The 2-day strike of Lufthansa cabin crew ended at midnight Friday, however carry-on effects will likely ground flights Saturday too. About 600 flights were cancelled Friday as a 48-hour Lufthansa cabin crew strike entered its second day. The 600 cancelled flights were out of a total of 1362. Approximately 180,000 of the airline's passengers were affected. The UFO union called the strike in a dispute over pay and the union's legal status. Thursday, 700 flights from the main group's schedule of 1,100 were axed. The strike continued after CE Carsten Spohr and UFO agreed to a new round of arbitration at the weekend to set the agenda for a new round of talks in the dispute over pay and conditions. "If the talks don't work out, we will have to announce Monday that there will be more strikes," the union said. <br/>
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SAS has lifted its full-year profit expectations following improvements to its unit revenues and stronger passenger numbers. It is expecting profit before tax and exceptional items to be around SKr700-900m (US$72-93m). SAS had previously indicated, in its Q3 financial statement, that achieving positive earnings would be "challenging". The company's financial year runs to Oct 31. CE Rickard Gustafson says the company has turned in a "strong performance" across its operations over the last months of the financial year. "We are encouraged by an improved supply [against] demand balance in Scandinavia and that our product offering, combined with our determined efforts toward more sustainable air travel, continues to attract more customers," he adds. <br/>
United Airlines will ensure passengers know their flight is operated by a Boeing 737 MAX when it returns to service and allow them to change flights if they are uncomfortable boarding the aircraft. “We are going to be incredibly transparent for our customers. When they book a flight, if it indeed is on a MAX aircraft, they will absolutely know,” United Airlines CE Oscar Munoz said Nov 7. “If, for some reason, they get closer to their flight—including right before they board—and they determine they don’t feel comfortable or safe, we will absolutely rebook them at no extra cost or charge,” he said. “It is that important to us. We don’t assume everybody is going to jump back on that aircraft.” Munoz also said he will be on board United’s first MAX flight when it returns to service. <br/>