A trade union strike among German airline workers that forced Lufthansa to cancel 600 flights on Thursday is complicating return trips for some attendees at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. The short-term strike ended this afternoon, as expected.
Nancy Gallt of the Nancy Gallt Literary Agency told PW that she and her colleague Ellen Greenberg “got the last two seats out of Bologna, bound for JFK via Munich,” even though JFK is a less convenient destination for the New Jersey-based agents than Newark, their original arrival airport.
Agent Rosemary Stimola, who was heading to vacation on Malta after the fair, ended up taking a car service to Milan early on Thursday to catch a connecting flight, saying, “There were no flights to be had on any airline in Bologna.” She’s crossing her fingers for a refund from Lufthansa.
Folio Literary Management agent Mellisa Sarver White was scheduled to fly home Thursday morning but instead will fly back from Milan Friday afternoon; she had to move hotels for one night in Bologna, and will take the train to Milan in the morning.
Meanwhile, Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown tweeted, “Flying home a day later than expected because of airport strikes in Germany means... more time to see churches in Bologna.”
“I know people who have adjusted their schedules,” said Judy Brunsek of Owlkids in Toronto, though she believes she’ll be fine since she’s flying back to Canada over the weekend.
Scheduled to fly out with Lufthansa on Friday morning, Rebecca Taylor with the Kristin Nelson Literary Agency joked that she was going to stay “blissfully ignorant” of the strike for now, and hope for the best.
