DON'T PANIC. There won’t be any unidentified flying objects hitting Germany’s largest airline Lufthansa (as far as we know), but there’s going to be a strike, which will nevertheless hurt the company. In this case the acronym UFO stands for Unabhängige Flugbegleiter Organisation (Independent Cabin Crew Union).

UFO announced today (November 2) that Lufthansa crews will go on strike from Friday for seven days (November 6-13). Lufthansa has until Thursday this week, to respond to a list of demands or else face a week-long strike from the following day, UFO-Boss Nicoley Baublies, said at a press conference today. He also said that he doesn’t expect Lufthansa to come around after two years of negotiations. "All passengers are advised to assume that their flights will not take off," he said.

Two weeks ago, Lufthansa have issued a lengthy statement which said: “Lufthansa’s latest offer makes major concessions towards UFO not only in pension provision terms, but also on the remuneration front. Lufthansa already guarantees its cabin personnel some of the highest remuneration in the airline industry. But the company is now further improving on this to offer a range of financial enhancements over the next three years...”

“Lufthansa is also prepared to meet UFO’s demand for the establishment of an ‘Employees’ Fund’ for its cabin personnel. This fund would offer additional resources to help finance relocations, further training, profit sharing and more.”