flown it a bit. Lufthansa holds a special place in my heart, as it was my first award flight in first class (it was a trip to Japan, flying LH A380, it rocked).

But alas, with such highs, come lows. I mentioned back in November about how I was essentially downgraded to United First (the horror!) because of a pilot strike.

But that wasn’t my first experience with Lufthansa strikes, in fact, it was returning home from my first trip to Bali. And, ironically enough, it was a Lufthansa Cabin Crew strike. What makes it ironic, is that I’ve changing our flights home three times since we’ve gotten to Bali, because of the fear of an impending Lufthansa cabin crew strike. Yet, based on the latest news, it looks like Lufthansa will be spared a strike until mid-July.

I write all this to say – that no matter how great a trip you have planned, in all the luxurious first class products the airline industry can offer, you are still at the mercy of the vagaries of that airline’s business (whether they are union or employee friendly or not, for example). As others have said: Always garden your reservations!

Hopefully, by the time you read this, the roulette wheel will have spun, and I’ll have won, aka, I’ll be in the air, flying Lufthansa First Class home.

Have you ever been impacted by an airline strike while on travel?