My Lufthansa flight was cancelled due to strikes – can I get a refund?

Simon Calder answers your questions on industrial action, Tenerife trips and Tokyo

Lufthansa had no choice but to cancel all flights from Frankfurt (AP)

Q We were due to fly with Lufthansa from Barcelona to Frankfurt and then a connecting flight to Liverpool. The flight was cancelled due to industrial action in Frankfurt. But Lufthansa are refusing to send a refund. Please advise?

John, via the latest Ask Me Anything at independent.co.uk/travel

A Lufthansa has had a pretty lousy couple of weeks. On 15 February an IT failure caused by workers accidentally severing fibre-optic cables during construction work grounded hundreds of the German airline’s flights. Two days later, you were caught up in a massive strike by airport workers at very short notice. Unlike in the UK, unions in Germany need not give advance warnings of walkouts. When the Verdi union called out its ground-staff members at key German airports, Lufthansa had no choice but to cancel all flights from Frankfurt and Munich: more than 1,300 in total, affecting over 200,000 would-be passengers. A Lufthansa executive, Michael Niggemann, said: “We are not a party to the collective bargaining and have no influence on it – nevertheless, our guests and we are massively affected.”