Thousands of British passengers have had their travel plans wrecked on the first day of a 48-hour strike by Lufthansa cabin crew.

The German airline has cancelled 700 flights on Thursday, including 30 to and from the UK. Members of the Independent Flight Attendants' Organisation (UFO) are taking action in a dispute over pay and conditions.

Most flights connecting the Lufthansa hubs at Frankfurt and Munich with Heathrow and Manchester have been grounded. These cancellations have affected more than 4,000 passengers, with similar numbers expected on Friday.

Under European air travellers’ rights rules, passengers whose flights are cancelled are entitled to alternative departures as close to their original timings as possible, on any airline that has seats available.

Dozens of long-haul flights have been cancelled from both Lufthansa hubs. To North America, grounded flights from Frankfurt include New York, San Francisco, Washington and Vancouver.

Going east, links to Bengaluru, Nagoya and Qingdao are cancelled. With few other options from European airports to these destinations, disrupted travellers will find it difficult to source alternatives.

Munich services appear equally badly hit, with Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal and New York among the North American cancellations.

Flights from Munich to Beijing, Delhi, Tokyo and Singapore are also grounded.

The airline said: “Lufthansa condemns the strike call in the strongest possible terms.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Because aircraft and crew will be in the wrong places, disruption will continue into the weekend, with many long-haul services from locations such as Mexico City, Singapore and Tokyo potentially unable to operate.

The UFO union has warned that further action is possible at short notice.